Duncan Peter Regehr (born October 5, 1952) is a Canadian writer, multimedia artist, and film and television actor. He was also a

figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...

and a classically trained Shakespearean stage actor in his native Canada, before heading to

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

in 1980. Regehr played the title character in ''

Zorro Zorro (Spanish language, Spanish for 'fox') is a fictional character created in 1919 by American pulp magazine, pulp writer Johnston McCulley, appearing in works set in the Pueblo of Los Angeles in Alta California. He is typically portrayed a ...

'', The Family Channel's television series based upon

Johnston McCulley John William Johnston McCulley (February 2, 1883 – November 23, 1958) was an American writer of hundreds of stories, fifty novels, numerous screenplays for film and television, and the creator of the character Zorro. Biography Born in O ...

's classic hero. He also had roles in multiple television incarnations of ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...

''.

Early life

Regehr was born in

Lethbridge, Alberta Lethbridge ( ) is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada. With a population of 101,482 in its 2019 municipal census, Lethbridge became the fourth Alberta city to surpass 100,000 people. The nearby Canadian Rocky Mountains contribute to ...

, and raised in

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. Th ...

, Canada. His mother, Dorothy Mary (née Mulkern), was UK-born and his father, Peter Regehr, was a Russian artist. He was active in broadcasting at age 14, when he was host of a teenager-oriented talk show on the

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...

(CBC). As a high school student, he figure-skated in ice shows. He received early acting instruction at the Bastion Theater School in Victoria.

Career

After numerous appearances in Canadian theatre, television (e.g., in the family TV show '' Matt and Jenny on the Wilderness Trail''), and notable roles on radio for the CBC, he and his wife, Catherine, moved to Los Angeles,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, where he began to develop his work in film. Shortly after arriving, he was hired to play villain Prince Dirk Blackpool in the short-lived 1983 fantasy-comedy series ''

Wizards and Warriors ''Wizards & Warriors'', titled ' in Japan, is an Action game, action platform game, platform video game developed by Rare (company), Rare and published by Acclaim Entertainment and Jaleco for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It was released in ...

'' opposite

Jeff Conaway Jeffrey Charles William Michael Conaway (October 5, 1950 – May 27, 2011) was an American actor. He portrayed Kenickie in the film '' Grease'' and had roles in two television series: struggling actor Bobby Wheeler in ''Taxi'' and security offic ...

's Prince Erik Greystone. He went on to star in many more US television films, including the 1984 television mini-series ''

The Last Days of Pompeii ''The Last Days of Pompeii'' is a novel written by Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1834. The novel was inspired by the painting '' The Last Day of Pompeii'' by the Russian painter Karl Briullov, which Bulwer-Lytton had seen in Milan. It culminates in ...

'', as Lydon, the gladiator; as

Errol Flynn Errol Leslie Thomson Flynn (20 June 1909 – 14 October 1959) was an Australian-American actor who achieved worldwide fame during the Golden Age of Hollywood. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles, frequent partnerships with Olivia ...

in the 1985 CBS film ''My Wicked, Wicked Ways'', based on the autobiography of Flynn; and on the

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

series '' V'' as the Visitor military leader Charles. He also starred in the 1982 mini-series '' The Blue and the Gray'' as Captain Randolph. In 1987, Regehr portrayed a dynamite-slinging Count Dracula in the film ''

The Monster Squad ''The Monster Squad'' is a 1987 American black comedy horror film directed by Fred Dekker, and written by Dekker and Shane Black, who met as classmates at UCLA. Peter Hyams and Rob Cohen served as executive producers. It was released by TriSta ...

''. One of Regehr's best-known roles to date was in ''

'' as Don Diego De La Vega and his alter ego, the swashbuckling hero, Zorro. Regehr portrayed the masked hero for 88 episodes on The Family Channel from 1990 to 1993. Regehr has also made numerous TV guest appearances. He was a guest actor on ''

Cybill ''Cybill'' is an American television sitcom created by Chuck Lorre, which aired on CBS from January 2, 1995, to July 13, 1998. Starring Cybill Shepherd, the show revolves around the life of Cybill Sheridan, a twice-divorced single mother of tw ...

'', ''

Murder, She Wrote ''Murder, She Wrote'' is an American crime drama television series, created by Peter S. Fischer, Richard Levinson and William Link, starring Angela Lansbury, and produced and distributed by Universal Television for the CBS network. The series f ...

'', ''

Hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

'' and the seventh-season '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' episode "

Sub Rosa ''Sub rosa'' (New Latin for "under the rose") denotes secrecy or confidentiality. The rose has an ancient history as a symbol of secrecy. History In Hellenistic and later Roman mythology, roses were associated with secrecy because Cupid ga ...

" as Ronin, a

ghost A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...

who falls in love with

Beverly Crusher Beverly Crusher is a fictional character in the '' Star Trek'' franchise played by Gates McFadden. Debuting in the television series, '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'', McFadden appeared in every season except for the second, as well as its sp ...

. He also appeared in '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' as

Shakaar Edon This is a list of secondary characters from the science fiction television series ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine''. Characters are ordered alphabetically by family name, and only characters who played a significant major role in the series are li ...

. Regehr has been painting and drawing since childhood. Regehr first exhibited his artwork in 1974 at the Stratford Festival in Ontario. The following year, he showed at the Yorkville Art Center in Toronto. Since then, he has had numerous exhibitions in Canada, Europe, and the United States. His work is found in collections worldwide, including the Jilin Collection (China), The Kunsthallen (Copenhagen), Focus on the Masters Archives for the Getty Museum (USA), and the Syllavethy Collection of Scotland (GB). Regehr's automonograph, ''The Dragon's Eye: An Artist's View,'' received international acclaim and was lauded by art critics and literary reviewers as a book of visual and poetic excellence. In 1996 he won the American Vision Award of Distinction in the Arts, and was granted the lifetime appellation 'Royal Canadian Artist' with honours in 2000 by the Royal Canadian Academy of Art for his outstanding artistic achievements. On November 10, 2008, Regehr was awarded the honorary degree of

Doctor of Fine Arts Doctor of Fine Arts (D.F.A.) is a doctoral degree in fine arts, may be given as an honorary degree (a degree ''honoris causa'') or an earned professional degree (in the UK). Description Doctoral programmes leading to DFAs are of equivalent level ...

by the

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic or Victoria) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. The university traces its roots to Victoria College, the first post-secondary instit ...

, in

, Canada. Some of his art works are also displayed in art galleries in the region.

Personal life

Regehr lives and works out of studios in the United States and Canada. He has been married twice: first to Francine Wurster in 1974–1978 and second to Catherine Campion in 1979–2016.

Filmography

References

External links

* * * *
Duncan Regehr on display at Signatures Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Regehr, Duncan 1952 births Living people Artists from Alberta Sportspeople from Lethbridge Canadian male film actors Canadian male stage actors Canadian male television actors Members of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts Canadian people of Russian descent Canadian people of English descent Male actors from Alberta