Henry Tarvainen (1944/45 – February 3, 2021) was a Canadian actor and theatre director from Toronto, Ontario, Urjo Kareda
"St. Lawrence Centre: 2 brash young men shaking up the scene"
''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

'', October 23, 1971. most noted as a

Dora Mavor Moore Award The Dora Mavor Moore Award (also known as the Dora Award) is an award presented annually by the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts which honours theatre, dance and opera productions in Toronto. Named after Dora Mavor Moore, who helped estab ...

nominee for Best Direction in a Play at the 1982 Dora Mavor Moore Awards for his production of Charles Tidler's ''Straight Ahead'' and ''Blind Dancers''.

Early career

An alumnus of the University of Toronto, where he was a member of student peace and civil rights activist groups,Jack Kapica
"Henry Tarvainen: The ex-golden boy who hopes to drum up some good drama"
'' Montreal Gazette'', February 10, 1973. he had an early acting role in the film '' Winter Kept Us Warm'', and subsequently had stage roles and appeared in episodes of ''

Wojeck ''Wojeck'' is a Canadian dramatic television series, which aired on CBC Television from 1966 to 1968. It was arguably the first successful drama series on English Canadian television. Plot Steve Wojeck is a crusading big city coroner who regul ...

'' and '' Festival''. The ''Festival'' episode "Reddick" was rebroadcast in the United Kingdom as an episode of ''

Play for Today ''Play for Today'' is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage ...

'', and in the United States as an episode of '' NET Playhouse'', and had a 1970 sequel which was broadcast as a standalone television film due to the cancellation of ''Festival''.

Directing career

He became the first resident director at the

St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts The St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts is a performing arts theatre complex located in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Situated on Front Street one block east of Yonge Street, it was the City of Toronto's official centennial project, commemorat ...

in the early 1970s, with his early works for the company including productions of '' The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds'', '' What the Butler Saw'' and John Palmer's ''Memories of My Brother''. Beginning in 1973 he spent some time in Montreal, directing a production of George Ryga's ''Captives of the Faceless Drummer'' for the

Saidye Bronfman Centre The Segal Centre for Performing Arts, formerly the Saidye Bronfman Centre for the Arts, is a theatre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located at 5170 chemin de la Côte-Sainte-Catherine, in the borough of Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâc ...

and Ronald Garrett's ''Autumn at Altenburg'' and Niccolò Machiavellis '' The Mandrake'' for Centaur Theatre. His other directorial credits included productions of '' Bajazet'', ''The Riddle of the World'', '' Woyzeck'', '' Twelfth Night'', ''Stoops'', '' Phèdre'', ''

The Marriage of Figaro ''The Marriage of Figaro'' ( it, Le nozze di Figaro, links=no, ), K. 492, is a ''commedia per musica'' (opera buffa) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premie ...

'' and '' Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead'' He also taught drama at the National Theatre School of Canada and the Juilliard School.

Death

He died on February 3, 2021, of COVID-19, aged 76."Henry TARVAINEN Obituary"
''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'', February 6, 2021.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tarvainen, Henry 2021 deaths 20th-century Canadian male actors Canadian male film actors Canadian male stage actors Canadian male television actors Canadian theatre directors Canadian people of Finnish descent Male actors from Toronto University of Toronto alumni Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada Year of birth uncertain