Louis Del Grande (born March 23, 1943) is a Canadian-American television writer and actor. He is best known for starring in the Canadian mystery/comedy series '' Seeing Things''.
Early life
Del Grande was born and raised in
Union City, New Jersey
Union City is a city in the northern part of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. According to the 2020 United States Census the city had a total population of 68,589, By the late-1980s, he moved to
Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island (french: link=no, île du Cap-Breton, formerly '; gd, Ceap Breatainn or '; mic, Unamaꞌki) is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada.
The island accounts for 18. ...
.
Career
Del Grande moved to
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
in 1964, drawn to Canada by the
Stratford Festival
The Stratford Festival is a theatre festival which runs from April to October in the city of Stratford, Ontario, Canada. Founded by local journalist Tom Patterson in 1952, the festival was formerly known as the Stratford Shakespearean Festival ...
, and soon found work as a stand-up comedian and comedy writer. In 1975, he was hired as head writer for a new
sitcom
A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...
, ''
The King of Kensington
''King of Kensington'' is a Television in Canada, Canadian television sitcom which aired on CBC Television from 1975 to 1980.Mary Jane Miller, ''Turn Up the Contrast: CBC Television Drama since 1952''. UBC Press, 2011. . pp. 134-144.
Synopsis
Al ...
'', which became a hit in Canada until the end of the decade. He also appeared in the show a handful of times as Fred, a friend of
Al Waxman
Albert Samuel Waxman, (March 2, 1935 – January 18, 2001) was a Canadian actor and director of over 1,000 productions on radio, television, film, and stage. He is best known for his starring roles in the television series '' King of Kensingto ...
's lead character Larry King. Del Grande later became (with Jack Humphries) the show's co-producer (a '' Fifth Estate'' documentary said the two producers ran ''Kensington'' "with an iron hand").
When asked by the CBC if he had any projects he could star in, Del Grande created, wrote and produced '' Seeing Things'', which aired from 1981 to 1987. Del Grande played a crime-solving
clairvoyant
Clairvoyance (; ) is the magical ability to gain information about an object, person, location, or physical event through extrasensory perception. Any person who is claimed to have such ability is said to be a clairvoyant () ("one who sees cl ...
tabloid reporter who was separated from his wife Marge (played by Del Grande's real-life wife, actress Martha Gibson). The series was popular and won Del Grande four
Gemini Award
The Gemini Awards were awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television between 1986–2011 to recognize the achievements of Canada's television industry. The Gemini Awards are analogous to the Emmy Awards given in the United States ...
s, two for best actor in a comedy and two for the show itself.
Outside Canada, Del Grande is probably best known as the ConSec scanner in the infamous "head explosion" scene in the
David Cronenberg
David Paul Cronenberg (born March 15, 1943) is a Canadian film director, screenwriter, and actor. He is one of the principal originators of what is commonly known as the body horror genre, with his films exploring visceral bodily transformation ...
movie ''
Scanners
''Scanners'' is a 1981 Canadian science fiction horror film written and directed by David Cronenberg and starring Stephen Lack, Jennifer O'Neill, Michael Ironside, and Patrick McGoohan. In the film, "scanners" are psychics with unusual telepathic ...
Goosebumps
''Goosebumps'' is a series of children's horror fiction novels by American author R. L. Stine, published by Scholastic Publishing. The protagonists in these stories are tweens or young teens who find themselves in scary circumstances usually i ...