Ronald Charles Tosh Weyman (December 13, 1915 – June 26, 2007) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

-born

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

film and television director and producer."RON WEYMAN, 91 SAILOR, PRODUCER, PAINTER AND NOVELIST: Pioneer filmmaker turned hard-hitting social issues into popular television". ''

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 ...

'', July 7, 2007. A documentary film director for the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...

from 1946 to 1953, and a director and producer of drama television programming for

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...

from 1954 to 1980,"Ron Weyman (1915-2007)"

Canadian Communications Foundation The Canadian Communications Foundation (CCF) is a Canadian nonprofit organization which documents the history of broadcasting in Canada, particularly radio and television. Since 1995, the organization has distributed its collection via an intern ...

, October 2007. he was most noted as director of the

Canadian Film Award The Canadian Film Awards were the leading Canadian cinema awards from 1949 until 1978. These honours were conducted annually, except in 1974 when a number of Quebec directors withdrew their participation and prompted a cancellation. In the 1970s ...

-winning documentary film ''

After Prison, What? ''After Prison, What?'' (''Après le bagne'') is a 1951 Canadian dramatized short documentary film directed by Ron Weyman for the National Film Board of Canada as part of its ''Canada Carries On'' series. Plot The film, narrates by Lorne Greene, ...

'', and as a producer of ''The Serial'', a CBC drama anthology series which spun off many of Canadian television's most important drama series of the 1960s.

Background

Born in

Erith Erith () is an area in south-east London, England, east of Charing Cross. Before the creation of Greater London in 1965, it was in the historical county of Kent. Since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Bexley. It lies nort ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

in 1915, Weyman emigrated to St. Catharines,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

with his family in 1923. By the time he was a teenager the family had 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 ...

, where Weyman attended high school. He served in the

Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; french: Marine royale canadienne, ''MRC'') is the Navy, naval force of Canada. The RCN is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of 2021, the RCN operates 12 frigates, four attack s ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, attaining the rank of lieutenant commander."Toronto Navy Officer Lauded for D-Day Work". ''

'', November 7, 1944. He married Alison Alford, the daughter of

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

fine arts professor John Alford, while on leave in 1941, although she died of an epileptic seizure in 1943 while Weyman was on duty. A hobby painter, he painted several war scenes during this time which were subsequently acquired by the collections of the

National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (french: Musée des beaux-arts du Canada), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the l ...

and the

Canadian War Museum The Canadian War Museum (french: link=no, Musée canadien de la guerre; CWM) is a national museum on the country's military history in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The museum serves as both an educational facility on Canadian military history, in a ...

Career

After the war ended, Weyman went to Ottawa to consult with a curator at the National Gallery about becoming a professional artist, but on the same trip he met

Sydney Newman Sydney Cecil Newman (April 1, 1917 – October 30, 1997) was a Canadian film and television producer, who played a pioneering role in British television drama from the late 1950s to the late 1960s. After his return to Canada in 1970, Newman w ...

and was convinced to work for the National Film Board. He made more than 20 films for the National Film Board, including ''After Prison, What?'', the war documentary ''Out of the Ruins'', and the workplace safety film ''The Safety Supervisor''. During this time he remarried to Vanna Alford, Alison's sister. He left formal employment at the NFB in 1953, and spent some time working in Italy on a documentary film for the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

. The following year he joined CBC Television after his sister, writer and '' One of a Kind'' panelist Rita Greer Allen, married early CBC producer Robert Allen. For the CBC, Weyman directed and produced a number of television films, but became most noted as the creator and producer of ''The Serial'', an anthology series which ran from 1963 to 1966. Initially created to dramatize Canadian novels such as

Thomas Head Raddall Thomas Head Raddall (13 November 1903 – 1 April 1994) was a Canadian writer of history and historical fiction.Thomas B. Costain's ''The Son of a Hundred Kings'' and

Morley Callaghan Edward Morley Callaghan (February 22, 1903 – August 25, 1990) was a Canadian novelist, short story writer, playwright, and TV and radio personality. Biography Of Canadian/English-immigrant parentage,Clara Thomas, ''Canadian Novelists 192 ...

's ''

More Joy in Heaven ''More Joy in Heaven'' is a novel written by Canadian author Morley Callaghan and published in 1937. The central figure, Kip Caley, was inspired by Norman Ryan (1895-1936), a criminal who had committed a number of robberies in Quebec, Ontario and ...

'', in its later years the series expanded its focus when Weyman, drawing on his background in documentary film, began commissioning original television films which incorporated some documentary techniques into gritty, contemporary stories that addressed serious political and social issues. The most noted of these were ''Tell Them the Streets Are Dancing'', which became the pilot for the television series '' Wojeck'', and ''Mr. Member of Parliament'', a limited series which became ''

Quentin Durgens, M.P. ''Quentin Durgens, M.P.'' is a Canadian dramatic television series, which aired on CBC Television from 1965 to 1969.McQueen'' and '' Corwin'', and directed episodes of the comedy series '' Hatch's Mill''. In the 1970s, he continued to produce and direct television films for the CBC, including the miniseries ''

The Albertans ''The Albertans'' is a Canadian dramatic television miniseries that aired on CBC Television in 1979. Premise The drama resembled a Canadian version of ''Dallas'', with the plot involving the cattle ranching and petroleum industries, eco-terror ...

'' and adaptations of

Margaret Laurence Jean Margaret Laurence (née Wemyss; July 18, 1926 – January 5, 1987) was a Canadian novelist and short story writer, and is one of the major figures in Canadian literature. She was also a founder of the Writers' Trust of Canada, a non-pr ...

's novels '' The Fire-Dwellers'' and ''

A Bird in the House ''A Bird in the House'', first published in 1970, is a short story sequence written by Margaret Laurence. Noted by Laurence to be "semi-autobiographical", the series chronicles the growing up of a young agnostic writer, Vanessa MacLeod, in the fic ...

''. After retiring from the CBC in 1980, he wrote and published the memoir ''In Love and War'', as well as three

mystery Mystery, The Mystery, Mysteries or The Mysteries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters *Mystery, a cat character in ''Emily the Strange'' Films * ''Mystery'' (2012 film), a 2012 Chinese drama film * ''Mystery'' ( ...

novels which reimagined

Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a " consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and ...

as having been sent to Canada after surviving

Reichenbach Falls The Reichenbach Falls (german: Reichenbachfälle) are a waterfall cascade of seven steps on the stream called Rychenbach in the Bernese Oberland region of Switzerland. They drop over a total height of about . At , the upper falls, known as the ...

. He suffered a stroke in 2003 which left him partially paralyzed and unable to speak, and died on June 26, 2007 at his home in

Flesherton Flesherton (population 584) is a community in the Municipality of Grey Highlands, in Grey County, Ontario, Canada, located at the junction of Highway 10 and Grey County Road 4 (formerly Highway 4). Although the area initially showed a high rate ...

, Ontario.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Weyman, Ron 1915 births 2007 deaths 20th-century Canadian novelists 20th-century Canadian non-fiction writers 20th-century Canadian painters Canadian male painters Artists from St. Catharines Artists from Toronto Canadian documentary film directors Canadian documentary film producers Canadian television directors Canadian television producers Canadian television writers Canadian mystery writers Canadian memoirists Canadian male novelists Canadian war artists Film directors from Toronto CBC Television people National Film Board of Canada people British emigrants to Canada People from Erith Royal Canadian Navy officers Writers from Toronto Canadian male non-fiction writers Canadian male television writers 20th-century Canadian screenwriters 20th-century memoirists 20th-century Canadian male artists