Brian Richard Linehan (September 3, 1944 – June 4, 2004) was a

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 ...

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication Media (communication), medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of Transmission (telecommunications), television tra ...

host from

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately southwest of ...

,Brian Linehan
at

The Canadian Encyclopedia ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; french: L'Encyclopédie canadienne) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with the support of Canadian Heritage. Available f ...

. best known for his

celebrity Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group as a result of the attention given to them by mass media. An individual may attain a celebrity status from having great wealth, their participation in sports ...

interviews on the longrunning talk show '' City Lights''."Life of Brian"
'' Ryerson Review of Journalism'', March 16, 2007.

Background

Linehan was born in Hamilton,

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 C ...

in 1944, one of seven children. His estranged Irish father, Les, worked at one of the local steel mills,

Dofasco ArcelorMittal Dofasco is a steel company based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Dofasco is a standalone subsidiary of ArcelorMittal, the world's largest integrated steel producer. History Clifton and Frank A. Sherman founded Dominion Foundries an ...

; and his

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* * * Old Serbian (disambiguat ...

mother, Sava (née Kotur), was later remarried to a post

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Serbian immigrant, Jovan Rodic Sr. He too, was a steel worker. At age 19, Linehan moved to Toronto, taking an entry-level job with Odeon Cinemas."BOOKS: Starring Brian Linehan by George Anthony"
'' Daily Xtra'', October 14, 2007. The following year, he began working in public relations as an organizer of celebrity promotional visits to Toronto. By 1968, he was the general manager of Janus Films, a film distribution company.

Career

He joined Citytv in 1973 as the host of ''City Lights'', a program which would eventually become syndicated throughout

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. Linehan was renowned for his composure, interview skills and meticulous research, often leading to in-depth questions that could last for minutes. His guests often responded to his questions with astonishment at his depth of knowledge; actress Shirley MacLaine once commented that the stars flocked to Toronto "so Brian could tell us about our lives". His interviewing style was parodied on '' SCTV'' by

Martin Short Martin Hayter Short (born March 26, 1950) is a Canadian-American actor, comedian, and writer. He has received various awards including two Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Tony Award. In 2019 Short became an Officer of the Order of Canada. H ...

as "Brock Linahan", a character whose seemingly meticulous interview research—unlike Brian Linehan's—almost always turned out to be totally, utterly wrong."A gala send-off for Brian Linehan: Notables salute long-time friend of the festival". ''

National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper available in several cities in central and western Canada. The paper is the flagship publication of Postmedia Network and is published Mondays through Saturdays, with ...

'', September 17, 2004. In 1988, ''City Lights'' was rebooted as '' MovieTelevision'', an expanded magazine series on film which Linehan cohosted with Jeanne Beker. Linehan was not happy with the new format, however, as it left him with far less time to conduct in-depth interviews, and left the show in 1989 after its first season. He took some time off, and then spent the early 1990s as a freelance publicity interviewer."Linehan back on the trail of the rich and celebrated". ''

Windsor Star The ''Windsor Star'' is a daily newspaper based in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Owned by Postmedia Network, it is published Tuesdays through Saturdays. History The paper began as the weekly ''Windsor Record'' in 1888, changing its name to the ''Bor ...

'', November 16, 1996. From 1996 to 1998, he hosted a second show entitled ''Linehan'', which was produced for CHCH-TV in Hamilton. In 1999, Linehan won a

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 State ...

as Best Host in a Lifestyle or Performing Arts Program for his work on the show. After that show ended, he taught a television production course at Toronto's Humber College. Beginning in 2000, the original ''City Lights'' shows were reaired on the new Canadian cable channel Talk TV. Linehan was also a longtime entertainment reporter on CFRB radio, and a frequent host of awards ceremonies such as the Genie Awards and the Geminis.

Personal life

Linehan, who was gay, met Zane Wagman, a dentist, in the late 1960s. Through the 1970s, the couple also had a sideline business renovating and reselling houses. They remained together until Wagman's death by

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and ...

in 2002; however, Linehan was very guarded about his personal life, acknowledging only to his closest friends and never publicly that Wagman was anything more than a platonic

roommate A roommate is a person with whom one shares a living facility such as a room or dormitory ''except'' when being family or romantically involved. Similar terms include dormmate, suitemate, housemate, or flatmate ("flat": the usual term in Briti ...

. Linehan was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2001 and died in 2004. His ashes were scattered outside the Toronto home he had shared with Wagman, although Joan Rivers kept a small portion of them as a memento of him.

Legacy

He left his estate to The Brian Linehan Charitable Foundation, which attempts to raise the profile of Canadian talent and supports the creation of a Canadian star system. The foundation's noted donations have included $1 million toward the creation of an actors' training program at the

Canadian Film Centre The Canadian Film Centre (CFC) is a charitable organization founded by filmmaker Norman Jewison in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in 1988. Originally launched as film school, today it provides training, development and advancement opportunities for pr ...

, and $1 million to the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a perman ...

toward the construction of the TIFF Bell Lightbox."Planned TIFF complex gets $1-million Linehan gift". '' The Globe and Mail'', April 11, 2007. The public reading room at TIFF's

Film Reference Library The Film Reference Library (FRL) is Canada’s film research collection located on the 4th floor of TIFF Bell Lightbox, a cultural centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The library is a free resource for students, filmmakers, scholars, and journali ...

is named in honour of Linehan. The library also holds many of his personal archives and research collections. George Anthony, a longtime friend of Linehan's, published the biography ''Starring Brian Linehan: A Life Behind the Scenes'' in 2008.

References

External links