Remembering film and stage star Brian Bedford

CTV Kitchener: Remembering acclaimed actor Brian Bedford Film and stage star a part of Stratford Festival scene for 27 years. Alexandra Pinto has the details.

Film and stage star Brian Bedford came to Stratford in 1975 and stayed as a performer and director for nearly three decades.

In interviews, the acclaimed actor has said it was in the Festival Theatre where his transformation as a classical actor took place.

Bedford died in January after a 2 ½ year battle with cancer. He was 80.

Today a group of fans and friends gathered in Stratford to remember the man and the performer.

One of those, was Fraser actor David Hyde Pierce, who spoke of Bedford’s guest appearance on the show.

Jokingly saying that he was a “difficult” actor and that “no one” liked to work with him.

Pierce also read out loud an email from Titanic actor Victor Garber,  that said, “I was born in London Ontario and my mother would drive me to Stratford in the early Michael Lang years and I wasintroduced to the classics. I never had formal acting training and realized at an early age that I learned what I needed to know by watching great actors act. When I saw Brian Bedford play Angelo in Measure for Measure at the festival theatre in 1975 during Robin Philips tenure, I knew I was seeing something unique. Shakespeare became accessible to me in a way that I had never experienced. It was the greatest acting lesson I would ever have.”

Bedford made his Stratford debut playing Malvolio in Twelfth night and Angelo in Measure for Measure.

He spent 27 seasons in Stratford appearing in more than 50 productions, which included Macbeth, King Lear and the Importance of Being Earnest.

Stratford Festival’s artistic director Antoni Cimolino said Bedford was always a huge audience favorite.

“People came to the theatre to see Brian his impact was he was a mentor to so many young artists,” “His influence and the way he did theatre the care he took as infectious,” said Cimolino.

In 2013 Bedford had to withdraw from his leading role in The Merchant of Venice due to a medical condition his last performance as an actor at the festival was in 2009.