| Bruno Gerussi | |
|---|---|
| Born | 7 May 1928 Medicine Hat, Alberta |
| Died | 21 November 1995 (aged 67) Vancouver, British Columbia |
Bruno Gerussi (7 May 1928[1] – 21 November 1995)[2] was a Canadian television actor born in Medicine Hat, Alberta, best known for the lead role in the CBC Television series The Beachcombers. He also hosted CBC's daily cooking-talk show Celebrity Cooks in the late 1970s.
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Enrico Gerussi, who trained in Italy as a stonemason, was a coal miner working in the Lethbridge, Alberta area, as well as a musician. In 1927, he married Teresina and they moved to Medicine Hat where their eldest son, Bruno, was born. The family subsequently moved to Exshaw where Enrico worked as a sectionman on the Canadian Pacific Railway. Near Exshaw, according to Edna (Hill) Appleby, author of Canmore: The Story of An Era, there remains a stone bridge built by Mr. Gerussi.
Bruno Gerussi grew up in Exshaw and later moved with his family to New Westminster, British Columbia.
Both of Bruno's children went on to work in Film & Television. Bruno's daughter, Tina Gerussi, is a successful casting director in Toronto. Bruno's son, Rico Gerussi, is a 1st Assistant Director (as well as a lead guitarist/vocalist in R&B band The Raging Butanes) in Toronto.
A scholarship to the Banff School of Fine Arts led him to acting and in 1954 he joined the Stratford Festival in its second season. He acted in numerous stage productions in Canada and the United States before joining CBC radio which led ultimately to television. One of his earliest TV appearances was as Feste in a 1962 TV production of Twelfth Night.
After a two-year stint (1967–68) with his own nationally broadcast mid-morning CBC radio show Gerussi, Words and Music, Gerussi won the lead role on the popular CBC family adventure series The Beachcombers (1972–90) created by Marc and Susan Strange.[3]
The role of his career arrived in 1972 when he was signed to play Nick Adonidas in The Beachcombers, a comedy-adventure-drama set on the west coast of Canada. The Beachcombers ran for 387 episodes between 1972 and 1990 and remains Canada's longest-ever running weekly dramatic series.
During part of his time with The Beachcombers, Gerussi hosted the popular CBC cooking program Celebrity Cooks in the late 1970s. The series featured the last public appearance of actor Bob Crane of Hogan's Heroes fame, who was murdered soon afterwards. The taping of Crane's episode was recreated in the 2002 film, Auto Focus in which actor John Kapelos portrayed Gerussi.
Gerussi's popularity in Celebrity Cooks led him to become commercial spokesperson for one of the first lines of microwave ovens to be made available for home use in Canada in the late-1970s/early-1980s.
He was the host of the first Genie Awards broadcast in 1980. The Genies are the primary honours for Canadian cinema.
Canadian rock group Bruno Gerussi's Medallion performed at the Beachcombers wrap party on August 4, 1990 at the Gibsons Curling Rink.
On 21 November 1995, Bruno Gerussi died of a heart attack in Vancouver at the home of his companion, Supreme Court Judge Nancy Morrison.[4]
The TV movie The New Beachcombers (2002), was dedicated in his memory. However, this did not lead to a new series of The Beachcombers.
Gerussi received a Gemini Award nomination for Best Performance by a Lead Actor in a Continuing Dramatic Role in 1990 for the final season of The Beachcombers.
He won the Geminis' Earle Grey Award posthumously for lifetime achievement in 1996. His children Rico & Tina accepted it on his behalf.