Harold Greenberg

Harold Greenberg, OC, CQ, (January 11, 1930 – July 1, 1996) was a Canadian film producer.

Harold was born in Montreal, Quebec in 1930. Harold was born into a family of three brothers: Ian, Sydney and Harvey (died in 1997). Greenberg began working in a second-hand camera store when he was thirteen. He set up his own film and photography company and made a fortune by obtaining the exclusive rights to footage from Expo 67 in Montreal. In 1973 he acquired Astral Communications and subsequently combined it with his then company Ann Green Photos, named after his mother Ann Greenberg. Soon thereafter, it became one of the leading film production companies in Canada. Through its evolution into a pure-play media company and its acquisition of pay television channels, it became a leader in its field. In the 1980s Greenberg became heavily involved in pay TV and started The Movie Network and other pay per view channels. Harold Greenberg led his company to produce such films as Porky's, the most successful Canadian film ever and the critically acclaimed The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. Astral communications was changed to Astra Media and continues to distribute many international programs in Canada.

Harold Greenberg was adamant about the fact that Quebec and Canada had its own industry, with its own culture. Harold saw that Canada had distinct needs from the United States and frequently when having meetings with industry executives in the United States, he would say "Canada is not the Same as the United States" when the executives would commonly group Canada within the wider North American market. Greenberg was instrumental in creating a separate dubbing industry in Canada when previously, films would be sent to France in order to be dubbed. Greenberg identified this as a problem since the French-Canadian language and Parisian French were so different, with many different nuances. For Greenberg, family always came first and he would always be there for any family member who needed him. His wife, three children and 9 grand-children now survive him.

Greenberg died in 1996 and his brother Ian Greenberg took Harold's place as CEO of Astral.

He was also a noted philanthropist and was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 1992 he was made a Knight of the National Order of Quebec and he was also made a Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur, France,

Harold Greenberg identified that there was a demand for well-written Canadian scripts, but not enough resources to fund them into production. So in April 1986, he established The FUND (Foundation to Underwrite New Drama). In 1996, upon his passing, it was renamed The Harold Greenberg Fund. The French-language program, Le Fonds Harold Greenberg, was also established.

Since 1986, The Harold Greenberg Fund/Le Fonds Harold Greenberg has invested almost $73 million in the Canadian film and television industry. That’s over 3,250 projects.

External links

• Harold Greenberg at the Internet Movie Database
• Harold Greenberg at The Canadian Encyclopedia