John Dunsworth

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John Dunsworth
John Dunsworth.jpg
Dunsworth in September 2011
Born(1946-04-12)April 12, 1946
Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, Canada
DiedOctober 16, 2017(2017-10-16) (aged 71)
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
OccupationActor
Years active1976–2017
Spouse
Elizabeth Bates
​
(m. 1974)​
Children4 (including Sarah and Molly)

John Francis Dunsworth (April 12, 1946 – October 16, 2017) was a Canadian actor. He was best known for playing the antagonistic trailer park supervisor Jim Lahey on the cult comedy series Trailer Park Boys (2001–2018). His other roles included the mysterious reporter Dave Teagues on the supernatural drama series Haven (2010–2015) and Officer McNabb in the CBC film Shattered City: The Halifax Explosion (2003). He also had extensive experience in regional theater.

Early life

Dunsworth was born in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, the second of 10 children born to Frank and Frances Dunsworth.[1] In 1988, he starred in a video documentary short titled John Dunsworth: The Candidate,[2] which was written and directed by Neal Livingston. The film follows an underdog provincial candidate for the New Democratic Party in the riding of Halifax Bedford Basin[3] as he campaigns, based on Dunsworth's candidacy in the 1988 Nova Scotia general election.[1]

Halifax Bedford Basin, 1988 Nova Scotia general election[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
  Progressive Conservative Joel Matheson 6,462 45.1%
  Liberal Penny LaRocque 4,977 34.9%
  New Democratic Party John Dunsworth 2,746 19.3%

Career

Dunsworth studied acting at the University of Guelph, but dropped out in his fourth year.[1] He went on to act in numerous CBC radio dramas, and had starring roles in many stage productions at the Neptune Theatre in Halifax.[5] In 1970, Dunsworth leased an abandoned building on Halifax's waterfront, and converted it into a playhouse. Dubbing it the Pier One Theatre, it became the city's first and most successful alternative theater production house.[6] In the late 1980s, Dalhousie University hired Dunsworth to produce the university's Welcome Show for new students at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium, in which he also occasionally had an unseen voice-over role. In 1987, Dunsworth founded Filmworks Casting where he worked as Halifax's most renowned casting director.[1] Dunsworth met director Mike Clattenburg in the mid-1990s when he tried out for a bit part in Clattenburg's film short, "One Last Shot". Dunsworth's small role gradually transformed into a leading part that earned him a Best Performance award from the Atlantic Film Festival. From there, he further developed the character into what would eventually become Jim Lahey in Trailer Park Boys.[7]

Dunsworth, John Paul Tremblay, and Robb Wells can be seen in the 2002 movie Virginia's Run starring Gabriel Byrne and Joanne Whalley. Dunsworth plays a local cop while Tremblay and Wells play active and verbal townsmen similar to their Trailer Park Boys characters. Actors are credited as cop for John Dunsworth, J.P. for John Paul Tremblay (credits as J.P. Tremblay), and Robb Wells as Rob. The movie was filmed in Nova Scotia, Canada.[8] Dunsworth starred in Haven, the television series adaptation of the Stephen King novel The Colorado Kid.[9]

In 2010, Dunsworth reunited with many of his former Trailer Park Boys castmates in the new series The Drunk and On Drugs Happy Fun Time Hour.[10]

Personal life

Dunsworth lived in his native Nova Scotia with his wife, Elizabeth, whom he married sometime after 1974. Together, they had three daughters (Sarah, Zoë, and Molly) and one son (Geoff).[11] Two of his daughters, Sarah and Molly, are actresses.[12][13][14]

Unlike the character he played on Trailer Park Boys, Dunsworth rarely drank alcohol; the 'alcohol' he drank in the show was usually iced tea.[15] He admitted to suffering from a gambling problem in his early years.[16] As a result of his recovery, he had been instrumental in trying to remove video lottery terminals from bars in Nova Scotia.[17]

Dunsworth once appeared on stage with Guns N' Roses in Halifax, as Axl Rose is a fan of Trailer Park Boys and Dunsworth's character in particular.[18] He was a boating enthusiast and frequently spent time on his yacht, Emerald Princess. He enjoyed building granite sculptures and structures with local stone and concrete.[19]

Death

Dunsworth died of an initially undisclosed illness on National Liquor Day https://nationaldaycalendar.com/national-liqueur-day-october-16/. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)</ref> October 16, 2017, in Halifax, Nova Scotia,[20] at the age of 71.[21] In a statement, Dunsworth's daughter Sarah described the illness as "short and unexpected" and stated that her father was an "amazing husband, father and grandfather".[21] On a Facebook post written on May 26, 2021, from the "100% John Dunsworth" page, which is a page run by Dunsworth's surviving family and friends, it was revealed in the comments section in a comment made by the page that he passed due to complications related to thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP).[22] John Dunsworth is buried at St. Anthony's & St. Augustine's Catholic Cemetery located in Simms Settlement, Nova Scotia.

Filmography

Dunsworth had 70 titles for which he is credited as an actor.[23][24] Below is a selected filmography.

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1978 So Long to Run
1992 Buried on Sunday
1998 One Last Shot
2001 The Shipping News Guy Quoyle
2001 A Glimpse Of Hell
2006 A Bug and a Bag of Weed
2006 Trailer Park Boys: The Movie Jim Lahey
2007 Stuck
2009 Trailer Park Boys: Countdown to Liquor Day Jim Lahey
2011 Cloudburst
2011 Take This Waltz
2014 Trailer Park Boys 3: Don't Legalize It Jim Lahey
2014 Swearnet: The Movie
2014 Santa Quest
2014 Lizzie Borden Took An Ax Last film

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1997 Pit Pony Television film
1997 Lexx: The Dark Zone Mini-series
1999–2002 Lexx
2001–2008; 2014–2018 Trailer Park Boys Jim Lahey
2001 Three Days Television film
2002 Trudeau Delegate Mini-series
2002 The Christmas Shoes Television film
2003 Shattered City: The Halifax Explosion Television film
2004 Reversible Errors Television film
2004 The Trailer Park Boys Christmas Special Jim Lahey Television special
2005 Jesse Stone: Stone Cold Television film
2005 Trudeau II: Maverick in the Making Emery Beaulieu Mini-series
2005 Ambulance Girl Television film
2005 The Hunt for the BTK Killer Television film
2010–2015 Haven Dave Teagues
2010 The Gospel According to the Blues
2011 The Drunk and On Drugs Happy Fun Time Hour
2012 Titanic: The Aftermath
2013 Forgive Me The Prelate
2019–2020 Trailer Park Boys: The Animated Series Jim Lahey (voice) Archive recording
Posthumous release

Notes

  • Dunsworth is credited in Dolores Claiborne as a part of the crew but did not appear in the film.

References

  1. ^ a b c d Knox, Casten (September 2005), John Dunsworth: From Angry Young Man to Renaissance Man, archived from the original on June 24, 2007, retrieved December 9, 2008
  2. ^ Johnston, Ian (May 27, 1990), "John Dunsworth: The Candidate", The Daily News
  3. ^ "Province of Nova Scotia Election Returns 1988" (PDF). Retrieved 17 October 2017.
  4. ^ "1988 Nova Scotia General Election Results. p. 83" (PDF).
  5. ^ Lahey, Liam (2003), Tight Pants and Self Righteousness, archived from the original on 2007-10-09, retrieved December 9, 2008
  6. ^ Perkyns, R. (1985), "Two Decades of Neptune Theatre", Theatre Research in Canada, vol. 6, no. 2
  7. ^ Barsanti, Sam. "R.I.P. John Dunsworth, Trailer Park Boys and Haven actor".
  8. ^ "Full Tales from Beyond the Pale LIVE Lineup Announced - Dread Central". www.dreadcentral.com. 26 September 2012.
  9. ^ "A Series of Sinister Soundbites - Dread Central". www.dreadcentral.com. 4 October 2012.
  10. ^ "The Boys are back and on drugs". The Globe and Mail, July 12, 2010.
  11. ^ McNeil, Robyn (December 2019), "Family, friends, and fans celebrate John Dunsworth's legendary kindness with good deeds of their own", The Telegram, archived from the original on December 20, 2019
  12. ^ Trask, Nicole (September–October 2006), "Fight Club", Halifax Magazine, archived from the original on August 12, 2008
  13. ^ "Hobo with a Shotgun (Official Movie Site) - Starring Rutger Hauer, Gregory Smith, Molly Dunsworth, Brian Downey and Nick Bateman - Now on DVD, Blu-ray™, VOD, XBOX 360, Playstation™, Amazon and Vudu - Trailers, Pictures & More". www.hobowithashotgun.com.
  14. ^ "Hobo with a Shotgun". 12 May 2011 – via www.imdb.com.
  15. ^ Capancioni, Marc (September 2008), "Liquored-up Mr. Lahey role initially gave actor bad case of the shivers", The Sault Star
  16. ^ CBC Arts (April 18, 2005), "'Trailer Park Boys' to tackle VLT addiction", CBC News, retrieved December 9, 2008
  17. ^ Hooked for Life. The Globe and Mail. March 23, 2009.
  18. ^ John appears on stage with Axl Rose on YouTube
  19. ^ Video of John's boat and stone projects on YouTube
  20. ^ "John Dunsworth Service Details". Ronald A. Walker Funeral Homes. Retrieved October 18, 2017.
  21. ^ a b CBC News (October 16, 2017), "'John Dunsworth, beloved actor best known as Mr. Lahey, has died'", CBC News, retrieved October 16, 2017
  22. ^ "'100% John Dunsworth'", Facebook, May 26, 2021, retrieved May 27, 2021
  23. ^ Remembering John Dunsworth – NorthernStars
  24. ^ "John Dunsworth". IMDb.

External links

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