Paul Soles

Paul Soles
Born Paul Robert Soles
(1930-08-11) 11 August 1930
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Occupation Actor, television personality, voice actor
Years active 1950s-present

Paul Robert Soles (born 11 August 1930)[1] is a Canadian actor and television personality. He is also a voice actor, starring in series such as The Marvel Super Heroes show (1966) and Spider-Man (1967).

Soles first screen appearance was on CFPL (Canada's second privately owned television station) in 1953, and he continues to perform over 60 years later, performing as of 2016 in the comedy web series My 90-Year-Old Roommate on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's online comedy channel, CBC Comedy.[1][2]

Acting roles

Soles is best known as the original voice of Hermey the misfit elf in Rankin/Bass' Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in 1964.[3] Soles played Stanley the pizza shop owner in The Incredible Hulk (2008), and his other film appearances have included roles in Ticket to Heaven (1981), Just the Way You Are (1984) and The Gunrunner (1989) opposite Kevin Costner. He also played Danny, the Montreal Customs House janitor in the 2001 crime thriller The Score.

Soles won a 2006 Gemini Award for his role in the television series Terminal City,[4] and a 2017 Canadian Screen Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Digital Production for My 90-Year-Old Roommate.[5]

Voice work

Soles also did voices on various animated TV shows and films such as Rocket Robin Hood, The Smokey Bear Show, The Little Brown Burro, King of the Beasts, The Marvel Super Heroes, the original Spider-Man cartoon, The Trolls and the Christmas Express, Take Me Up to the Ball Game, Willy McBean and his Magic Machine, Festival of Family Classics, The Reluctant Dragon and Mr. Toad Show, Noah's Animals, Iron Man, and The King Kong Show.

Soles was also the narrator of The Wonderful Stories of Professor Kitzel, the voice of The Commissioner in the 2005 animated TV series Funpak and has also supplied the voice of Dr. Reboux in the animated version of the 2005 film Heidi.

Soles also voiced the Academy Award-nominated animated documentary The Colours of My Father: A Portrait of Sam Borenstein.[6]

In 2011, Soles started voicing the recurring character Maxwell Finnwich on Detentionaire.

Television hosting

He was the host of the short-lived CBC Television late-night comedy talk show Canada After Dark, and co-hosted the public affairs show Take 30 for 18 seasons with hosts such as Anna Cameron and Adrienne Clarkson. He also hosted the CFPL television game show Take Your Choice for one year in the early 1960s.[4]

Documentary producer

Paul Soles was also a producer of documentaries while he was an on-air talent at CFPL-TV in London, Ontario. He worked on a series called, The World Around Us, and travelled with film crews in Great Britain in the early 1960s, filming many aspects of British life. He even got on a soap-box in Hyde Park in London to speak his mind. Soles has worked with people like Dennis Goulden (a long-time documentarian who still produces television specials in the States) and Jim Plant and Tom Ashwell and Jon Boynton.

Family

Soles and his wife Lucy have several children and grandchildren. Soles is cousin of Bernard "Bunny" Cowan, and they both worked on the original 1960s Spider-Man animated series and the 1967 children's series Max, the 2000-Year-Old Mouse.[1][7]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Wise, Wyndham. "Soles, Paul". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2016-09-29.
  2. ↑ Reid, Regan (2016-04-05). "CBC orders 10 episodes of My 90-Year-Old Roommate for Punchline". Playback. Retrieved 2016-09-29.
  3. ↑ "Paul Soles (profile)". Northern Stars. Archived from the original on 30 November 2010. Retrieved 30 May 2009.
  4. 1 2 Brady, Bill (30 May 2009). "Indefatigable Soles". London Free Press. Retrieved 2009-05-30.
  5. ↑ "CBC web series score wins as Canadian Screen Awards celebrate all things digital". CBC News, March 10, 2017.
  6. ↑ NFB.ca Web page, The Colours of My Father
  7. ↑ Bell, John (2006). Invaders from the North: How Canada Conquered the Comic Book Universe. Dundurn Press. p. 116. ISBN 978-1-55002-659-7.
  • Paul Soles on IMDb
  • Spider-Man memory site Paul Soles describes the making of the cartoon TV show in Toronto and the voice actors behind the characters.
Preceded by
None		 Voice of Spider-Man
1967-1970		 Succeeded by
Ted Schwartz
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.