Alexis Kanner
Encyclopedia
Alexis Kanner
Alexis Kanner (2 May 1942 in Bagnères-de-Luchon
, France
- 13 December 2003 in London, England
) was a French
-born Anglo Canadian
actor, most notable for appearing in the ground-breaking TV series The Prisoner
.
He was born in Nazi
-occupied Bagnères-de-Luchon
, France
in May 1942. In April 1944, shortly before his second birthday, his family escaped with him to Montreal
, Canada
on the Portuguese ship Serpa Pinto.
Kanner made his first impression as an actor in the role of Alex, among a French Canadian cast, in the television drama series Beau Temps, Mauvais Temps (1955–1958).
He moved to England
in the late 50s to join the Birmingham Repertory Theatre
to further his acting career. This led to the Royal Court and the Royal Shakespeare Company
where he played in The Tempest in 1961 and the lead role in Hamlet
under the direction of Peter Brook
in 1965.
He appeared as Stephen in the 1962 film Reach For Glory about the brutal war games of evacuated teenage boys during the second world war. This would lead to him first meeting with the Assistant Director David Tomblin who would be a major influence on the direction of the The Prisoner
series six years later.
He had a small role in the 1962 comedy film We Joined the Navy playing Gerrett. The only real notable thing about the film was the amount of future British small screen comedy stalwarts who were acting in either similar small roles or uncredited cameos.
His earliest UK television appearance appears to have been as Peter in the Sunday Night Theatre
play Echo From Afar in 1959.
Other plays in which he performed were:
He appeared on British television in 1964 in an episode of The Saint
, "The Ever Loving Spouse" as Alec Misner and in the first of three episodes in ATV
's Love Story, A Future Holiday as Frank Watkins. His other appearances in that series were in the following year in Briefly Kiss The Loser as Big Silver Gardner and in 1967 as Colin Turner in Cinéma Vérité.
His film career continued with an appearance in The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders in 1965 as part of a Mohocks
gang.
He first came to national prominence in Britain
when he appeared as Detective Constable Matt Stone in 9 episodes of Softly, Softly
in 1966 on BBC TV
. This was a spin-off series from Z-Cars
. He claimed in interviews later that he left not wanting to be typecast.
Very little of this television
series remains in the BBC archives, due to the BBC
's then policy of 'junking' or taping over programmes from the 1960s and 1970s. The reasoning given at the time was that the programmes had limited repeat or overseas resale value, and it was not realised until much later that this material would be of tremendous interest. As a result, many thousands of hours of television programmes were lost (such as early episodes of Doctor Who
and Dad's Army
). However, one complete episode featuring Kanner does survive in the BBC archives, 'A-Z' (broadcast 30 March 1966) and one partial (the first 25mins), 'It Doesn't Grow On Trees' (broadcast 26 January 1966).
In 1967 he went back to Montreal
to star as the lead character Ernie Turner in the film The Ernie Game
which was written and directed by Don Owen for the National Film Board of Canada
.
, impressed with Kanner's acting skills, cast Kanner as the psychopathic 'Kid' / No.8 in the episode "Living in Harmony
". This led to further appearances in "The Girl Who Was Death
" and the final episode "Fall Out
", all as different characters.
He portrayed the rebellious 'No.48' in "Fall Out
", a role in which the dialogue was either a succession of short lines in response to other short lines or sung.
Kanner also gave an uncredited performance as the photographer in "The Girl Who Was Death
", in which he performed a number of stunts on a roller coaster.
. This was shown as the B film
in Britain to the feature film If...... The band Tuesday's Children who had a cameo role in a nightclub scene released the song they played in it called SHE as a single soon afterwards. No copies of this short film are known to exist.
He starred in a number of feature films soon after, including the 1969 movie Crossplot with Roger Moore
, Connecting Rooms
in 1970 with Bette Davis
and Michael Redgrave
, and Goodbye Gemini
(also 1970).
Around 1969/1970, however, for some unknown reason his career seemed to tail off in the UK.
He is wrongly credited with appearing in Invasion:UFO in 1972, a compilation film
made up of the episodes from the TV series UFO made in 1970. He had appeared in an episode called The Cat With 10 Lives but no footage of this was used in the "feature film".
He moved back to Canada
and his next film was Mahoney's Estate (a.k.a. Mahoney's Last Stand) in 1972 with Sam Waterston
and Maud Adams
, which he also co-wrote and co-directed. The original motion picture soundtrack of the same name was recorded by Ronnie Lane
(who was a friend of Alexis) and Ron Wood of The Faces fame, Ron Wood later joined The Rolling Stones
. Other famous names who worked on the album included Pete Townshend
and Kenney Jones
.
He worked again with Patrick McGoohan
on the Canadian hostage drama film Kings and Desperate Men
, in which he starred as well as writing, producing and directing. He apparently spent two years editing the film which, although filmed in December 1977, did not premiere until the 1981 Montreal World Film Festival
. During the late 80s Kanner sued the producers of the film Die Hard claiming that they stole the idea for that movie from this film (he lost).
His final known film is the Isaac Asimov
story Nightfall, released in 1988.
He settled back in London
in 1996 and was working on a new film project called J R Profitt that never came to fruition.
at his London home on 13 December 2003. He had requested that his body be flown to and buried in Israel.
Alexis Kanner (2 May 1942 in Bagnères-de-Luchon
Bagnères-de-Luchon
Bagnères-de-Luchon , also referred to as Luchon, is a spa town and a commune in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern France.-Geography:...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
- 13 December 2003 in London, England
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
) was a French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
-born Anglo Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
actor, most notable for appearing in the ground-breaking TV series The Prisoner
The Prisoner
The Prisoner is a 17-episode British television series first broadcast in the UK from 29 September 1967 to 1 February 1968. Starring and co-created by Patrick McGoohan, it combined spy fiction with elements of science fiction, allegory and psychological drama.The series follows a British former...
.
He was born in Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
-occupied Bagnères-de-Luchon
Bagnères-de-Luchon
Bagnères-de-Luchon , also referred to as Luchon, is a spa town and a commune in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern France.-Geography:...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
in May 1942. In April 1944, shortly before his second birthday, his family escaped with him to Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
on the Portuguese ship Serpa Pinto.
Career
Kanner attended the Montreal Children's Theatre under the tutelage of Dorothy Davis and Violet Walters.Kanner made his first impression as an actor in the role of Alex, among a French Canadian cast, in the television drama series Beau Temps, Mauvais Temps (1955–1958).
He moved to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in the late 50s to join the Birmingham Repertory Theatre
Birmingham Repertory Theatre
Birmingham Repertory Theatre is a theatre and theatre company based on Centenary Square in Birmingham, England...
to further his acting career. This led to the Royal Court and the Royal Shakespeare Company
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
where he played in The Tempest in 1961 and the lead role in Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
under the direction of Peter Brook
Peter Brook
Peter Stephen Paul Brook CH, CBE is an English theatre and film director and innovator, who has been based in France since the early 1970s.-Life:...
in 1965.
He appeared as Stephen in the 1962 film Reach For Glory about the brutal war games of evacuated teenage boys during the second world war. This would lead to him first meeting with the Assistant Director David Tomblin who would be a major influence on the direction of the The Prisoner
The Prisoner
The Prisoner is a 17-episode British television series first broadcast in the UK from 29 September 1967 to 1 February 1968. Starring and co-created by Patrick McGoohan, it combined spy fiction with elements of science fiction, allegory and psychological drama.The series follows a British former...
series six years later.
He had a small role in the 1962 comedy film We Joined the Navy playing Gerrett. The only real notable thing about the film was the amount of future British small screen comedy stalwarts who were acting in either similar small roles or uncredited cameos.
His earliest UK television appearance appears to have been as Peter in the Sunday Night Theatre
Sunday Night Theatre
Sunday Night Theatre was a long-running series of plays created by the BBC first in early 1950, and was regularly shown on Sundays until late 1959, when the last play, A Cup of Kindness, was staged...
play Echo From Afar in 1959.
Other plays in which he performed were:
- Play of the Week: Birds In The Wilderness as Peter (1962) and The Facing Chair (1963) as Clem Goodwin
- Television PlayhouseTelevision PlayhouseTelevision Playhouse was a live television series on the NBC Television network which aired from December 4, 1947 to April 11, 1948 on Sundays from 8pm to 10pm EST. The program was in cooperation with the National Theater and Academy, a federally sponsored theater group, and featured live...
: The Interview as The Young Man (1962) and Along Came A Spider as Brian (1963) - Drama '63: The Freewheelers as Jeremy (1963)
- Armchair Theatre: Living Image (1963) as John Manders playing a son who wonders if he can love his father even though he violently disapproves of everything he stands for
He appeared on British television in 1964 in an episode of The Saint
The Saint (TV series)
The Saint was an ITC mystery spy thriller television series that aired in the UK on ITV between 1962 and 1969. It centred on the Leslie Charteris literary character, Simon Templar, a Robin Hood-like adventurer with a penchant for disguise. The character may be nicknamed The Saint because the...
, "The Ever Loving Spouse" as Alec Misner and in the first of three episodes in ATV
Associated TeleVision
Associated Television, often referred to as ATV, was a British television company, holder of various licences to broadcast on the ITV network from 24 September 1955 until 00:34 on 1 January 1982...
's Love Story, A Future Holiday as Frank Watkins. His other appearances in that series were in the following year in Briefly Kiss The Loser as Big Silver Gardner and in 1967 as Colin Turner in Cinéma Vérité.
His film career continued with an appearance in The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders in 1965 as part of a Mohocks
Mohocks
The Mohocks were a gang that terrorized London in the early 18th century, attacking men and women alike. Taking their name from the Mohawk Indians, they assaulted both men and women, disfiguring their male victims and sexually assaulting their female victims...
gang.
He first came to national prominence in Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
when he appeared as Detective Constable Matt Stone in 9 episodes of Softly, Softly
Softly, Softly (TV series)
Softly, Softly is a British television drama series, produced by the BBC and screened on BBC 1 from January 1966. It centred around the work of regional crime squads, plain-clothes CID officers based in the fictional region of Wyvern - supposedly in the Bristol and Chepstow area of the UK...
in 1966 on BBC TV
BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation, which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927, has produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television...
. This was a spin-off series from Z-Cars
Z-Cars
Z-Cars is a British television drama series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby in the outskirts of Liverpool in Merseyside. Produced by the BBC, it debuted in January 1962 and ran until September 1978.-Origins:The series was developed by...
. He claimed in interviews later that he left not wanting to be typecast.
Very little of this television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
series remains in the BBC archives, due to the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's then policy of 'junking' or taping over programmes from the 1960s and 1970s. The reasoning given at the time was that the programmes had limited repeat or overseas resale value, and it was not realised until much later that this material would be of tremendous interest. As a result, many thousands of hours of television programmes were lost (such as early episodes of Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
and Dad's Army
Dad's Army
Dad's Army is a British sitcom about the Home Guard during the Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft and broadcast on BBC television between 1968 and 1977. The series ran for 9 series and 80 episodes in total, plus a radio series, a feature film and a stage show...
). However, one complete episode featuring Kanner does survive in the BBC archives, 'A-Z' (broadcast 30 March 1966) and one partial (the first 25mins), 'It Doesn't Grow On Trees' (broadcast 26 January 1966).
In 1967 he went back to Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
to star as the lead character Ernie Turner in the film The Ernie Game
The Ernie Game
The Ernie Game is a 1967 Canadian drama film directed by Don Owen.Called "One of the most innovative examples of personal cinema to come from English Canada in the Sixties" by the Cinematheque Ontario, The Ernie Game was part of a proposed trio of works intended to celebrate the Canadian Centennial...
which was written and directed by Don Owen for the National Film Board of Canada
National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada is Canada's twelve-time Academy Award-winning public film producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary, animation, alternative drama and digital media productions...
.
The Prisoner
Patrick McGoohanPatrick McGoohan
Patrick Joseph McGoohan was an American-born actor, raised in Ireland and England, with an extensive stage and film career, most notably in the 1960s television series Danger Man , and The Prisoner, which he co-created...
, impressed with Kanner's acting skills, cast Kanner as the psychopathic 'Kid' / No.8 in the episode "Living in Harmony
Living in Harmony
"Living in Harmony" is an episode of the 1967-68 television series The Prisoner. It differs from most other episodes of the series in that it does not begin with the show's standard opening credits sequence...
". This led to further appearances in "The Girl Who Was Death
The Girl Who Was Death
"The Girl Who Was Death" is a television episode of the British science fiction-allegorical series, The Prisoner. It originally aired in the UK on ITV on 18 January 1968...
" and the final episode "Fall Out
Fall Out (The Prisoner)
"Fall Out" is the seventeenth and final episode of the allegorical British science fiction series The Prisoner, which starred Patrick McGoohan as the incarcerated Number Six...
", all as different characters.
He portrayed the rebellious 'No.48' in "Fall Out
Fall Out (The Prisoner)
"Fall Out" is the seventeenth and final episode of the allegorical British science fiction series The Prisoner, which starred Patrick McGoohan as the incarcerated Number Six...
", a role in which the dialogue was either a succession of short lines in response to other short lines or sung.
Kanner also gave an uncredited performance as the photographer in "The Girl Who Was Death
The Girl Who Was Death
"The Girl Who Was Death" is a television episode of the British science fiction-allegorical series, The Prisoner. It originally aired in the UK on ITV on 18 January 1968...
", in which he performed a number of stunts on a roller coaster.
Later career
He starred in a little known short feature film called Twenty Nine in 1969 as Graham Baird in a story of a promiscuous young husband's night out in swinging London. It was only 26 minutes long and co-starred Yootha JoyceYootha Joyce
Yootha Joyce was an English actress, best known for playing Mildred Roper in Man About the House and George and Mildred.-Early life:...
. This was shown as the B film
B movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....
in Britain to the feature film If...... The band Tuesday's Children who had a cameo role in a nightclub scene released the song they played in it called SHE as a single soon afterwards. No copies of this short film are known to exist.
He starred in a number of feature films soon after, including the 1969 movie Crossplot with Roger Moore
Roger Moore
Sir Roger George Moore KBE , is an English actor, perhaps best known for portraying British secret agent James Bond in seven films from 1973 to 1985. He also portrayed Simon Templar in the long-running British television series The Saint.-Early life:Moore was born in Stockwell, London...
, Connecting Rooms
Connecting Rooms
Connecting Rooms is a 1970 British drama film written and directed by Franklin Gollings. The screenplay is based on the play The Cellist by Marion Hart....
in 1970 with Bette Davis
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
and Michael Redgrave
Michael Redgrave
Sir Michael Scudamore Redgrave, CBE was an English stage and film actor, director, manager and author.-Youth and education:...
, and Goodbye Gemini
Goodbye Gemini
Goodbye Gemini is a 1970 thriller directed by Alan Gibson from the novel Ask Agamemnon by Jenni Hall.-Plot:Jacki and Julian Dewar, a pair of fraternal twins, arrive via bus to London; they are home from university on Spring break, and their father is in Mexico on business...
(also 1970).
Around 1969/1970, however, for some unknown reason his career seemed to tail off in the UK.
He is wrongly credited with appearing in Invasion:UFO in 1972, a compilation film
Compilation movie
Film historian Jay Leyda discussed the origins of the compilation film in his work Films Beget Films.-Anime:A compilation movie, or compilation film, a term used by reviewers of Japanese anime, is a feature film that is mostly composed of footage from a television serial...
made up of the episodes from the TV series UFO made in 1970. He had appeared in an episode called The Cat With 10 Lives but no footage of this was used in the "feature film".
He moved back to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and his next film was Mahoney's Estate (a.k.a. Mahoney's Last Stand) in 1972 with Sam Waterston
Sam Waterston
Samuel Atkinson "Sam" Waterston is an American actor and occasional producer and director. Among other roles, he is noted for his Academy Award-nominated portrayal of Sydney Schanberg in 1984's The Killing Fields, and his Golden Globe- and Screen Actors Guild Award-winning portrayal of Jack McCoy...
and Maud Adams
Maud Adams
Maud Solveig Christina Wikström , known professionally as Maud Adams, is a Swedish actress, known for her roles as two different Bond girls: in The Man with the Golden Gun , and as the title character in Octopussy .-Early life:Adams was born Maud Solveig Christina Wikström in Luleå, Sweden, the...
, which he also co-wrote and co-directed. The original motion picture soundtrack of the same name was recorded by Ronnie Lane
Ronnie Lane
Ronald Frederick "Ronnie" Lane was an English musician, songwriter, and producer who is best known as the bass guitarist and founding member of two prominent English rock and roll bands; the Small Faces where he was nicknamed "Plonk", – and, after losing the band's frontman, Faces, with two new...
(who was a friend of Alexis) and Ron Wood of The Faces fame, Ron Wood later joined The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
. Other famous names who worked on the album included Pete Townshend
Pete Townshend
Peter Dennis Blandford "Pete" Townshend is an English rock guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and author, known principally as the guitarist and songwriter for the rock group The Who, as well as for his own solo career...
and Kenney Jones
Kenney Jones
Kenneth Thomas "Kenney" Jones is a veteran English rock drummer best known for his work in Small Faces, Faces, and The Who.-Small Faces to the Faces:...
.
He worked again with Patrick McGoohan
Patrick McGoohan
Patrick Joseph McGoohan was an American-born actor, raised in Ireland and England, with an extensive stage and film career, most notably in the 1960s television series Danger Man , and The Prisoner, which he co-created...
on the Canadian hostage drama film Kings and Desperate Men
Kings and Desperate Men
Kings and Desperate Men is a 1981 Canadian hostage drama film directed, co-written and produced by Alexis Kanner. The film stars Patrick McGoohan as radio talk show host John Kingsley, Margaret Trudeau as his wife Elizabeth, and Alexis Kanner with Andrea Marcovicci as terrorists. The story is set...
, in which he starred as well as writing, producing and directing. He apparently spent two years editing the film which, although filmed in December 1977, did not premiere until the 1981 Montreal World Film Festival
Montreal World Film Festival
The Montreal World Film Festival , founded in 1977, is one of Canada's oldest international film festivals and the only competitive film festival in North America accredited by the FIAPF...
. During the late 80s Kanner sued the producers of the film Die Hard claiming that they stole the idea for that movie from this film (he lost).
His final known film is the Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...
story Nightfall, released in 1988.
He settled back in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 1996 and was working on a new film project called J R Profitt that never came to fruition.
Death
He died of a heart attackMyocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
at his London home on 13 December 2003. He had requested that his body be flown to and buried in Israel.
External links
- Alexis Kanner Obituary in The StageThe StageThe Stage is a weekly British newspaper founded in 1880, available nationally and published on Thursdays. Covering all areas of the entertainment industry but focused primarily on theatre, it contains news, reviews, opinion, features and other items of interest, mainly to those who work within the...
- ((http://www.moviemags.com/main.php?title=ALEXISKANNERFANZINE&etos=%))