Leslie Carlson(1933-2014)

Excellent, prolific, and versatile character actor Leslie Carlson was born on February 24, 1933 in Mitchell, South Dakota. Leslie earned both a BFA and an MA from the University of South Dakota, which he attended in the 1950s. Carlson began his acting career performing in several stage plays in both America and England. He immigrated to Canada in the late 1960s and began popping up in a slew of films and TV shows n the early 1970s. His most memorable movie roles were helpful police officer Graham in the chilling seasonal slasher shocker Black Christmas (1974), stuffy newspaper reporter Tom Sims in the creepy Deranged (1974), security expert Jim in Shoot (1976), bumbling drunk Bud in High-Ballin' (1978), and a pushy Christmas tree salesman in the delightful A Christmas Story (1983). Leslie appeared in four pictures for noted director David Cronenberg. He was splendidly slimy as sinister white collar corporate sleazeball Barry Convex in Videodrome (1983) (for which he was nominated for a Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role), The Dead Zone (1983), The Fly (1986), and the offbeat short Camera (2000). Among the many TV shows Carlson did guest spots on are Avonlea (1990), The X-Files (1993), Highlander (1992), Friday the 13th: The Series (1987), 21 Jump Street (1987), MacGyver (1985), The Twilight Zone (1985), and The New Avengers (1976). In addition to his film and TV credits, Leslie also acted throughout the decades in stage productions of such plays as "Homecoming," "Our Town," "A Lie of the Mind" (Carlson was nominated for a Jessie Richardson Award in 1989 for his sterling work in this particular play), "A Walk in the Woods," "Candida," "Glengarry Glen Ross," "Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde," "Hamlet," "Joggers," "All My Sons," and "Death and the Maiden." Carlson died of cancer on May 3, 2014 at the age of 81.