Fonds XZ1 MS B007 - Eric Donkin collection

Title and statement of responsibility area

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Eric Donkin collection

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    Fonds

    Reference code

    CA ON00344 XZ1 MS B007

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    Statement of scale (cartographic)

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    Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)

    Dates of creation area

    Date(s)

    • 1917-1998 (Creation)

    Physical description area

    Physical description

    7.2 m of textual records and other material ca. 900 photographs 15 cm graphic material 21 videocassettes 118 audio cassettes

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    Name of creator

    Biographical history

    Eric Donkin was born in Liverpool, England, in 1929. His family came to Canada when he was eleven months old and settled in Montreal. Donkin’s acting debut was on the radio at age eleven. He was trained at the Montreal Repertory Theatre and the National Theatre. Donkin worked in many major houses across Canada, including Halifax’s Neptune Theatre, the National Arts Centre, Toronto’s Young People’s Theatre and the Manitoba Theatre Centre. He was a regular at the Stratford Festival in the 1970s and 1980s, touring with the company around North America and Europe. Donkin’s versatile talent was showcased in genres from classical theatre to comedy to musicals. Two notable performances were in one-man shows, The Wonderfull World of Sarah Binks (1980) and Altman’s Last Stand (1982). Donkin also worked in films for the National Film Board of Canada, and had regular television appearances, for example in the 1976 CTV series Sidestreet. Donkin received Stratford’s Tyrone Guthrie Award and a Dora Mavor Moore Award. He died in Stratford in 1998 after a heart attack.

    Custodial history

    Fonds was in the custody of the executor of Donkin’s estate after the latter’s death in 1998, and was donated to the University of Guelph later that year.

    Scope and content

    The fonds includes textual, audio and visual materials relating to Eric Donkin’s personal and professional life. It includes items collected by Donkin dating as far back as 1917. The fonds’ coverage ends in 1998. Records consist of scripts, house programs, a set of Stratford season brochures, production photographs, personal photographs, play books, script books, notebooks, scrapbooks, posters, reviews and articles, contracts, correspondence and finance files.

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        Access is open

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        Associated materials

        Young People’s Theatre Archives Stratford Festival Collection

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        Accruals

        No further accruals are expected.

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