The Earle Grey Award is the lifetime achievement award for television acting of the Canadian Screen Awards, and its predecessor the Gemini Awards. It can be presented to an individual or collaborative team (such as SCTV or Royal Canadian Air Farce), and may be presented posthumously.
The award was named in honour of Earle Grey, an actor and theatre director who founded the Earle Grey Players theatre troupe and had served as the first president of ACTRA's local chapter in Toronto.
The award was first presented by the ACTRA Awards in 1972, as the award for best performance in a television film within the annual eligibility period. In the earliest years it was the only acting award presented by the ACTRA Awards, although it was later supplemented with an award for best performance in a television series. Beginning in 1983, separate categories were introduced for performances by actors and actresses in television films; when the ACTRA Awards were taken over by the Gemini Awards beginning in 1986, the Earle Grey Award name was then transitioned into the Geminis' lifetime achievement award instead of being retained as the name for the primary annual acting awards.Tony Atherton, "Viewer curiosity behind Geminis success story". Ottawa Citizen, March 3, 1996.
Nominations for the award are presented by professionals within the Canadian television community and the decision of who will win the award is made by a special committee. However, it is not necessarily always presented annually.
Recipients ACTRA Awards 1972 - Geneviève Bujold"Bujold and Berton winners in ACTRA annual awards". Montreal Gazette, April 17, 1972. 1973 - Gordon Pinsent, The Rowdyman"Radio personalities sweep ACTRA Awards". Montreal Gazette, April 30, 1973. 1974 - Jackie Burroughs, Vicky"Annual ACTRA Awards dominated by women". Montreal Gazette, March 4, 1974. 1975 - William Hutt, The National Dream"William Hutt wins top ACTRA Award". The Province, April 24, 1975. 1976 - Jayne Eastwood, The Last of the Four Letter Words"CBC dominates awards as Canada honours own". Alberni Valley Times, April 22, 1976. 1977 - Sean Sullivan, Of the Fields, Lately"ACTRA Awards not pretentious, anyway". Ottawa Citizen, April 15, 1977. 1978 - Donald Sutherland, Bethune"CBC stars, programs sweep ACTRA Awards". Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, March 23, 1978. 1979 - Helen Burns, Catsplay"ACTRA awards list". Regina Leader-Post, April 5, 1979. 1980 - Don Francks, Drying Up the Streets"They're picked as the best in Canadian radio, TV". Regina Leader-Post, April 10, 1980. 1981 - Al Waxman, The Winnings of Frankie Walls"And the winners are...". Edmonton Journal, April 4, 1981. 1982 - Lally Cadeau, You've Come a Long Way, Katie"ACTRA winners". Vancouver Sun, May 13, 1982. 1983 - Rosemary Dunsmore, Blind FaithRick Groen, "Air Farce, Billy Bishop big ACTRA winners". The Globe and Mail, April 18, 1983. 1984 - Kenneth Welsh, Empire, Inc. (actor); Linda Griffiths, Empire, Inc. (actress)"ACTRA finalists are selected". The Globe and Mail, March 19, 1984. 1985 - Douglas Rain, A Flush of Tories (actor); Susan Wright, Slim Obsession (actress)Kirk Lapointe, "Night without stars: No surprises, few celebrities at ACTRA Awards". Vancouver Sun, April 4, 1985. 1986 - Maury Chaykin, Canada's Sweetheart: The Saga of Hal C. Banks (actor); Leueen Willoughby, The Other Kingdom (actress)Adele Freedman, "Charlie Grant's War is ACTRA's top show of the year: Nellie makes last stand brisk but chummy". The Globe and Mail, April 4, 1986.
Gemini Awards 1986 - Ed McNamara (posthumous)"Anne continues sweep of Gemini awards". The Globe and Mail, December 5, 1986. 1987 - Lorne Greene 1988 - Kate Reid 1989 - Sean McCann 1990 - Jan Rubeš 1992 - Colleen Dewhurst (posthumous award) 1993 - Barbara Hamilton 1994 - Ernie Coombs (Mr. Dressup) 1995 - Cast of SCTV: Rick Moranis, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Martin Short, Joe Flaherty, Catherine O'Hara, John Candy (posthumous), Harold Ramis, Dave Thomas. 1996 - Bruno Gerussi (posthumous) 1997 - Gordon Pinsent 1998 - Kenneth Welsh and Al Waxman 1999 - Jayne Eastwood 2000 - Cast and writers of Royal Canadian Air Farce: Ron Mann, Roger Abbott, Luba Goy, Don Ferguson, John Morgan. 2001 - Jackie Burroughs 2002 - Members of CODCO: Tommy Sexton (posthumous), Andy Jones, Greg Malone"Codco honoured with special award at Geminis". The Western Star, November 5, 2002. 2003 - Jennifer Dale 2004 - Graham Greene 2005 - Steve Smith 2006 - Donnelly Rhodes 2007 - Don Harron 2008 - David Gardner 2009 - Eric Peterson 2010 - Not awarded 2011 - Cedric Smith
Canadian Screen Awards 2012 - Not awarded 2013 - Not awarded 2014 - Colm Feore 2015 - Paul Gross 2016 - Wendy Crewson 2017 - Tantoo Cardinal"Tantoo Cardinal among those getting special Canadian Screen Awards" . The Guardian, January 12, 2016. 2018 - Clark Johnson"Canadian Screen Awards: Peter Mansbridge, Karyn Pugliese, Margaret Atwood to be honoured". CBC News, October 30, 2017. 2019 - Tina KeeperCorey Atad, "Alex Trebek, David Suzuki, Dan Levy And More Among 2020 Canadian Screen Awards Special Honourees" . ET Canada, December 4, 2019. 2022 - Peter MacNeillEtan Vlessing, "Ryan Reynolds, Simu Liu, Catherine O’Hara to Receive Honorary Canadian Screen Awards". The Hollywood Reporter, January 18, 2023. 2023 - Patrick HuardConnie Thiessen, "Canadian Academy to recognize Blue Ant Media CEO, among others". Broadcast Dialogue, May 1, 2024.
References
External links Academy database