David Benson French (1939 - 2010)

Born 18 Jan 1939 in Coley's Point, Newfoundland

Ancestors

Died 4 Dec 2010 at age 71 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Biography

David French is Notable.

David French was born in Coley's Point, Newfoundland in on January 18, 1939. He was the son of Garfield French and his wife Edith.

David's family emigrated to Canada after World War II.

David was made an officer of the Order of Canada in 2001.

David died in Toronto, Ontario, on December 4, 2010.

Obituary

DAVID BENSON FRENCH, O.C. Playwright 1939 - 2010 David French was born on Wednesday, January 18, 1939 in Coley's Point, Newfoundland. It was a snowy, blustery day in the tiny outport and David's father arrived home with the doctor in tow to find the baby already nestled in his mother's arms. David was the third of the five sons born to Edith Benson French and Garfield French; two older boys -- Fred and Don -- came before him and twin brothers Wallace and Billy followed a year and a half later.

David's first years were spent in Coley's Point, a place he remembered vividly and held close all of his life. During World War II, Garfield, a carpenter, worked for the Eastern Air Command in Canada and after the war Edith and the boys joined their father in Ontario. Granny French soon came to live with the family, too and David, who spent many hours reading the Bible to her, became her particular favourite.

In Toronto David attended Rawlinson Public School, where he excelled in sports. He went on to high school at Harbord Collegiate and completed Grade 13 at Oakwood Collegiate, where he made several lifelong friends. David was initially uninterested in books, but in Grade Eight a teacher made him sit down and read a book as a punishment for talking in class. The volume David happened to pull off the shelf was Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and by the time he finished reading it he not only knew he wanted to be a writer, he knew that he was one. Almost immediately he started to have poetry published in small magazines.

In the late 1950s and early 60s, David studied acting, first at the Pasadena Playhouse in California and later at various Toronto acting studios. He got work as a leading man in several CBC television dramas, but soon turned to writing instead. Throughout the 1960s David wrote many half-hour teleplays for the CBC as well as working on the children's series Razzle Dazzle.

In 1971, David took a draft of a play he was working on to a new theatre in Toronto, the Tarragon, run by Bill Glassco. That play was Leaving Home, which was an enormous success in the Tarragon's first season and led to a thirty-year collaboration between the two men, with Bill directing each of David's premiere productions. Leaving Home went on to be produced at every regional theatre in Canada - the first Canadian play to do so. Leaving Home introduced audiences to the Mercers, a family, which, like David's own, had been transplanted from Newfoundland to Toronto.

David wrote four more plays about the Mercer family: Of The Fields, Lately, Salt-Water Moon, 1949 and Soldier's Heart. David's other plays include the popular comedy Jitters, the dramas That Summer, The Riddle of the World, and One Crack Out, the mystery Silver Dagger, plus adaptations of The Seagull, The Forest, and Miss Julie. His work has been produced internationally and throughout North America, including on and off-Broadway runs. In recent years, Toronto's Soulpepper Theatre has staged highly-acclaimed and successful revivals of his work.

David was one of the first inductees into the Newfoundland Hall of Honour. He was a recipient of the Queen's Silver Jubilee Medal and in 2001 was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada.

David was predeceased by his parents and his brother Fred. He is survived by his partner Glenda MacFarlane, and their daughter Mary; his son Gareth; former spouse and friend Leslie French; brothers Don, Bill, and Wallace and their spouses, as well as his many nieces and nephews and their families. David also leaves behind a host of dear friends across the country, but especially in Toronto and at Cable Head, PEI, where he spent the past forty summers.^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ Published in Toronto Star on Dec. 10, 2010. https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/thestar/obituary.aspx?n=david-benson-french&pid=147076339

See also:

• Wasserman, Jerry, "David French." The Canadian Encyclopedia. Toronto: Historica Canada. Article published May 16, 2011; Last Edited May 28, 2018. Accessed 18 April 2020.
• Wikipedia: David French (playwright)
• Wikidata: Item Q1174460, en:Wikipedia

Research Notes

• There is an entry for David in Find A Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/80804966/david-french It does not list a grave location, but it does contain an obituary (although not the source).