Lorne Greene

Lorne Hyman Greene (born Lyon Himan Green; February 12, 1915 – September 11, 1987) was a Canadian actor, singer, and radio personality. His notable roles include Ben Cartwright in the Western television series Bonanza and Commander Adama in the original science-fiction television series Battlestar Galactica and its follow-up series Galactica 1980. He appeared in major films such as Peyton Place (1957) and Earthquake (1974), as well as the hit television miniseries The Moneychangers (1976) and Roots (1977). He also worked on the Canadian television nature documentary series Lorne Greene's New Wilderness during the 1980s and has done many television commercials. During the 1960s, he also enjoyed a side career as a country music recording artist, and in 1964 scored a number one pop hit in both the U.S. and Canada with the single ‘Ringo’.

Greene was born Lyon Himan Green on February 12, 1915, in Ottawa, Ontario, to Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire, Dora (née Grinovsky) and Daniel Green, a shoemaker. He was called "Chaim" by his mother, and his name is shown as "Hyman" on his school report cards. In a biography written by his daughter, she wrote that it was unknown when he began using the name Lorne or when he added an "e" to Green.

Greene was the drama instructor at Camp Arowhon, a summer camp in Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, where he developed his talents. He acted while attending Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. While there, he acquired a knack for broadcasting with the Radio Workshop of the university's Drama Guild on the campus radio station CFRC.

He initially aimed at a career in chemical engineering, but became interested in theatre, and upon graduation from Queens University moved to New York to study acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre. Relocating to Toronto in 1939, he found a job as a newsreader for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), soon becoming principal newsreader on the CBC National News. He received the unofficial title "The Voice of Canada"; however, his deep, resonant voice and sonorous delivery of the increasingly distressing war news provoked the alternate nickname "The Voice of Doom". During his radio days, Greene invented a countdown timer, making a stopwatch run backwards from a set time limit and count down to zero. This helped radio announcers gauge how much time was left to a segment while speaking.

Greene continued his work at the CBC throughout World War II, although he officially joined the Royal Canadian Air Force, in 1942, and held the rank of flying officer. In addition to his radio work, Greene narrated newsreel and documentary films, such as the National Film Board of Canada's Fighting Norway (1943).

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.