Patrick Watson, a broadcasting legend whose work in the industry spanned more than five decades, has died. He was 92.
Through his work as a producer, author, television host and more, Watson has helped shape the face of Canadian journalism – while never shying away from controversy or tough decisions.
Born in Toronto in 1929, Watson began his career playing Jake on CBC Radio’s daily children’s series The Kootenay Kid in 1943, a job for which he began earning $1 per episode.
He began to pursue an academic career, but later abandoned a PhD in linguistics from the University of Michigan to work at the CBC in 1955. Soon after, he hosted the travel series The Four Corners in 1957, after which he continued to work both in front of and behind the camera on a number of other shows such as The Watson Report (1975-1981), Venture (1985-1987) and The Struggle for Democracy (1989).
The Struggle for Democracy took five years to make, was filmed in 30 countries and, at the time, was the most expensive original documentary series ever made for Canadian television.
Laurier LaPierre, left, Dinah Christie, center, and Patrick Watson appear in a publicity photo for This Hour Has Seven Days on January 9, 1966. (Barry Wilson/CBC Still Photo Collection)
In 1964, Watson began work on one of the most influential shows of his career, This Hour Has Seven Days. The Sunday night program, which Watson co-hosted with Laurie LaPierre and co-created with Douglas Letterman, was a groundbreaking public relations series that attracted an audience of millions with its no-holds-barred and opinionated style.
“I was seen as a troublemaker”
Based on the BBC program That Was The Week That Was, the series uses a mix of documentary material, satire and original music by Canadian actor and singer Dinah Christie to review the week’s news – and often profile influential figures. It ran for two years and aired 50 episodes before being canceled in 1966 due to its provocative nature, after which Watson spent several years as an independent producer and journalist.
“They looked at me as a troublemaker,” Watson said in a 1981 Maclean’s magazine interview about leaving the CBC after This Hour ended. “It was partly a self-imposed exile from the CBC, but it was also true that I wasn’t going to be hired. I was broke after doing some spectacular TV pictures.’
Heritage minutes writer
Yet younger Canadians may have known him better as the lead writer behind the original Heritage Minutes, a one-minute series aimed at making Canadian history more accessible. Watson said the project, which has itself achieved legendary status in Canadian culture, was created to “convince Canadians that they have an interesting past.”
WATCH | Charles Bronfman and Patrick Watson on the origins of Heritage Minutes:
Watson did return to the CBC and became chairman from 1989, during which he oversaw the broadcaster’s controversial restructuring of the 1990s. During that time, 1,100 employees were laid off and several stations closed in the face of a huge budget deficit.
He resigned as chairman in 1994, but continued to put out more work – as host of The Canadians: Biographies of a Nation, a biographical series on History Television, and later a three-volume print edition of that show.
“From his beginnings as a teenage actor on CBC Radio’s The Kootenay Kid, to his storied career with CBC News and his time as chairman of the board of directors of CBC/Radio-Canada, Patrick Watson’s contributions to Canada’s public broadcaster and his service to Canadians in a number of areas was far-reaching, made a difference and will not soon be forgotten,” a CBC spokesperson said of Watson’s death.
“Both at CBC and beyond, Watson’s work as a cameraman, producer, actor and author over five decades has made him an icon of Canadian broadcasting and left a legacy that will last for decades to come.” Our thoughts are with his family and friends.”
WATCH | Patrick Watson on the art of the interview:
Patrick Watson and the Art of the Interview
In 1978, broadcaster and Renaissance man Patrick Watson described how he developed his interview technique.
Watson became an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1981 and was later promoted to Companion in 2001 for promoting “excellence in Canadian television and radio”. He was also a long-time advocate for people with disabilities after his leg was amputated below the knee in 1960, and was Honorary President of the Canadian Sports Amputee Association and Honorary President of the Canadian Abilities Foundation.
He later became an accomplished pilot, windsurfer, water skier and scuba diver, publishing numerous novels and non-fiction books and a play (1983 The Book of Job) in which he also starred. As an actor, he appeared in the television films The Terry Fox Story (1983) and Countdown to Looking Glass (1984); the films Bethune (1977) and The Fourth Angel (2001) and the TV series Slings and Arrows (2003). He published an autobiography, This Hour Has Seven Decades, in 2004.
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