Louis Negin 1929 - 2022

Actor - A Veteran of Stage and Screen

Louis Negin was born in London, England and grew up in Canada.  His acting career reached over sixty years.  He spent seven years at the Stratford Festival in Stratford, Ontario.  He appeared in Tamburlaine the Great in 1956, which toured to Broadway.

Louis relocated to London where he and a group of talented Canadians revised the play Love and Maple Syrup.  It was performed at the Gatehouse and Roundhouse theatres in London and eventually in Ottawa.

He stayed in London until 1976. While there he performed nude in the production of John Herbert’s Fortune and Men’s Eyes.  Louis recounted a funny story about his mother’s reaction to his nude performance. “There I am in the nude onstage and my mom stands up in the audience and says, ‘Louis put your pants back on!’  I thought I would faint on the spot.  The story ran in the newspapers around the world. My mom did interviews and there were paparazzi camped outside the house.”

Upon returning to Canada, Louis appeared in M Butterfly, The Mystery of Irma Vep, and Molly Wood.  He played Truman Capote twice. The first was a stage production of TRU in 1996 and the second time was in the movie 54 in 1998.

He wrote The Glass Eye in collaboration with Marie Brassard. It is his semi-autobiographical play and was performed at the Luminato Festival in Toronto in 2008. Louis described it as a “collage of memories, dreams, fantasies, and truth,” expressing his dreams of celebrity and its disillusionment.

He is best known for his roles in the films of Guy Maddin. He was a muse for the director.  Negin acted in Cowards Bend the Knee, Sissy Boy Slap Party, The Saddest Music in the World, Keyhole and The Forbidden Room. He also narrated Maddin’s semi-documentary films Brand Upon the Brain and My Winnipeg. Louis also had guest roles in many films including Pontypool.

Louis was known for his love of clothes.  His clothing and scarves were described as architectural “look at me” items.  He loved colour and he loved shoes, especially those designed by Manolo Blahnik.  When asked about vintage clothing he replied, “I am vintage, I don’t need to shop vintage.”

Louis loved living in Cabbagetown on Aberdeen Avenue and enjoyed sun tanning on his third floor deck.  He enjoyed strolling the high street and chatting over a cappuccino.  He had a huge personality, and designer and actor friends from all over the world visited his Cabbagetown home.  Celebrity sightings were many!

Louis has been described as a wonderful actor and a wonderful human being. He was the consummate raconteur and he loved entertaining everyone.  He was the partner of former television and film designer Charles Dunlop.

 

About his age, Negin once said:

“Write that I’m 95 years old, and that I’ve been to Hungary to have some work done.”