- Born
- Died
- Birth nameWilliam Ian DeWitt Hutt
- Height1.88 m
- William Hutt was born on May 2, 1920 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He was an actor, known for Great Performances (1971), Folio (1955) and Slings and Arrows (2003). He died on June 27, 2007 in Stratford, Ontario, Canada.
- He became a friend of playwright Edward Albee, who created a role in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" with Hutt in mind.
- He first appeared on stage at the Stratford Festival during its inaugural season in 1953, and remained closely associated with it until his retirement in 2005, at the age of 85. Over the years, he played numerous roles including Brutus, Macbeth, Hamlet, Falstaff, King Lear, and Prospero. He was said to be the first actor at Stratford to insist on delivering Shakespeare's lines in "pure, unadulterated Canadian".
- He appeared on stages in London and New York as well as Canada, cast alongside Alec Guinness, Maggie Smith, John Gielgud, Jessica Tandy, and Peter Ustinov.
- After 39 years at the Stratford Festival in Canada, Hutt has announced that this season will be his last. His final appearance will be in Shakespeare's "The Tempest" in the role of Prospero.
- Received an honorary Doctor of Letters from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario: October 1997.
- People sometimes come up to me to say, "You were so good as ....," and I think, "Oh, this time, please let it be Lear, or Prospero, or James Tyrone [in "Long Day's Journey into Night"]," but no, it's always, "I absolutely loved you as .... Lady Bracknell [in "The Importance of Being Earnest"]." (from a 2005 interview with CBC News)
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