CLARA THOMAS ARCHIVES














Inventory of the
Robert Christie fonds











Inventory #F0192






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FONDS LEVEL DESCRIPTION



Fonds/Collection Number:F0192
Title:Robert Christie fonds
Dates:1888-1996, predominant 1913-1996
Extent:6.36 m of textual records
33 audio reels
26 audio cassettes
4 audio discs
[ca. 800] photographs
Biographical Sketch/
Administrative History:
Robert Christie was an actor, director and drama instructor. He was born in Toronto, Ontario on 20 September 1913 and received his B.A. from Victoria College, University of Toronto in 1934. He distinguished himself as an actor in the 1933 Dominion Drama Festival before joining the John Holden Players in 1934. In 1936, Christie moved to England where he appeared in both provincial repertory theatre and the West End. He appeared in a London production of 'The Zeal of Thy House' before spending the 1938-1939 season with the Old Vic Company. He served in the Canadian Army from 1940 to 1945, after which he returned to Toronto and worked in the CBC Radio Drama Department. He also became a prominent member of the New Play Society appearing in such plays as Morley Callaghan's 'Going Home' (1950), John Coulter's 'Riel' (1950) and Mavor Moore's 'Sunshine Town' (1955). Christie joined the Stratford Festival Company in 1953 and performed in its first four seasons. He later appeared on Broadway in Stratford's production of Christopher Marlowe's 'Tamburlaine' (1956) and in Robertson Davies' 'Love and Libel' (1960). In 1967 he starred as Norah Hatch in the CBC series 'Hatch's Mill'. In addition to appearing in numerous other television and radio programs, Christie was also a teacher of acting in the Theatre Department, Ryerson Polytechnic Institute and was a member of the Actors' Equity Association, the Association of Canadian Radio and TV Artists, and the Arts and Letters Club of Toronto. He won the John Drainie Award in 1984. He died in 1996 in Toronto.
Scope and Content:

The fonds consists of material which documents both Christie's acting and pedagogical careers as well as material related to his family and personal life. Includes correspondence and subject files, photographs, playbills, scripts and production files, books, plays and reference materials, financial records, sound recordings, and scrapbooks containing reviews. The fond is arranged in the following series:

S00165Correspondence and subject files
S00166Scripts and production files
S00167Diaries
S00168Jane Mallet and Associates files
S00169Professorial files
S00170Financial records
S00171Christie family files
S00172Sound recordings
Custodial History: The Theatre Museum Corporation (Toronto, Ont.) received the records in accession 1999-067 from the Christie family [ca. 1994] and had custody of the records until their transfer to York University in 1999.
Restrictions on
Access and Use:
No restrictions on access.
Finding Aid: Series descriptions and file lists available.
URL of Finding Aid:http://archivesfa.library.yorku.ca/submissions/fonds/ON00370-f0000192.pdf
Accruals: The fonds comprises the following accessions: 1999-067, 2005-016. Further accruals may be expected.
1999-067
2005-016
Related Records: See the Canadian Speakers' and Writers' Service fonds (F0280), the Mavor Moore fonds (F0359) and the Herbert Whittaker fonds (F0453) for related material.
Immediate source of acquisition: Donated by Fiona Christie in 1999 and 2005.
Subject Access Points:Christie, Robert, 1913-1996
Provenance Access Points:Christie, Robert, 1913-1996

Date of creation: 2003/01/20
Date of last revision: 2007/12/18
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