Tuesday, May 20, 2008

JACK DUFFY (1926 - 2008)

Like my friend who was doing a Space: 1999 festival just before he heard that actor Barry Morse had passed away, I was reading up on Party Game last evening only to wake up to the news that Canadian actor/comedian "Captain" Jack Duffy had died at Toronto General Hospital last night.

For many Canadians, Duffy was known by way of a little game show by the name of Party Game. This game of charades was produced at CHCH television out of Hamilton, Ontario. It was as simple as you could get: Two couches and four gamers. "Captain" Jack, as he was known -- and identified as such by Party Game's host, Bill Walker -- was a regular. He might have been in every episode of the long running show which was produced between 1970 and 1980 (and ran and ran).

Don't think (Canadians) that Jack Duffy was someone who never made it outside of this country. As a matter of fact, he was a regular on The Perry Como Show from 1961 to 1963. An alcoholic, Duffy was forced to leave Perry Como after the bottle all but wiped him out.

He is one of those Canadian personalities who was known to a kid like me. And, yes, I watched Party Game quite a bit.

http://www.thestar.com/News/Obituary/article/427513

1 comment:

Jawsphobia said...

I remember Captain Jack Duffy and Billy Van on Party Game. I think we had two channels back then. It's interesting to know Hamilton was so productive with TV. I think Hillarious House of Frightenstien came from there too.

I also dimly remember an American version with Bert Convey as host to folks like Burt Reynolds.