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Peter Boretski was the stage name of Peter Perehinczuk (May 25, 1929 – September 5, 2001), a Canadian actor.^[1] He was best known for his recurring supporting role as Jack Soble in the 1970s sitcom King of Kensington.^[2]

Life and career

A native of Winnipeg, Manitoba,^[3] he began his acting career with the Manitoba Theatre Centre and the Stratford Festival,^[4] and had a small role in a 1956 Broadway production of Tamburlaine the Great, before spending some time as part of the company of the Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham, England.^[1] In the United Kingdom, he began using his mother's maiden name, Boretski, professionally.^[1] While working with the Alexandra, he also had occasional television acting roles in BBC drama anthology series.^[1]

He returned to Canada in the early 1960s with his wife, British actress Jennifer Phipps,^[5] and had his first significant stage role in Canada acting opposite Barbara Chilcott and Charmion King in a Crest Theatre production of Orpheus Descending.^[1]

He was active predominantly in theatre rather than film or television through the 1960s and early 1970s, both as an actor and a director.^[6] He also had several credits as a television director in this era, including the television film A Remnant of Harry and numerous episodes of the anthology series Festival and Norman Corwin Presents and the drama series Quentin Durgens, M.P..^[7]

In 1972, he was a key creator of Theatre Passe Muraille's collective play Bethune!, about the life of Norman Bethune.^[8]

In the later 1970s he began turning more strongly toward television and film acting, with his recurring role in King of Kensington and an appearance as Mr. Hersh in the television film The Wordsmith.^[9] He later made various guest appearances in television series through the 1980s and 1990s, and acted in films such as Canada's Sweetheart: The Saga of Hal C. Banks, Day One, The Nutcracker Prince, Sam & Me, Naked Lunch, Getting Gotti, Harrison Bergeron and Margaret's Museum.

On March 21, 1985 the play "Einstein" by Gabriel Emanuel, premiered at the TWP (Toronto Workshop Productions) Theatre starring Peter Boretski in the title role. The play received both critical and popular success and earned him many accolades. He went on to tour Canada with it the following year.

Awards

He received an ACTRA Award nomination for Best Supporting Performance in Television at the 15th ACTRA Awards in 1986, for his role as Trefius in the miniseries Charlie Grant's War.^[10]

He was a three-time Gemini Award nominee, receiving nominations for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Program or Series at the 3rd Gemini Awards in 1988 for Chasing Rainbows,^[11] Best Actor in a Drama Program or Miniseries at the 4th Gemini Awards in 1989 for Einstein Tonight, ^[12] and Best Actor in a Drama Program or Miniseries at the 10th Gemini Awards in 1996 for the Spoken Art episode "A Letter to Harvey Milk".^[13]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Herbert Whittaker, "Spear-Carrier Takes Lead Role". The Globe and Mail, October 30, 1962.
^ Donn Downey, "King of Kensington is dethroned by CBC". The Globe and Mail, December 11, 1979.
^ "Actor loved Winnipeg". Winnipeg Free Press, October 2, 2001.
^ Herbert Whittaker, "Showbusiness". The Globe and Mail, December 8, 1955.
^ Susan Ferrier Mackay, "Veteran actor Jenny Phipps drew audiences to Shaw Festival for 30 seasons: The British-born artist, who trained at the prestigious RADA, established herself in theatre circles soon after moving to Toronto, and won a Dora in 1993". The Globe and Mail, May 3, 2019.
^ "Summer's Rural Theatres Offer Adventurous Fare". The Globe and Mail, May 23, 1964.
^ Gordon Froggatt, "CBC signs Brenda De Banzie for play". The Globe and Mail, August 8, 1964.
^ Herbert Whittaker, "Bethune!: clarity lacking". The Globe and Mail, February 21, 1972.
^ Donn Downey, "Wordsmith same old Richler story". The Globe and Mail, September 28, 1979.
^ "ACTRA nominations for 15th annual Nellie Awards on April 2". Montreal Gazette, March 18, 1986.
^ Henry Mietkiewicz, "Nominated for Canadian TV's best: The Gemini Awards". Toronto Star, October 13, 1988.
^ "Banting series tops Gemini nominees". Edmonton Journal, October 26, 1989.
^ Christopher Harris, "Due South captures 15 Gemini nominations". The Globe and Mail, January 24, 1996.