Alexis Kanner

Infobox actor
name = Alexis Kanner
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birthname = Henri Alexis Kanner
birthdate = birth date|1942|5|2
birthplace = Bagnères-de-Luchon, France
deathdate = death date and age|2003|12|13|1942|5|2
deathplace = London, England
othername = Henry Leroy, Henri Lucas
occupation = Actor, Director
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Alexis Kanner (2 May, 1942 in Bagnères-de-Luchon, France - 13 December, 2003 in London, England) was a French-born Anglo Canadian actor, most famous for appearing in the ground breaking TV series "The Prisoner".

He was born in Nazi-occupied Bagnères-de-Luchon, France in May 1942. In April 1944, shortly before his second birthday, his family escaped with him to Montreal, Canada on the Portuguese ship "Serpa Pinto". [cite web|url=http://www.ajcarchives.org/AJC_DATA/Files/1944_1945_6_BritCommonwealth.pdf|title=American Jewish Year Book|accessdate=2007-10-18]

Career

Kanner made his first impression as an actor in the role of Alex, among a French Canadian cast, in the television drama series "Beau Temps, Mauvais Temps" (1955-1958). [cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0343243|title=Beau Temps, Mauvais Temps at IMDB|accessdate=2007-10-18]

He moved to England in the late 50s to join the Birmingham Repertory Theatre to further his acting career this then led to the Royal Court and the Royal Shakespeare Company where he played Hamlet under the direction of Peter Brook.

He appeared as Stephen in the 1962 film "Reach For Glory" [cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056397|title=Reach For Glory at IMDB|accessdate=2007-10-18] about the brutal war games of evacuated teenage boys during the second world war. This would lead to him first meeting with the Assistant Director David Tomblin [cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0866563|title=David Tomblin at IMDB|accessdate=2007-10-18] who would be a major influence on the direction of the "The Prisoner" series six years later.

He had a small role in the 1962 comedy film "We Joined the Navy" [cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056681|title=We Joined The Navy at IMDB|accessdate=2007-10-18] playing Gerrett. The only real notable thing about the film was the amount of future British small screen comedy stalwarts who were acting in either similar small roles or uncredited cameos...

His earliest UK television appearance appears to have been as Peter in the Sunday Night Theatre play "Echo From Afar" [cite web|url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/195128|title=Echo From Afar at The BFI|accessdate=2007-10-18] in 1959.

Other plays in which he performed were: Play Of The Week: "Birds In The Wilderness" [cite web|url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/149628|title=Birds In The Wilderness at The BFI|accessdate=2007-10-18] as Peter (1962); Television Playhouse: "The Interview" [cite web|url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/244983|title=The Interview at The BFI|accessdate=2007-10-18] as The Young Man (1962) and "Along Came A Spider" [cite web|url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/39730|title=Along Came A Spider at The BFI|accessdate=2007-10-18] as Brian (1963); Drama '63: "The Freewheelers" [cite web|url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/214096|title=The Freewheelers at The BFI|accessdate=2007-10-18] as Jeremy (1963); Play Of The Week: "The Facing Chair" (1963) [cite web|url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/785590|title=The Facing Chair at The BFI|accessdate=2007-10-18] as Clem Goodwin; Armchair Theatre: "Living Image" (1963) [cite web|url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/265189|title=Living Image at The BFI|accessdate=2007-10-18] as John Manders playing a son who wonders if he can love his father even though he violently disapproves of everything he stands for. He appeared on British television in 1964 in an episode of "The Saint", "The Ever Loving Spouse" [cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0693524|title=The Saint's The Ever Loving Spouse at IMDB|accessdate=2007-10-18] as Alec Misner and in the first of three episodes in ATV's Love Story, "A Future Holiday" [cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0904716|title=A Future Holiday at IMDB|accessdate=2007-10-18] as Frank Watkins. His other appearances in that series were in the following year in "Briefly Kiss The Loser" [cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0904734|title=Briefly Kiss The Loser at IMDB|accessdate=2007-10-18] as Big Silver Gardner and in 1967 as Colin Turner in "Cinéma Vérité" [cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0846531|title=Cinéma Vérité at IMDB|accessdate=2007-10-18] .

His film career continued with an appearance in "The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders" [cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058905|title=The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders at IMDB|accessdate=2007-10-18] in 1965 as part of a Mohocks gang.

He first came to national prominence in Britain when he appeared as Detective Constable Matt Stone in the first 9 episodes of "Softly, Softly" in 1966 on BBC TV. This was a spin-off series from "Z-Cars". He claimed in interviews later that he left not wanting to be typecast but there are suggestions in the "Softly, Softly" Wikipedia entry that he alienated cast and crew with erratic behaviour during live transmissions and this may have led to his early departure from the series.

Very little of this television series remains in the BBC archives, due to the BBC's then policy of 'junking' or taping over programmes from the 1960s and 1970s. The reasoning given at the time was that the programmes had limited repeat or overseas resale value, and it was not realised until much later that this material would be of tremendous interest. As a result, many thousands of hours of television programmes were lost (such as early episodes of "Doctor Who" and "Dad's Army"). However, one episode featuring Kanner does survive in the BBC archives, 'A-Z' (broadcast 30 March 1966) and one is believed to be held at the NFA, 'It Doesn't Grow On Trees' (broadcast 26 January 1966) [cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/treasurehunt/missing/softly.shtml|title=BBC Cult TV Treasure Hunt|accessdate=2008-02-28] .

In 1967 he went back to Montreal to star as the lead character Ernie Turner in the film "The Ernie Game" [cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060375|title=The Ernie Game at IMDB|accessdate=2007-10-18] which was written and directed by Don Owen for the National Film Board of Canada.

"The Prisoner"

Patrick McGoohan, impressed with Kanner's acting skills, cast Kanner as the mute psychopathic 'Kid' / No.8 in the episode "Living in Harmony". This led to further appearances in "The Girl Who Was Death" and the final episode "Fall Out", all as different characters.

He portrayed the rebellious 'No.48' in "Fall Out", a role in which the dialogue was either a succession of short lines in response to other short lines or sung.

Kanner also gave an uncredited performance as the photographer in "The Girl Who Was Death", in which he performed a number of stunts on a roller coaster.

Later career

He starred in a little known short feature film called "Twenty Nine" [cite web|url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/43660|title=Twenty Nine at The BFI|accessdate=2007-10-18] in 1969 as Graham Baird in a story of a promiscuous young husband's night out in swinging London. It was only 26 minutes long and co-starred Yootha Joyce. This was shown as the B film in Britain to the feature film "if....". [cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063850/|title=if.... at IMDB|accessdate=2007-10-18] . The band Tuesday's Children who had a cameo role in a nightclub scene released the song they played in it called SHE as a single soon afterwards. [cite web|url=http://www.czar.org.uk/4.html|title=Tuesday's Children at CZAR|accessdate=2008-01-24] No copies of this short film are known to exist.

He starred in a number of feature films soon after, including the 1969 movie "Crossplot" [cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064193|title=Crossplot at IMDB|accessdate=2007-10-18] with Roger Moore, "Connecting Rooms" [cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066943|title=Connecting Rooms at IMDB|accessdate=2007-10-18] in 1970 with Bette Davis and Michael Redgrave, and "Goodbye Gemini" AKA "Twinsanity" [cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065790|title=Goodbye Gemini at IMDB|accessdate=2007-10-18] (also 1970).

For some unknown reason his career seemed to tail off in the UK after 1969/1970.

He is wrongly credited with appearing in "Invasion:UFO" [cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0216312|title=UFO:Invasion at IMDB|accessdate=2007-10-18] in 1972, a compilation film made up of the episodes from the TV series "UFO" [cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063962|title=UFO:The TV Series at IMDB|accessdate=2007-10-18] made in 1970. He had appeared in an episode called "The Cat With 10 Lives" [cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0735633|title=UFO Episode: The Cat With 10 Lives at IMDB|accessdate=2007-10-18] but no footage of this was used in the "feature film".

He moved back to Canada and his next film was "Mahoney's Estate" (a.k.a. "Mahoney's Last Stand") [cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073336|title=Mahoney's Estate at IMDB|accessdate=2007-10-18] in 1972 with Sam Waterston [cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001832|title=Sam Waterston at IMDB|accessdate=2007-10-18] and Maud Adams [cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000726|title=Maud Adams at IMDB|accessdate=2007-10-18] , which he also co-wrote and co-directed. The original motion picture soundtrack of the same name [cite web|url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahoney%27s_Last_Stand|title=Mahoney's Last Stand Album at Wikipedia|accessdate=2007-10-18] was recorded by Ronnie Lane (who was a friend of Alexis) and Ron Wood of The Faces fame, Ron Wood later joined The Rolling Stones. Other famous names who worked on the album included Pete Townshend and Kenney Jones.

He worked again with Patrick McGoohan on the Canadian hostage drama film "Kings And Desperate Men" [cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085797|title=Kings And Desperate Men at IMDB|accessdate=2007-10-18] , in which he starred as well as writing, producing and directing. He apparently spent two years editing the film which, although filmed in December 1977, did not premiere until the 1981 Montreal Film Festival. During the late 80s Kanner sued the producers of the film "Die Hard" [cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095016|title=Die Hard at IMDB|accessdate=2007-10-18] claiming that they stole the idea for that movie from this film (He lost). [cite web|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CEED7163FF936A25750C0A964958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2|title= New York Times: Hollywood Law: Whose idea is it anway?|accessdate=2008-01-25]

His final known film is the Isaac Asimov story "Nightfall" [cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095738|title=Nightfall at IMDB|accessdate=2007-10-18] , released in 1988.

He settled back in London in 1996 and was working on a new film project called "J R Profitt" [cite web|url=http://members.aol.com/irahome/23/23.html|title=Free For All: Winter Issue 23|accessdate=2007-10-18] that never came to fruition.

Death

He died of a heart attack on 13 December 2003.

He requested that his body be flown and buried in Israel [cite web|url=http://www.theunmutual.co.uk/newsarchive16.htm|title=The Unmutual Website News Archive:17th January 2004|accessdate=2007-10-18] .

References

External links

*
* [http://www.thestage.co.uk/features/obituaries/feature.php/318/alexis-kanner Alexis Kanner Obituary] in The Stage
* [http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article37692.ece Alexis Kanner Obituary] in the The Independent