Veteran actor Patricia Hamilton played fierce matriarchs
She was not on the list.
Hamilton was a Canadian actress who had an active career on stage, television, and film from the 1960s through the 2010s. She had a lengthy association as a stage actress with the Tarragon Theatre with whom she appeared in multiple world premieres of works by Canadian playwrights; including Judith Thompson's I Am Yours (1987) for which she won a Dora Mavor Moore Award in 1988. She also appeared as a guest actress at other theaters in Canada and internationally including the American Shakespeare Theatre, the Stratford Festival, the Edinburgh International Festival, and The Old Vic.
Hamilton is best known for her portrayal of Rachel Lynde in several screen adaptations of works by Lucy Maud Montgomery. These include the television mini-series Anne of Green Gables, its sequels: Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel, Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story, and Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning. She also portrayed Lynde in the television series Road to Avonlea; a performance for which she was nominated for a Gemini Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Dramatic Series three times, winning in 1996. She also was the voice of Rachel Lynde in the PBS animated series Anne of Green Gables.
In addition to her work as an actress, Hamilton taught on the faculties of the University of Calgary's Banff Centre for the Arts and George Brown College.
Patricia Hamilton was born on 27 April 1937 in Regina, Saskatchewan. Her father, James Hamilton, was a lawyer, and her mother, Florence Hamilton (née Stuart), was a nurse. She was trained as an actor at Pittsburgh's Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University), and began her career as a stage actress in the United States. She later went to London to pursue further studies in drama at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.
While working as an actress in the United States in the 1960s, Hamilton began a romantic relationship with the actor Les Carlson. In 1966 the couple moved to Toronto, and they were married in 1967. Their marriage ended in divorce when their son, the actor Ben Carlson, was two years old.
In 1971 Hamilton performed in the inaugural season of the Tarragon Theatre. She maintained a long association with that theatre that lasted for decades. She appeared in several world premieres at the Tarragon Theatre, including Judith Thompson's I Am Yours (1987), Joan MacLeod's Amigo's Blue Guitar (1990), Michel Tremblay's Impromptu on Nun's Island (2002) and David Gow's Bea's Niece (2005). Some of the other highlights of her work at that theatre include performances in Jack Cunningham's See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1972), Tremblay's Forever Yours, Marie-Lou (1972]), David Freeman's Battering Ram (1973), Joanna Glass's Artichoke (1976), Lillian Hellman's Toys in the Attic (1978), Margaret Hollingsworth's Mother County (1980), and Tremblay's Albertine in Five Times (1985) among other works.
In November 2008, Hamilton starred in the Harold Green Jewish Theatre production of Kindertransport in Toronto.
Hamilton died of undisclosed causes at a nursing home in Stratford, Ontario at the age of 86, 3 days after her birthday.
Filmography
Year Title Role Notes
1972 The House
Without a Christmas Tree Narrator
(uncredited) TV movie
1973 Purple Playhouse Episode:
"Ticket-of-Leave Man"
CBC Drama '73 Mrs.
MacLeod Episode: "A Bird
in the House"
Dr. Simon Locke Marian Episode: "Dark Pages"
The Thanksgiving Treasure Narrator
- Addie as an adult TV movie
1974 The ABC
Afternoon Playbreak Rebecca
Glover Episode: "Last
Bride of Salem"
Why Rock the Boat? Hilda
1975 Lucy Maud
Montgomery - The Road to Green Gables Marilla TV movie
Performance Episode: "The Captain of
Kopenick"
1976 Goldenrod Mrs. Gunderson
1977 Who Has Seen
the Wind Miss MacDonald
1980 Middle Age
Crazy Barbara Pickett
1981 My Bloody
Valentine Mabel Osborne
1983 Hangin' In Mrs. Holitski Episode: "The Hero"
1984 When We First
Met TV
movie
Heartsounds Flo TV movie
1985 Love and
Larceny Florida G. Blythe
Night Heat Millie Episode: "Crossfire"
The Last Polka Mrs.
Vicki Mahoney-Cohen TV movie
Anne of Green Gables Rachel
Lynde
1986 Connection
The Lawrenceville Stories Mrs.
Conover Miniseries
1987 American
Playhouse Mrs. Conover Episode: "The Prodigious
Hickey"
Really Weird Tales Assessor TV movie
Alfred Hitchcock Presents Mrs.
Greysome Episode: "The
Impatient Patient"
Fight for Life TV movie
Air Waves Kate Episode: "A Second Look"
Anne of Avonlea Rachel
Lynde TV movie
Echoes in the Darkness Dorothy
Hunsberger
Friday the 13th Sadie
King Episode: "Shadow
Boxer"
1988 Blades of
Courage TV movie
Chasing Rainbows Miss
Kidd Miniseries
1988 Check It Out! Mrs. Kelbo Episode:
"My Hero, Mr. Bannister"
The Christmas Wife Dora TV movie
Screwball Hotel Chastity
1990 Street Legal Grace Whitney Episode: "Security Exchange"
In Defense of a Married Man Eileen
Lloyd TV movie
1990–1996 Road
to Avonlea Rachel Lynde 30 episodes
1996 Holiday Affair Susan Ennis TV
movie
1997 When Secrets
Kill Eliza Emery
1998 Traders Ambassador Episode: "Boom"
An Avonlea Christmas Rachel
Lynde TV movie
2000 Anne of Green
Gables: The Continuing Story
2000–2001 Anne
of Green Gables: The Animated Series
2005 Anne: Journey
to Green Gables Video
2008 Anne of Green
Gables: A New Beginning TV
movie
2008 A Miser Brothers' Christmas Mother Nature (voice) TV special
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