Gordon Atkinson was a broadcaster and politician in Quebec, Canada.
Background
Gordon Atkinson was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, the son of William James Atkinson, officer of the Canadian Armed Forces, and Martha Kathleen Johnson. He was an infantry officer with the Calgary Highlanders during the Second World War and served in the Northwest Europe campaign. After the war Gordon moved to Los Angeles as a TV, radio and motion picture actor, writer and director. He received his training at the Pasadena Playhouse, where he studied with notables as Carolyn Jones and Barbara Hale. Atkinson became a radio announcer in Calgary, Alberta in 1937. Between 1946 and 1950 he worked in radio, cinema and theatre both in Los Angeles and Canada. In the early 1950s he rejoined the Canadian Army with the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry for the Korean War, serving in Korea and Japan. After the war, he was asked by the CBC to become a teacher of television for the newly created CBC-TV in Toronto. From 1955 to 1957 he worked as an advisor to Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent. He moved to Winnipeg from Toronto in 1954 as CBC Program Manager. While there, he created many television shows, most of which were brought under question due to the morals of the time. He hired a night club entertainer and his wife as a host for an entertainment program. The program was cancelled as common folk objected to a night club owner/entertainer involved in Television. While in Winnipeg, he helped to bring up lines from B.C. to Vancouver, and created Vancouver CBC Television. He later moved his family to Montreal, where he worked in theatre at the Mountain Playhouse for many years. He was actor, director, and voice actor in the community. He also directed many plays at McGill University. From 1957 to 1980 Atkinson was a CBC TV sports commentator, working out of Montreal, covering all Olympic, Pan-American, Canadian and international events. Throughout the 1980s, Gordon was a political / social commentator on CJAD 800 in Montreal. His radio work was paused when he was elected a Member of the Quebec National Assembly in 1989. He served one term and then got back into radio from 1993 to 1997 as political and social commentator for CIQC 600 AM radio in Montreal. Atkinson retired in 1998, but recorded a two-hour program broadcast every Remembrance Day on CJAD 800 AM radio. The program was given to CJAD in perpetuity, in memory of "those friends who were killed in the two wars in which I participated." In the early 1960s he worked as a bit player in many films about Canada, and was also a regular on Seaway, a CBC series, filmed in Quebec City.
Gordon Atkinson was married from 1952 to 1977 to Lucy, a singer with Leslie Bell Singers. She appeared on CBC the first night they aired television. They had three children: Kathryn, Marta, and Christopher. He is survived by four grandchildren: Adrianna, Kathryn, Kellina and Andrew. In 1986, he married Constance. The marriage produced no children. Atkinson is survived by his widow, Pierrette. At his death, he had been ill for some time and had been living in a seniors residence.
