[AIW] Great Canadian actor Gordon Tootoosis has died

[AIW - Bartl]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Great Canadian actor Gordon Tootoosis has died past Tuesday. I just heard the sad news on the radio while I am on PR tour in western Canada for INDIANER INUIT: The North American Native Film Festival in Stuttgart 2012.

Relatives say he passed away from pneumonia at St. Paul's hospital in Saskatoon on Tuesday. Tootoosis was 69.

Tootoosis appeared in a number of notable Canadian and American productions, including Legends of the Fall, North of 60 and Disney's Pocahontas. He earned membership in the Order of Canada in 2004 for his achievements as a role model for Aboriginal youth.


Apart from his television and film roles, Tootoosis was also involved in First Nations politics. He was part of the National Indian Brotherhood and was the former vice-president of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations.

His first acting role was alongside Donald Sutherland in the 1973 film Alien Thunder. Most recently Tootoosis played the lead role in Gordon Winter, by Saskatoon playwright Kenneth T. Williams that is a fictionalized account of a controversial aboriginal leader inspired by the life and times of David Ahenakew.


"He used his fame to help others, particularly Aboriginal artists, advance their careers. The best thing we can do to honour him is to keep moving forward," Saskatoon playwright Kenneth T. Williams said.

Gunter Lange
Artistic Director

INDIANER INUIT: The North American Native Film Festival
www.nordamerika-filmfestival.com 


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33rd American Indian Workshop, Zurich/Switzerland, April 12-15, 2012
http://www.american-indian-workshop.org/AIW33/2012_AIW_Zurich_CFP.pdf