FeedRemembering Goldie Semple
David Cooper
Semple in A Little Night Music.
Goldie Semple (1952-2009), born Marigold Ann Semple, was one of Canada’s leading classical actresses. She died on December 9, 2009 after an eight-year battle with breast cancer. Despite great pain, she went on performing to the end. Her last season at the Shaw was summer 2009, during which she played three distinctly different society matrons in Brief Encounters, a series of Noel Coward one-acts.
Semple had one of her greatest triumphs in another Coward play at the Shaw Festival, the 1999 production of Easy Virtue. Kate Taylor, a theater critic for Canada’s Globe and Mail, wrote in her review, “Semple's fine performance sets the standard, eschewing both the satirical vamp and the melodramatic fallen woman. Her finely controlled Larita is glamorous but never ridiculous, saddened but not despairing, a narrow figure but a realistic one.” (For more on Semple’s performances, see the Toronto Globe and Mail’s tribute to the actress.
Semple spent 17 years at the Shaw, playing leading roles in everything from the obscure Ivona, Princess of Burgundia (1994) to the Broadway classic A Little Night Music (2008). She often acted alongside her husband, fellow classical actor Lorne Kennedy. Prior to Shaw, Semple and Kennedy spent nine years at the Stratford Festival. Here, Semple dazzled as Lady Macbeth (1990), Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing (1991), Cleopatra (1993), and Kate in Taming of the Shrew (1998).
I saw her Cleopatra, and I will never forget it. I was awed by Semple’s regal beauty as Cleopatra, her effortless hauteur, her slow descent into a kind of lovestruck madness. I remember her anguish when Mark Anthony died, and her quiet, elegant portrayal of the famous suicide scene.
Semple was born in 1952 in Richmond, British Columbia. She studied acting at the University of British Columbia (where she met her future husband) and then at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in England. In addition to the Shaw and Stratford Festivals, she acted at venues across Canada, including the Arts Club, Theatre in British Columbia, where she starred with a young Michael J. Fox in 1978.
Semple also taught acting, leading workshops and mentoring new company members. Actor Mackenzie Gray, who worked with her in 1987 at the Stratford Festival, wrote of her toughness and generosity on CBC.ca:
She was tough and expected people to bring their best to the table. Combined with her height and her natural poise, this could be intimidating, but all it took was one of her big laughs and she could warm an entire room in a second. She was a brilliant actress, often a bit dangerous, which made her so compelling to watch. She will be missed very much. (More, here.)
Semple is survived by her husband, Lorne Kennedy, and her daughter, Madeline.
We wondered if any of our readers and Shaw fans have memories of Semple—please share them in comments if so!
