Christopher John Wiggins (January 13, 1931 – February 19, 2017) was a Canadian actor.

Career

Wiggins was born January 13, 1931, in Blackpool, England. He started out as a

banker A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

in his home country before he began his acting career in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, where he moved in 1952. Wiggins is probably best recognized for his role as Jack Marshak, the benevolent, resourceful expert on the occult in the syndicated television horror show '' Friday the 13th: The Series'', and which ran from 1987 to 1990. Another well known role was Johann Robinson (Father) on '' Swiss Family Robinson''. He won a

Canadian Film Award The Canadian Film Awards were the leading Canadian cinema awards from 1949 until 1978. These honours were conducted annually, except in 1974 when a number of Quebec directors withdrew their participation and prompted a cancellation. In the 1970s ...

in 1969 for Best Actor in a Non-Feature for his role in '' The Best Damn Fiddler from Calabogie to Kaladar''. In addition to his television and film work, Wiggins was also a very popular radio actor, making over 1,200 appearances in various series over the years, particularly on

CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...

. One of his most popular roles was that of Dante, the insufferably brilliant (and insufferably arrogant) computer that ran the Aleph-9: the high-speed interdimensional spacecraft belonging to '' Johnny Chase: Secret Agent of Space''. Wiggins also made numerous guest appearances on such CBC Radio programs as '' Nightfall'', ''

Vanishing Point A vanishing point is a point (geometry), point on the projection plane, image plane of a graphical perspective, perspective rendering where the two-dimensional perspective projections of parallel (geometry), parallel lines in three-dimensional ...

'' and dozens of others. Wiggins also lent his voice to many animated TV series and

movies A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, since ...

. He was the voice of the villain Mysterio in ''

Spider-Man Spider-Man is a superhero in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appearance, first appeared in the anthology comic book ''Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in ...

'', Will Scarlet on '' Rocket Robin Hood'', the Great Wishing Star in 1986's '' Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation'', and the villain No Heart on the

Nelvana Nelvana Limited (; also known as Nelvana Enterprises, Nelvana International or Nelvana Digital; commonly known as Nelvana; stylized as "nelvana") is a Canadian animation studio and entertainment production company owned by Corus Entertainment s ...

version of ''

Care Bears Care Bears are multi-colored bears, painted in 1981 by artist Elena Kucharik to be used on greeting cards from American Greetings. They were turned into plush teddy bears and featured in ''The Care Bears in the Land Without Feelings'' (1983) and ...

''. He also voiced the character Dimetro in ''

Dinosaucers ''Dinosaucers'' is a 1987 animated television series co-produced in the United States and Canada; developed and produced by DIC Animation City in association with Lightyear Entertainment and Coca-Cola Telecommunications. The show was created b ...

''. His other roles in animated series and films include ''

ALF Tales ''ALF Tales'' is a 30-minute Saturday morning animated series that aired on NBC from September 10, 1988, to December 9, 1989. The show is a spin-off of '' ALF: The Animated Series'' that featured characters from that series playing various ch ...

'', '' Star Wars: Droids'', ''

Rock & Rule ''Rock & Rule'' (known as ''Ring of Power'' outside North America) is a 1983 Canadian animated musical science fantasy film featuring the voices of Don Francks, Greg Salata, and Susan Roman. It was produced by Michael Hirsh and Patrick Loub ...

,'' '' Star Wars: Ewoks'', '' Babar,'' ''

Babar and the Adventures of Badou ''Babar and the Adventures of Badou'' is an animated children's television series that premiered in 2010 based on Babar the Elephant, a character created by Jean and Laurent de Brunhoff. The series takes place several years after the original ...

'', '' Rupert'', '' Richard Scarry'', '' Franklin'', and '' Redwall''.

Death

Wiggins was married to Sandra Crysler-Wiggins, who died in 2009, and had no children. He died at a nursing home in

Elora, Ontario The Historic Village of Elora is a community in the township (Canada), township of Centre Wellington Wellington County, Ontario, (Wellington County) in the Ontario, Province of Ontario, Canada. It is well known for its 19th-century limestone arc ...

, on February 19, 2017, from complications from

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wiggins, Chris 1931 births 2017 deaths Canadian male film actors Canadian male television actors Canadian male video game actors Canadian male voice actors Canadian Screen Award winning actors English expatriates in Canada Male actors from Blackpool 20th-century Canadian male actors 21st-century Canadian male actors