Leon Isaiah Dubinsky (5 July 1941 – 17 January 2023) was a Canadian actor, theatre director and composer from

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

. His career was mostly spent in

Atlantic Canada Atlantic Canada, also called the Atlantic provinces (), is the list of regions of Canada, region of Eastern Canada comprising four provinces: New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. As of 2021, the landma ...

, with film, theatre and music projects generally produced on

Cape Breton Island Cape Breton Island (, formerly '; or '; ) is a rugged and irregularly shaped island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18.7% of Nova Scotia's total area. Although ...

. His biggest musical hit was Rise Again. He was honoured with a lifetime achievement award by the East Coast Music Association. He died at home on 17 January 2023.

Early life and death

Leon Issiah Dubinsky was born on 5 July 1941, in

Sydney, Nova Scotia Sydney is a former city and urban community on the east coast of Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Canada within the Cape Breton Regional Municipality. Sydney was founded in 1785 by the British, was incorporated as a city in 1904, and dissolv ...

, to the Jewish merchant family of Newman and Esther (née Goldman) Dubinsky. They owned Sydney Ship Supply, a

ship chandler A ship chandler is a retail dealer who specializes in providing supplies or equipment for ships. Synopsis For traditional sailing ships, items that could be found in a chandlery include sail-cloth, rosin, turpentine, tar, pitch, linseed oil ...

y business in Sydney's Whitney Pier neighbourhood, that operated from the beginning of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

until they sold it and retired. Dubinsky played guitar and piano into his teens and attended Sydney Academy where he composed the high school's theme "All Hail Sydney Academy." After years of health issues, Dubinsky died on 17 January 2023, at his family's farm in Englishtown, a village on Cape Breton Island's

Cabot Trail The Cabot Trail is a scenic highway on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Canada. It is a loop around the northern tip of the island, passing along and through the Cape Breton Highlands and the Cape Breton Highlands National Park. It is named ...

Musical career

Dubinsky first became prominent as a founding member of the Cape Breton band Buddy and the Boys in the 1970s and 1980s. He helped launch the annual musical stage revue ''The Rise and Follies of Cape Breton'' in the early 1980s. A song from that show, " Rise Again," became a Canadian pop music standard when the folk music group The Rankin Family recorded it for their 1993 album '' North Country''. Their version was a cross-format hit, reaching the Top 20 on Canada's ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...

'' pop and adult contemporary charts and the Top 40 on the magazine's country charts. The song was also later performed and recorded by

Rita MacNeil Rita MacNeil (May 28, 1944 – April 16, 2013) was a Canadian singer and songwriter from the community of Big Pond, Nova Scotia, Big Pond on Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Island. Her biggest hit, "Flying On Your Own", was a crossover Top 40 hit in ...

and

Anne Murray Morna Anne Murray (born June 20, 1945) is a retired Canadian country, pop and adult contemporary music singer who has sold over 55 million album copies worldwide during her over 40-year career. Murray has won four Grammys including the Grammy ...

. Another musical revue by Dubinsky, the ''Cape Breton Summertime Revue'', toured even more extensively across Canada in the 1990s. In 2002, Dubinsky was the recipient of a lifetime achievement award, also known as the Stompin' Tom Connors Award, from the East Coast Music Awards for his contributions to Atlantic Canada's musical culture.

Acting career

As an actor, Dubinsky is associated primarily with regional stage productions in the

Maritime Provinces The Maritimes, also called the Maritime provinces, is a region of Eastern Canada consisting of three provinces: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. The Maritimes had a population of 1,899,324 in 2021, which makes up 5.1% of ...

, including with The Mulgrave Road Co-op, Theatre Antigonish, Theatre PEI, and Factory Lab Theatre. He appeared in the 1987 film '' Life Classes'', for which he garnered a

Genie Award The Genie Awards were given out annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to recognize the best of Canadian cinema from 1980–2012. They succeeded the Canadian Film Awards (1949–1978), known as the "Etrog Awards" for sculptor ...

nomination for Best Supporting Actor at the 9th Genie Awards. He starred alongside

Rick Mercer Richard Vincent "Rick" Mercer (born October 17, 1969) is a Canadian comedian, television personality, Political satire, political satirist, and author. He is best known for his work on the CBC Television comedy shows ''This Hour Has 22 Minutes'' ...

in the 1988

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV, or simply CBC) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcasting, p ...

teleplay ''My Brother Larry'', and had a recurring role as Cap McKenzie in the 1990s television series ''

Pit Pony A pit pony, otherwise known as a mining horse, was a equine, horse, pony or mule commonly used underground in Mining, mines from the mid-18th until the mid-20th century. The term "pony" was sometimes broadly applied to any equine working under ...

''.

References

External links

*
Interview with Diversity Cape Breton
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dubinsky, Leon 1941 births 2023 deaths Canadian male stage actors Canadian male film actors Canadian male television actors Canadian male songwriters Canadian musical theatre composers Male musical theatre composers Canadian theatre directors Jewish Canadian male actors Jewish Canadian musicians Male actors from Nova Scotia Musicians from Nova Scotia People from Sydney, Nova Scotia