Ronald Charles Tosh Weyman (December 13, 1915 – June 26, 2007) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

-born

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

film and television director and producer."RON WEYMAN, 91 SAILOR, PRODUCER, PAINTER AND NOVELIST: Pioneer filmmaker turned hard-hitting social issues into popular television". ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'', July 7, 2007. A documentary film director for the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; ) is a Canadian public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary films, animation, web documentaries, and altern ...

from 1946 to 1953, and a director and producer of drama television programming for

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 ...

from 1954 to 1980,"Ron Weyman (1915-2007)"

Canadian Communications Foundation The Canadian Communications Foundation (CCF) was a Canadian nonprofit organization which documented the history of broadcasting in Canada, particularly radio and television networks, programs and broadcasters. The organization was established in ...

, October 2007. he was most noted as director of the

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 ...

-winning documentary film '' After Prison, What?'', and as a producer of ''The Serial'', a CBC drama anthology series which spun off many of Canadian television's most important drama series of the 1960s.

Background

Born in

Erith Erith () is an area in south-east London, England, east of Charing Cross. Before the creation of Greater London in 1965, it was in the historical county of Kent. Since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Bexley. It lies north ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

in 1915, Weyman emigrated to

St. Catharines St. Catharines is the most populous city in Canada's Niagara Region, the eighth largest urban area in the province of Ontario. As of 2021, St. Catharines has an area of and 136,803 residents. It lies in Southern Ontario, south of Toronto ac ...

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with his family in 1923. By the time he was a teenager the family had moved to

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, where Weyman attended high school. He served in the

Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; , ''MRC'') is the Navy, naval force of Canada. The navy is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of February 2024, the RCN operates 12 s, 12 s, 4 s, 4 s, 8 s, and several auxiliary ...

during

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 ...

, attaining the rank of lieutenant commander."Toronto Navy Officer Lauded for D-Day Work". ''

'', November 7, 1944. He married Alison Alford, the daughter of

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

fine arts professor John Alford, while on leave in 1941, although she died of an epileptic seizure in 1943 while Weyman was on duty. A hobby painter, he painted several war scenes during this time which were subsequently acquired by the collections of the

National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's National museums of Canada, national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the List of large ...

and the

Canadian War Museum The Canadian War Museum (CWM) () is a National museums of Canada, national museum on the military history of Canada, country's military history in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The museum serves as both an educational facility on Canadian military hist ...

Career

After the war ended, Weyman went to Ottawa to consult with a curator at the National Gallery about becoming a professional artist, but on the same trip he met

Sydney Newman Sydney Cecil Newman (; April 1, 1917 – October 30, 1997) was a Canadian producer and screenwriter who played a pioneering role in British television drama from the late 1950s to the late 1960s. After his return to Canada in 1970, he was app ...

and was convinced to work for the National Film Board. He made more than 20 films for the National Film Board, including ''After Prison, What?'', the war documentary ''Out of the Ruins'', and the workplace safety film ''The Safety Supervisor''. During this time he remarried to Vanna Alford, Alison's sister. He left formal employment at the NFB in 1953, and spent some time working in Italy on a documentary film for the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

. The following year he joined CBC Television after his sister, writer and '' One of a Kind'' panelist Rita Greer Allen, married early CBC producer Robert Allen. For the CBC, Weyman directed and produced a number of television films, but became most noted as the creator and producer of ''The Serial'', an anthology series which ran from 1963 to 1966. Initially created to dramatize Canadian novels such as Thomas Head Raddall's ''The Wings of the Night'', Thomas B. Costain's ''The Son of a Hundred Kings'' and

Morley Callaghan Edward Morley Callaghan (February 22, 1903 – August 25, 1990) was a Canadian novelist, short story writer, playwright, and Television, TV and radio personality. Biography Of Canadian/English-immigrant parentage,Clara Thomas, ''Canadian No ...

's '' More Joy in Heaven'', in its later years the series expanded its focus when Weyman, drawing on his background in documentary film, began commissioning original television films which incorporated some documentary techniques into gritty, contemporary stories that addressed serious political and social issues. The most noted of these were ''Tell Them the Streets Are Dancing'', which became the pilot for the television series '' Wojeck'', and ''Mr. Member of Parliament'', a limited series which became '' Quentin Durgens, M.P.''. Following the end of ''The Serial'', he used a similar model to develop the series '' McQueen'' and '' Corwin'', and directed episodes of the comedy series ''

Hatch's Mill ''Hatch's Mill'' was a short-lived Canadian comedy television show that aired on CBC Television in 1967. Premise This filmed comedy series was among CBC Television's first colour productions. It was set in the 1830s and portrayed the life of th ...

''. In the 1970s, he continued to produce and direct television films for the CBC, including the miniseries '' The Albertans'' and adaptations of

Margaret Laurence Jean Margaret Laurence (née Wemyss; July 18, 1926 – January 5, 1987) was a Canadian novelist and short story writer, and is one of the major figures in Canadian literature. She was also a founder of the Writers' Trust of Canada, a non-pr ...

's novels '' The Fire-Dwellers'' and '' A Bird in the House''. After retiring from the CBC in 1980, he wrote and published the memoir ''In Love and War'', as well as three mystery novels which reimagined

Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a Detective fiction, fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a "Private investigator, consulting detective" in his stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with obser ...

as having been sent to Canada after surviving Reichenbach Falls. He suffered a stroke in 2003 which left him partially paralyzed and unable to speak, and died on June 26, 2007, at his home in Flesherton, Ontario.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Weyman, Ron 1915 births 2007 deaths 20th-century Canadian novelists 20th-century Canadian painters Canadian male painters Artists from St. Catharines Artists from Toronto Canadian documentary film directors Canadian documentary film producers Canadian television directors Canadian television producers Canadian television writers Canadian mystery writers Canadian male novelists Film directors from Toronto CBC Television people National Film Board of Canada people British emigrants to Canada People from Erith Royal Canadian Navy officers Screenwriters from Toronto Canadian male non-fiction writers Canadian male television writers 20th-century Canadian screenwriters 20th-century Canadian memoirists 20th-century Canadian male artists Directors of Genie Award winners for Best Theatrical Short Novelists from Toronto