Murray Westgate

Biography

Like most young men at the time with the outbreak of World War Two, Murray Westgate signed up to serve his country. He joined the Canadian navy and was posted to Halifax where he was trained as a wireless operator. On his discharge in 1945, he heard that a repertory company was being formed on the west coast and so he became a member of Vancouver`s first professional theatre company, Everyman Theatre, which had been formed in 1946 by Sydney Risk. A touring company resulted and Westgate and a group of young actors toured the West. He then joined the CBC in Vancouver and was cast in radio dramas for which the CBC Vancouver studios were famous. In 1949 he moved to Toronto where his voice was soon heard in many CBC network radio productions out of the Toronto studios, among them the long-running Sunday series which began as Stage 44, directed by Andrew Allan, and the Ford Television Theatre, produced by Allan Savage. Westgate won an ACTRA Award in 1979 for his work on the made-for-television movie, Tyler. He is probably best remembered by a certain age group for being the spokesman for Imperial Oil, appearing in commercials for 17 years, especially when they were a major sponsor of Hockey Night In Canada on the CBC. Westgate died at Toronto’s Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto.

Most Known For

Knight Rider

as Technician

Running

as Mr. Finlay

Happy Birthday to Me

as Gatekeeper

A Matter of Sex

as 1st Union Man

Crossbar

as Carver

The Kidnapping of the President

as Archie Standler

Shock-Trauma

as Police Superintendent Grier

Salty

as Trumbull

Homer

as Mr. Cochran

Rituals

as Pilot

Scanners II: The New Order

as George Kellum

L'Homme en colère

as Police station sergeant

The Borrowers

as Ernie

Class of '44

as Principal

Heavenly Bodies

as Coach Hudson

The Courage of Kavik, the Wolf Dog

as Mac

Tom Sawyer

as Coroner

Sunday in the Country

as Conway

F.D.R.: The Last Year

as Cordell Hull

She Cried Murder

as Sergeant Withers