Alex Laurier

{{Short description|Canadian folk singer, actor}}

Alex Eftimoff (born {{birth based on age as of date|57|1994|6|16|noage=yes}}), better known by the stage name Alex Laurier, was a Canadian children's entertainer, folk singer, and actor.

In the 1960s and 70s, he frequently performed children's songs on the Uncle Bobby show.{{Cite web |date=2007-05-23 |title=Children's entertainer 'Uncle Bobby' dies at 82 |url=https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/children-s-entertainer-uncle-bobby-dies-at-82-1.242325?cache=ahqqexyvsa |access-date=2024-01-20 |website=CTV Toronto |language=en}} In 1968, he released an album of children's songs, The Lollipop Tree And Other Children's Favourites. In the late 1960s, he was a host and musical performer on the CTV Television Network's variety show, River Inn, in the late 1960s and also performed as a folk singer in coffee houses and other live venues in the Toronto area."The River Inn", Toronto Daily Star, 14 Sep 1968: A12. In the 1970s and early 1980s, Laurier was a co-host of TVOntario's Polka Dot Door and of TVO's Cucumber, in which he co-starred in costume as "Moose" to Nikki Tilroe's "Beaver". He also appeared on Mr. Dressup in the early 1970s."Ex-entertainer jailed for assault", Toronto Star, 15 July 1994, pg A26

As an actor, Laurier appeared as a guest in a number of Canadian television series and TV movies in the 1980s and early 1990s on such series as Street Legal, Seeing Things, The Mighty Jungle, Katts and Dog and TV movies such as The Kidnapping of Baby John Doe and Gregory K, as well as the feature film Open Season.

In 1994, Laurier pleaded guilty to having sexually assaulted an eight-year-old boy in 1973 and was sentenced to one year in jail.{{cite news |title=Entertainer jailed for indecent assault |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/464907105/ |access-date=January 19, 2024 |work=Ottawa Citizen |date=July 16, 1994}} he had earlier been convicted of four similar offences in 1974, for which he received a suspended sentence and two years' probation.