Frank Shuster
{{Short description|Canadian comedian (1916–2002)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2021}}
{{Infobox person
|name = Frank Shuster
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|size=100%|OC}}
| image = Wayne and Shuster.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Johnny Wayne and Frank Shuster
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1916|9|5}}
| birth_place = Toronto, Ontario
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2002|1|13|1916|9|5}}
| death_place = Toronto, Ontario
| resting_place = Holy Blossom Memorial Park, Toronto
| other_names =
| known_for =
| alma_mater = University of Toronto
| occupation = Comedian
| nationality =
| awards = Order of Canada
| spouse = Ruth Shuster (née Burstyn)
| children = Rosie Shuster and Steve Shuster
| relatives = Joe Shuster (cousin)
| module =
{{Infobox military_person |embed=yes
| allegiance = {{flag|Canada|1921}}
| branch = 25px Canadian Army
| battles = World War II
| serviceyears = 1942–1946
| rank = Sergeant
| unit =
}}
}}
Frank Shuster, {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|OC}} (September 5, 1916 – January 13, 2002) was a Canadian comedian best known as a member of the comedy duo Wayne and Shuster, alongside Johnny Wayne. Wayne played to Shuster's straight man.
Early life
Shuster was born to a Jewish immigrant family{{Cite news|title = Canadian comics focused on cultural nation-building.|url = https://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/2011/08/25/salutin_wayne_and_shusters_comedy_of_gratitude.html|newspaper = The Toronto Star|date = August 25, 2011|access-date = November 24, 2015|issn = 0319-0781|first = Rick|last = Salutin}} in Toronto, Ontario, and spent part of his childhood in Niagara Falls. Shuster was originally Shusterovich.{{cite news |last1=KEZWER |first1=Gil |title=Tickling the funny bone: Icons of Canadian humor, Johnny Wayne and Frank Shuster, live on in CBC's archives |url=https://newspapers.lib.sfu.ca/jwb-12477/page-22 |access-date=15 November 2024 |work=Jewish Western Bulletin |date=5 July 1996 |ref=22-23}} His family returned to Toronto in the College/Spadina area, in time for Shuster to attend high school at Toronto's Harbord Collegiate Institute, where he met Johnny Wayne in 1930.
The two would soon be performing sketches and routines at school talent shows, continuing to do the same when they both attended the University of Toronto, majoring in English literature.{{Cite web|title = Frank Shuster|url = https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/frank-shuster-9241657.html|website = The Independent| date=January 30, 2002 |access-date = November 24, 2015|language = en-GB}} Starting with entertaining scouts, he and Shuster wrote some original scores and performed at the university's Hart House Follies.
== Professional career ==
By the early 1940s Wayne and Shuster began appearing on local radio station CFRB, and during World War II they joined the Canadian Army as performers, entertaining Canadian troops, and performed on the CBC Radio series The Army Show.
After the war, the duo appeared on CBC radio and television, becoming a network fixture with regular appearances from the 1940s through the 1980s. They appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show 66 times. The duo would remain a comedy team for 50 years, until Wayne's death in 1990.
In 1996, Shuster was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.{{cite web | url=http://www.gg.ca/honours/search-recherche/honours-desc.asp?lang=e&TypeID=orc&id=3694 | publisher=Governor General of Canada | work=Order of Canada | title=Frank Shuster | access-date=May 4, 2008 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080528185924/http://www.gg.ca/honours/search-recherche/honours-desc.asp?lang=e&TypeID=orc&id=3694 | archive-date=May 28, 2008 }}
Later life
Shuster was married to Ruth Shuster {{circa|1943}}, and had two children, Rosie and Steve. Rosie Shuster (b. 1946) was a comedy writer for Saturday Night Live and other television programs, and former wife of Lorne Michaels. Steve Shuster, a standup comic, writer, musician, and actor, died in 2017 at the age of 67.{{cite news | url=http://www.worldofradio.com/dxld2108.txt | publisher=CBC Radio | work=Summer Comedy Summary | date=July 6, 2002 | title=CBC Previews for Saturday, July 6 }}{{Cite web|url=https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/2017/03/10/remembering-steve-shuster-a-comics-comic.html|title=Remembering Steve Shuster, a comic's comic | The Star|website=thestar.com|date=March 10, 2017 }}
He was also the cousin of Joe Shuster, co-creator of Superman.{{cite news | last =Mietkiewicz | first= Henry | title = Superman at 'The Star' | work = The Toronto Star | date =April 26, 1992}}
Shuster died on January 13, 2002, in Toronto, Ontario, at the age of 85.{{cite news |title=Comedian Frank Shuster dies at 85 |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/comedian-frank-shuster-dies-at-85-1.349117 |access-date=January 1, 2024 |work=CBC News |date=January 14, 2002}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|id=0795971|name=Frank Shuster}}
- {{discogs artist|Frank Shuster}}
- {{Findagrave|6378111}}
- [http://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.redirect?app=fonandcol&id=107127&lang=eng Frank Shuster fonds (R4610)] at Library and Archives Canada
{{Wayne and Shuster}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shuster, Frank}}
Category:Canadian people of Dutch-Jewish descent
Category:Canadian male television actors
Category:Canadian television personalities
Category:Comedians from Toronto
Category:Jewish Canadian male actors
Category:Jewish Canadian comedians
Category:Male actors from Toronto
Category:Officers of the Order of Canada
Category:University of Toronto alumni
Category:Canadian sketch comedians