Paul Soles
{{Short description|Canadian actor (1930–2021)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2019}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=May 2013}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Paul Soles
| image =
| caption =
| birth_name = Paul Robert Soles
| birth_date = {{birth date|1930|8|11}}
| birth_place = Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| death_date = {{death date and age|2021|5|26|1930|8|11}}
| death_place = Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| occupation = Actor, television personality
| years_active = 1953–2021
}}
Paul Robert Soles (August 11, 1930 – May 26, 2021) was a Canadian character actor, voice artist and television personality. He voiced the title character in Spider-Man (1967), and portrayed Hermey in the 1964 television special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer; Soles was one of the last surviving participants of the special's voice cast.
Soles first screen appearance was on CFPL in 1953, and he continued to perform over 60 years later, performing as of 2016 in the comedy web series My 90-Year-Old Roommate on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's online comedy channel, CBC Comedy.{{cite encyclopedia | url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/paul-soles | encyclopedia=The Canadian Encyclopedia | access-date=29 September 2016 | title=Soles, Paul | first=Wyndham | last=Wise | author-link = Wyndham Wise }}{{cite news |url=http://playbackonline.ca/2016/04/05/cbc-orders-10-episodes-of-my-90-year-old-roommate-for-punchline/ |title=CBC orders 10 episodes of My 90-Year-Old Roommate for Punchline |last=Reid |first=Regan |work=Playback |date=5 April 2016 |access-date=29 September 2016}}
Early life
Soles was born in Toronto, the son of Lillian (Goodfellow) and Arthur L. Soles. His family were Jewish emigrants from Poland and Lithuania.{{Cite news |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/article-actor-paul-soles-who-voiced-lead-role-in-1960s-animated-spider-man/ |title=Actor Paul Soles, who voiced lead role in 1960s animated Spider-Man series, dies at 90 |first=Victoria |last=Ahearn |date=May 31, 2021 |newspaper=The Globe and Mail}} He had two siblings.
Soles is the cousin of Bernard "Bunny" Cowan, and they both worked on the original 1960s Spider-Man animated series and the 1967 children's series Max, the 2000-Year-Old Mouse.{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jLju98T3PQMC&pg=PA116 | title=Invaders from the North: How Canada Conquered the Comic Book Universe | first=John | last=Bell | publisher=Dundurn Press | year=2006 | isbn=978-1-55002-659-7 | page=116 }}
Career
=Acting roles=
Soles was the voice of Hermey the misfit elf in Rankin/Bass' Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer from 1964. He also voiced Marvel superhero Spider-Man and various characters in the original animated television series also from the 1960s, and he played "The Lawbreaker" on the CBC panel quiz show This Is the Law in the 1970s, and played Costas Stavros on the Canadian soap opera Riverdale. In 2001, Soles took over the role of Shylock the Jew in the Stratford Festival of Canada production of The Merchant of Venice after Al Waxman, who was originally scheduled to play the part, died.{{cite web | url=http://www.northernstars.ca/actorsstu/soles_paul.html | title=Paul Soles (profile) | access-date=30 May 2009 | website=Northern Stars | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101130221745/http://www.northernstars.ca/actorsstu/soles_paul.html | archive-date=30 November 2010 | df=dmy-all }} Soles played Stanley the pizza shop owner in The Incredible Hulk (2008), and his other film appearances have included roles in Ticket to Heaven (1981), Just the Way You Are (1984) and The Gunrunner (1989) opposite Kevin Costner. He also played Danny, the Montreal Customs House janitor in the 2001 crime thriller The Score.
Soles won a 2006 Gemini Award for his role in the television series Terminal City, and a 2017 Canadian Screen Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Digital Production for My 90-Year-Old Roommate.{{cite web |url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/canadian-screen-awards-digital-night-1.4018334 |title=CBC web series score wins as Canadian Screen Awards celebrate all things digital |date=10 March 2017 |website=CBC News}} On the appointed evening of the awards ceremony, the ever-humble Soles was so overcome with emotion that he had to contain himself more than once on the way to the stage, resulting in another thunderous applause from the audience, before he accepted the trophy and gave his speech.
=Voice work=
Soles also did voices on various animated television shows and films such as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Rocket Robin Hood, The Smokey Bear Show, The Little Brown Burro, King of the Beasts, The Marvel Super Heroes, the original Spider-Man cartoon, The Trolls and the Christmas Express, Take Me Up to the Ball Game, Willy McBean and His Magic Machine, Festival of Family Classics, JoJo's Circus, The Reluctant Dragon & Mr. Toad Show, Noah's Animals, Iron Man, The King Kong Show, and Spider-Woman.
Soles was also the narrator of The Wonderful Stories of Professor Kitzel, the voice of The Commissioner in the 2005 animated television series Funpak and has also supplied the voice of Dr. Reboux in the 2005 animated film version of the Johanna Spyri novel Heidi.
Soles also voiced the Academy Award-nominated animated documentary The Colours of My Father: A Portrait of Sam Borenstein.{{cite web |url=http://www3.nfb.ca/collection/films/fiche/?id=18473 |title=The Colours of My Father: A Portrait of Sam Borenstein |website=National Film Board of Canada |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120222052510/http://www3.nfb.ca/collection/films/fiche/?id=18473 |archive-date=2012-02-22}}
In 2011, Soles started voicing the recurring character Maxwell Finnwich on Detentionaire and he voiced a character, Barnabas Dinklelot, in the 2017-2018 animated series, Mysticons.{{Cite web |url=https://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/Paul-Soles/ |title=Paul Soles|website=Behind the Voice Actors|language=en|date=14 November 2020 |access-date=14 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201114163334/https://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/Paul-Soles/|archive-date=14 November 2020|url-status=live}}
=Television hosting=
He was the host of the short-lived CBC Television late-night comedy talk show Canada After Dark, and co-hosted the public affairs show Take 30 for 18 seasons with hosts such as Anna Cameron and Adrienne Clarkson. He also hosted the CFPL television game show Take Your Choice for one year in the early 1960s.{{cite news | url=http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Columnists/Brady_Bill/2009/05/30/9623336-sun.html | newspaper=London Free Press | access-date=30 May 2009 | date=30 May 2009 | title=Indefatigable Soles | first=Bill | last=Brady | archive-date=14 December 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191214034854/http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Columnists/Brady_Bill/2009/05/30/9623336-sun.html | url-status=dead }}
=Documentary producer=
Paul Soles was also a producer of documentaries while he was an on-air talent at CFPL-TV in London, Ontario. He worked on a series called, The World Around Us, and travelled with film crews in Great Britain in the early 1960s, filming many aspects of British life. He even got on a soap-box in Hyde Park in London to speak his mind. Soles has worked with people like Dennis Goulden (a long-time documentarian who still produces television specials in the States) and Jim Plant and Tom Ashwell and Jon Boynton.
Death
Soles died of natural causes in his sleep at his home in Toronto, Ontario, on May 26, 2021, at the age of 90.{{Cite web|last=Perine|first=Aaron|date=May 28, 2021|title=Spider-Man Original Voice Actor Paul Soles Dies at 90 |url=https://comicbook.com/marvel/news/spider-man-original-voice-actor-paul-soles-dies-90/|website=ComicBook.com|access-date=May 29, 2021}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.legacy.com/amp/obituaries/theglobeandmail/198832054|title=Paul SOLES Obituary (1930-2021) - Toronto, ON - The Globe and Mail|website=Legacy.com}}
Accolades
= [[Gemini Awards]] =
- 2006 - Terminal City - Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Supporting Role in a Dramatic Series - Winner {{Cite news |last=Strachan |first=Alex |date=October 19, 2006 |title=Lively drama about struggling theater company hauls in struggling theatre three Gemini Awards. |work=Vancouver Sun |pages=D9}}
Filmography
=Film=
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable" |
| Year
!Title !Role !class="unsortable" | Notes |
|---|
| 1965
| Willy McBean and His Magic Machine |Pablo the Monkey, King Ferdinand (voice) | |
| 1981
| Morley | |
| rowspan="2 | 1983
| data-sort-value="Magic Show, The" | The Magic Show | Manny | |
| data-sort-value="Gunrunner, The" | The Gunrunner
| Leobman | |
| 1984
| Arthur Berlanger | |
| 1987
| data-sort-value="Last Straw, The" | The Last Straw | {{Citation needed|date=May 2021}} | |
| 1990
| Harvey | |
| 1991
| data-sort-value="Star for Two, A" | A Star for Two | {{Citation needed|date=May 2021}} | |
| 1992
| Mr. Schindler | |
| 1993
| data-sort-value="Lotus Eaters, The" | The Lotus Eaters | Tobias Spittle | |
| 1994
| Mr. Kriegsberg, Juror | |
| 1998
| Mr. Butterman | |
| rowspan="3 | 1999
| Mr. Percy, Perceval | |
| Hidden Agenda
| Wilhelm Engelmann | |
| data-sort-value="Five Senses, The" | The Five Senses
| Mr. Bernstein | |
| 2001
| data-sort-value="Score, The" | The Score | Danny | |
| 2004
| Siblings | Grandpa | |
| 2005
| Heidi | Doctor Reboux (voice) | |
| 2006
| Harry | |
| rowspan="2 | 2008
| Passenger, Professor On-Line | |
| data-sort-value="Incredible Hulk, The" | The Incredible Hulk
| Stanley | |
| 2016
| data-sort-value="Second Time Around, The" | The Second Time Around | Marvin |Final film role |
=Television=
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable" |
| Year
!Title !Role !class="unsortable" | Notes |
|---|
| 1964
| Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer | Hermey (voice) | Stop-motion TV special |
| 1966
| Charlie Had One But He Didn't Like It, So He Gave It To Us | Himself | |
| 1967–1970
| Peter Parker / Spider-Man, Vulture, Fantastic Fakir, Ox, Vulture, Attendant, Police officer, Guard, Fozwell, Henchman, Mr. Thompson, Bob, Dean Wilkins, Man, Man at control panel, Bomber pilot, Borer, Black Dog One, News reporter, Dr. Irving Caldwell, Tom, Reptilla, Dr. Curtis Conner, Prison guard, Thug #2 (voice) | |
| 1967–1992
| Max, the 2000-Year-Old Mouse | Max (voice) | |
| 1979
| Peter Parker / Spider-Man | Guest star; 2 episodes |
| 1986
| Professor Tistaert | Episode: "I'll Die Loving" |
| 1988
| Morris | |
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|id=0813015|name=Paul Soles}}
- [https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/paul-soles Entry at thecanadianencyclopedia.ca]
- {{Discogs artist|Paul Soles}}
{{S-start}}
{{Succession box
| before = None
| title = Voice of Spider-Man
| years = 1967–1970
| after = Ted Schwartz
}}
{{S-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Soles, Paul}}
Category:20th-century Canadian male actors
Category:21st-century Canadian male actors
Category:Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series Canadian Screen Award winners
Category:Canadian male soap opera actors
Category:Canadian male stage actors
Category:Canadian male voice actors
Category:Canadian people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent
Category:Canadian people of Polish-Jewish descent
Category:Canadian television talk show hosts