Silver Hair and Golden Voice: Austin Willis, from Halifax to Hollywood

Over his extensive career, Halifax-born film, television, and radio performer Austin Willis worked with luminaries from Orson Welles and Peter Sellers to a young William Shatner (his subordinate in CBC’s Space Command–precursor to Star Trek). He bested Goldfinger at cards–with help from Sean Connery’s James Bond–and with his prematurely white hair, he became the debonair, wry host of the 1970s CBC-TV quiz show, This Is The Law.

Through his formidable personal library, his insatiable curiosity, and his conversations with the man himself, oral historian and archivist Ern Dick has brought the voice of Austin Willis to life in the memoir Willis wanted to write–but didn’t, because he never stopped performing.

Featuring a foreword by former CBC Radio personality Costas Halavrezos, afterword by arts and culture commentator Ron Foley MacDonald, and dozens of photos that highlight Willis’s greatest moments of stage, screen, and airwaves, Silver Hair and Golden Voice offers a unique perspective on the life of one of Canada’s most overlooked stars.