Toller Shalitoe Montague Cranston (1949-2015)

[Helene]

Toller Cranston died this weekend at 65 of a heart attack in his home in San Miguel, Mexico in the middle of the Canadian National Figure Skating Championships. Many of the skaters and commentators were able to pay tribute to him on air.

From the CBC:

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/figureskating/toller-cranston-figure-skating-innovator-dead-at-65-1.2930759

He is best know for his skating; this amateur video of his exhibition programs at the 1975 World Figure Skating Championships shows so many of his virtues, and his commitment to dance and movement, but he was also a painter, with international gallery shows. museum shows, costume designs, and poster designs, and an author of several dishy books, including "Zero Tollerance."

https://www.google.ca/search?q=toller+cranston+art&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=diLIVNLjGY_6yATgxYAg&ved=0CEgQsAQ&biw=1191&bih=676

From the Ottawa Sun:

In both figure skating and art, Cranston was inclined to sneer at the establishment, especially when the establishment wasn’t giving him his due. He was always more about the audience than the judges, and insisted above all on being true to himself. Now that the great iconoclast is passing into history as an icon himself, he will no doubt fit as uneasily there as he did anywhere else, and continue to challenge preconceptions about what a Canadian artist can and should be.

Rest in peace, Mr. Cranston.

[dirac]

Cranston was a lot of fun on and off the ice. (You're not going to see any skater of either sex do those Sonja Henie toepick trots any more.)  I liked his book Zero Tollerance back in the day.

[Drew]

Sad news. May he rest in peace...