Harry Gulkin

A producer in the 1970s and early 1980s, Harry Gulkin worked with Anthony Bedrich to bring Ted Allan’s adaptation of his short story Lies My Father Told Me to the screen. Directed by Ján Kadár, this heartfelt picture about a boy’s relationship with his Orthodox Jewish grandfather in 1920s Montreal won a best foreign film Golden Globe, picked up a screenplay Oscar nomination, and took the Etrog (Canada’s pre-Genie award) for top movie of 1976. Gulkin’s other credits, listed below, included Lionel Chetwynd’s adaptation of Hugh MacLennen’s novel Two Solitudes (1978),Mordecai Richler’s children’s story, Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang (1978), and Mort Ransen’s Bayo (1985).

In 1987, Gulkin began a new career at the Quebec funding agency SODEC, where as a project manager, he was trusted, respected, and even loved by filmmakers who consulted with him – especially young writers and directors who have told me how much they appreciated his unequivocal support. In November 2007, on the cusp of his retirement from SODEC, his friends and colleagues celebrated Gulkin’s 80th birthday at the Écomusée du fier monde, a museum devoted to Montreal’s working class history, an appropriate venue considering Gulkin’s youthful attraction to Communism. Both a serious, reflective person and a chuckling bon-vivant who showed up at parties. He remained a fixture in Québec and Canadian cinema until his passing at age 90.

Also see: Stories We Tell – A Review