Jack Mather

Jack Hallett Mather was an actor almost his entire life, although he started as a dancer in various regional fairs in Alberta before moving to the theatre. Finding it a hard go in small towns he moved to Edmonton. Later he would move to Winnipeg to work as an announcer and voice actor with the CBC. Shortly after the advent of television, Mather was hired to be the voice behind Dilly Dally, Percival Parrot and Hista the Snake on the Canadian version of Howdy Doody. While most of his TV series work in Canada was as a voice, he played the on-camera character of Hiram Korntassle on the CBC children`s show, Razzle Dazzle. He tried his luck in Hollywood in the 1960s but he could only land small roles on series like Daniel Boone, Bonanza, or Gunsmoke. His last on-camera role was in the made-for-television movie, Hunger Point when he was 88 years of age. When he wasn’t working in film and television, Mather would often turn up in radio dramas that were, like his very early days, produced by the CBC.