Lorraine Thomson was a Canadian dancer, television host, television producer and one of the co-founders, with Pierre Berton, of the ACTRA Awards.
12 Facts About Lorraine Thomson
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Lorraine Thomson was the first dancer hired by the CBC for their first televised variety show, The Big Revue, and made regular appearances as a dancer and actor on many television shows in the first decade of Canadian broadcasting.
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Lorraine Thomson was one of the first women to produce variety shows on CBC, and for 18 years, she was the program coordinator for Front Page Challenge.
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Lorraine Thomson was nominated for several national awards for her work both in front of and behind the camera.
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Lorraine Thomson auditioned with 110 other dancers for a spot on the three-person chorus line; she was the first dancer hired.
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On one show, Lorraine Thomson was struck in the head by a swinging microphone boom just before going on-camera, and although she completed her routine, she couldn't remember anything about her dance afterwards; on another show, she had to walk down a set of stairs wearing a feathered costume while trying to hold on to two pigeons that were doing their best to frantically fly away.
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In 1958, Lorraine Thomson was elected to the board of ACTRA as a dancer representative.
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Lorraine Thomson would continue to serve ACTRA in many capacities over the next forty years, including as vice-president in 1975.
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In 1963 Lorraine Thomson was choreographer for the television program Juliette, but started hosting the CBC radio program Audio.
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Sarah Churchill showed up at the studio intoxicated; when Lorraine Thomson tried to take her back to her hotel to get her sobered up before the taping, Churchill began hitting Lorraine Thomson with her purse.
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Two years later, she and author Pierre Berton co-founded the ACTRA Awards and for the next 8 years, Lorraine Thomson would continue to co-ordinate the Awards with ACTRA and CBC Television.
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Lorraine Thomson was one of the first women to produce variety specials for CBC Television, including Juliette's Favourite Things, and in 1988, she was a Best Variety Program finalist for a Gemini award as producer of Gordon Pinsent Sings Those Hollywood Songs.