37 Facts About Toller Cranston

Toller Shalitoe Montague Cranston was a Canadian figure skater and painter.

Toller Cranston was born in Hamilton, Ontario, in 1949 and grew up in Kirkland Lake.

Toller Cranston later compared his childhood to "being in jail"; in school he had the habit of asking provocative questions that made his teachers think he was being disruptive.

One of his teachers suggested that there was nothing more he could learn at the school, so Toller Cranston set out at that point to establish himself as a professional artist.

Toller Cranston held his first exhibition at his coach Ellen Burka's home in the spring of 1969.

Toller Cranston experimented on his own with trying to dance on the ice, and was only later told that what he was doing was called "figure skating".

Toller Cranston's mother was reluctant to allow him to pursue the sport seriously, but at the age of 11, he met Eva Vasak, who was impressed by his talent and offered to coach him for free.

Toller Cranston's career turned a corner in the following season when he began to work with coach Ellen Burka in Toronto.

Toller Cranston often came in first in his free skating programs, but his low placements in compulsory figures limited his overall scores and placements.

Toller Cranston quickly gained a reputation as the most innovative and exciting artistic skater of his time, one of the first to emphasize use of the whole body to express the music as well as to execute skating moves in best form, to lie down while sliding down the ice and to wear elaborate costumes.

Toller Cranston was particularly known for the quality and inventiveness of his spins, which were widely copied by other skaters.

Toller Cranston made popular moves held in "unexpected angles", including sideways toepick runs, the broken-leg sit spin, stag jumps, and his own variation on the back camel spin.

Toller Cranston used choreography to create, with his arms and other body parts, specific shapes that demonstrated artistry.

Toller Cranston used his natural flexibility to "craft unusual extreme body shapes employing both curved and angular lines".

Kestnbaum states that Toller Cranston's movements were counter to the classical movements of traditional figure skating movements and the movements of many of his contemporaries, including John Curry from Great Britain.

Toller Cranston's movements inspired male skaters of the time into the 1980s, especially in North America and the Soviet Union, even if they were not done with his flexibility and gracefulness.

Toller Cranston explained that the purpose of perfecting the technical aspects of the sport was to allow the body to express the music or emotion.

Toller Cranston called himself "the last true amateur", a reference to the state sponsorship that many of his European competitors enjoyed and the corporate sponsorship of skaters such as John Curry.

Toller Cranston won his first national title in 1971 with a performance that included triple Salchow and loop jumps, and received a standing ovation from the audience.

Toller Cranston skated poor compulsory figures at the 1972 Winter Olympics, but turned in a strong program to finish 5th in the free skating.

Toller Cranston won that same medal again at the 1974 World Figure Skating Championships in addition to winning the overall bronze medal.

Toller Cranston was the 1976 Olympic bronze medalist, again winning the free-skate medal.

Toller Cranston later toured in Europe with Holiday on Ice, and in 1983 appeared in a short-lived production at Radio City Music Hall in New York City with Peggy Fleming and Robin Cousins.

Toller Cranston appeared in Joni Mitchell's concert film "Shadows and Light".

Toller Cranston made a non-skating acting appearance in the 1983 short film "I Am a Hotel", a music video featuring songs by Leonard Cohen.

Toller Cranston is on the back cover of Joni Mitchell's album "Hejira".

Toller Cranston was a commentator on CBC television for figure skating events.

Toller Cranston filed a lawsuit against the CBC that was eventually resolved in his favour.

Meanwhile, Toller Cranston had become so depressed that he was unable to paint, and started taking drugs as well.

Toller Cranston continued to perform in Canada with Stars on Ice and IMG's smaller-city tour, Skate the Nation, for the next few years.

For retirement, Toller Cranston took residence in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, where his large and opulently decorated home and studio, as well as his painting became his main artistic forms of expression.

In 2010, Toller Cranston returned to skating for a short time as a guest judge for Battle of the Blades, a figure skating reality competition show on CBC Television.

Toller Cranston was found dead at his residence from an apparent heart attack on the morning of January 24,2015, aged 65.

Toller Cranston died with an outdated will, leaving his three siblings to fight over Toller Cranston's estate.

Toller Cranston was inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame in 1976, the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 1996, the Canadian Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1997, Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 1997, and Canada's Walk of Fame in 2003.

Toller Cranston was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 1977, and received a Special Olympic Order from the Canadian Olympic Association in 1995.

Toller Cranston was inducted into the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 2004.