Elizabeth Rex

Timothy Findley, known to most as Tiff, began his career as an actor, part of the original Stratford Festival company in the first production of Thornton Wilder’s The Matchmaker. Playwright Ruth Gordon, encouraged Tiff to write, and he eventually left acting to become a full-time writer in the 1960s. Tiff’s first two novels— The Last of the Crazy People (1967) and The Butterfly Plague (1969)— were rejected by Canadian publishers and first published in Britain and the United States. His third, The Wars, won the 1977 Governor General’s Award and was released as a film in 1981. As well as four collections of short stories and eleven novels, including Famous Last Words (1981), The Pianoman’s Daughter (1995), and Pilgrim (1999), Findley was the author of three memoirs and eight plays, including Elizabeth Rex, which premiered at Stratford Festival and won a Governor General’s Award. Tiff met his life partner, writer William Whitehead, in 1962. The two collaborated on several documentary projects, and for many years lived together at Stone Orchard near Cannington, Ontario, later moving to southern France. In 1996, Findley was invested as Chevalier de l’Ordre des arts et des lettres. An outspoken and lifelong champion of human rights, Tiff was president of PEN Canada and a founding member and chair of The Writers’ Union of Canada. He was appointed to the Order of Ontario and in 1985 became an Officer of the Order of Ontario. In 2002, he was inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame.

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