George Anthony

George Anthony, born in Montreal on August 26, 1940, is a celebrated Canadian entertainment writer and television executive. The former Toronto Sun columnist shepherded some of Canada's most popular programs including Made In Canada, This Hour Has 22 Minutes and Royal Canadian Air Farce, predominantly for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). Anthony developed a passion for cinema and storytelling at an early age; he was born into to a family of film exhibition executives who owned a local movie theatre chain, and grew up in screening rooms. He studied journalism at the Ryerson Institute of Technology in Toronto. Before his career in television production, Anthony was a popular newspaper columnist making his mark first with the Toronto Telegram (1964-1971), and then the Toronto Sun (1971-1980, 1984-1990). From 1990 to 2004, Anthony worked tirelessly to bring some of Canada's best-loved comedy series to air for CBC Television. Canadian programs under his aegis have won more than 100 Gemini awards and an impressive array of other honours, including the Prix Italia and a number of International Emmy Awards. In addition, he continues to serve as CBC Television's creative point person on the network's highest-rated comedy series, the Rick Mercer Report, watched by more than a million Canadians every week. Anthony was inducted in Playback magazine's Film and TV Hall of Fame in 2013. Anthony returned to writing in 2005, resulting in his critically-acclaimed biography Starring Brian Linehan, published by McClelland & Stewart. Anthony also assisted Gordon Pinsent with his 2012 memoir, Next, and is already working on his next book. He lives in Toronto with his wife Gail.