Dorothy Hosie’s talents took her to stages across the country. With other members of her family, the actor helped create a legacy for the Hosie name in Canada’s entertainment scene.
Hosie, 71, died Tuesday in Saanich after a long battle with cancer.
Hosie and her brother, Bill, arrived in Victoria from Aberdeen, Scotland as children in 1954 and continued to work as entertainers as they had back home.
Dorothy was in Grade 6 and Bill in Grade 7 when they found a place performing during the summers in a production called Showboat on a floating stage in the harbour, in front of the Empress Hotel.
“That’s how they started out in Victoria,” said Hosie’s sister-in-law, Sylvia Hosie.
“People went down there, it was like going down to see the fireworks or going down to see Symphony Splash.”
It soon led to spots in the long-running Jerry Gosley Smile Show, a legendary variety romp of British-music-hall-influenced skits and dances.
“[Dorothy and Bill] were always, at that point, a team that sang Scottish songs, Scottish medleys together,” Sylvia said. “And they were the real deal because they were born and bred in Scotland.”
Hosie later landed an audition in Vancouver that led to a summer performing at the fledgling tourist attraction of Barkerville, the preserved historic Cariboo gold rush town.
Confidence gained there helped Hosie earn a place at the Charlottetown Festival in Prince Edward Island, where Bill also performed.
Hosie was able to make a living by working on the stage for years, Sylvia said.
“Bill and Dorothy both, they worked for the Vancouver Arts Club and they toured across Canada.”
The evolution of Victoria’s Bastion Theatre in 1961 led to many roles for Hosie in musicals and plays.
“That’s where Dorothy really came into her own,” Sylvia said. “She played Bonnie in Anything Goes, she played the lead in Once Upon a Mattress, Princess Fred.”
Don McManus, the conductor when Hosie was in the musical Bells Are Ringing, praised her as “a special ray of sunshine for life, love and happiness for all she met,” in a letter to Sylvia, following news of the death.
He said Hosie’s performance in Bells Are Ringing was special.
“She had a brilliant presence on stage and off. We who knew her will always be the lucky ones who can share our feelings about her life.”
One of Hosie’s talents was knowing how to be funny, Sylvia said.
“When she was doing comedy she looked like Carol Burnett and she had that kind of timing.”
Another important part of her career was the Hosie Connection Theatre Company, which featured four Hosies — Dorothy, Bill, their dad, Tom, and Sylvia — along with Dan Costain and Steve Ivings.
Dorothy was married to Larry Pilcher and was step-mother to his daughters Carol, Cheryl and Shirley.
“They were a beautiful example of a blended family,” Sylvia said.
She said the step-daughters purchased a seat bearing a plaque with Dorothy’s name at Langham Court Theatre, former site of the Smile show.
As well, one of Dorothy’s favourite paintings with an inscription attached will be hung in the palliative-care unit at Saanich Peninsula Hospital, where she was treated.
