Pat John, best known for playing the quiet, reliable Jesse Jim in the long CBC drama The Beachcombers, has died.
John’s friend and former co-star Jackson Davies confirmed his death on Thursday on CBC News.
The actor died Wednesday at noon “looking calmer than he has had in a long time,” Davies wrote in a Facebook post announcing his death.
“He was funny, kind, and even though he didn’t get the credit he should have, he was also a very good actor. He had the biggest laugh ever, and my goal in life was to make him laugh, just listen to it. “
(Facebook) (Facebook)
John, a member of the Shishalh nation in Sechelt, BC, was elected by The Beachcombers as a teenager.
In the following years, he created a new project for indigenous characters on screen, eschewing obsolete stereotypes and caricatures like Jesse.
The Beachcombers ran for 19 seasons, making it the second longest-running Canadian television drama in history. Having aired for the first time in October 1972, with more than 350 episodes to follow, this fall marks its 50th anniversary.
“I don’t think I would have ever thought of being an actor if Beachcombers hadn’t happened,” John said in a 2002 article printed by Saskatoon Star-Phoenix.
The show narrated the coastal adventures of log savior Nick Adonidas (Bruno Gerussi) and his beach partner, Jesse Jim, as they tracked lost logs aboard their tugboat, the Persephone.
It was a hit in its second season and enjoyed 15 more as one of CBC’s top rated programs, helped by the fact that its cast, including John, Davies and Gerussi, was loved by viewers in Canada and internationally.
The show was shot and set in Gibsons, BC, putting British Columbia on the map as a destination for film production and talent, one of the first shows the province established as Hollywood North.