TORONTO Canadian actress Alberta Watson passed away Saturday after a battle with cancer. Pseudonyms will no longer be permitted. The Hollywood Reporter is a part of Penske Media Corporation. Her husband Ken was at her side. Comments on this story are moderated according to our Submission Guidelines. [12][13] Producers at La Femme Nikita worked around her treatment and limited her appearances. Alberta Watson, a Canadian actress who had roles in the 24 and Nikita dramas over a four-decade movie and TV career, has died. Born in Toronto, Watson began performing in theatre and on television while still in her teens. She was 60. She was 60. She was 60. zh. Watson was diagnosed with lymphoma in 1998. Watson later expressed disappointment with her early television work, but these roles inevitably shaped her career, pushing her to pursue strong, complex characters in projects that challenged her. Through regional and national programming on multiple platforms, including CBC Television, CBC News Network, CBC Radio, CBCNews.ca, mobile and on-demand, CBC News and its internationally recognized team of award-winning journalists deliver the breaking stories, the issues, the analyses and the personalities that matter to Canadians. [About her portrayal of the mother in, Choice: The Henry Morgentaler Story (2005). Her Gary Goddard Agency . [4], Among her well-known film roles are the bed-ridden mother Susan Aibelli in the 1994 American independent film Spanking the Monkey, Lauren Murphy (the mother of Jonny Lee Miller's character Dade, also called "Crash Override"/"Zero Cool") in the 1995 cult film Hackers, and Risa in the 1997 Academy Award-nominated Canadian film The Sweet Hereafter, directed by Atom Egoyan. By submitting a comment, you accept that CBC has the right to reproduce and publish that comment in whole or in part, in any manner CBC chooses. WARNING: Major spoilers for the Season 14 premiere of Heartland are ahead!. Watson died on March 21, 2015, due to complications from cancer at Kensington Hospice in Toronto fifteen days after her 60th birthday.[14]. A year later she received the Best Actress award at the Yorkton Film Festival for "Exposure". Several high-profile actresses declined the role, including Susan Sarandon, Faye Dunaway, Jessica Lange, and Isabella Rossellini, but Watson relished it, later calling it her best performance and her favourite role. He has used his social media skills to transform his past interest in blogging about Canadian film Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. Watson came closer to fame with the role of Madeline, the cunning force on the Canadian syndicated spy series La Femme Nikita, adapted from the 1990 Luc Besson film. avalanche lost father, brother-in-law, family friend in slide, Trudeau says probes into foreign election interference ongoing, Alex Murdaugh sentenced to life in prison for murder of wife, son, Heated debate in B.C. Corrections? Faith Susan Alberta Watson (March 6, 1955 March 21, 2015), better known as Alberta Watson, was a Canadian film and television actress. Her film credits include Atom Egoyan's The Sweet Hereafter,Sarah Polley's Away from Her,David O. Russell's Spanking the Monkeyand George Kaczender's In Praise of Older Women. RIP #AlbertaWatson. Comments are welcome while open. Oh! Canadian actress Alberta Watson has died after a long battle with cancer. [3][8] Early in her career she portrayed the role of Mitzi in George Kaczender's[9] In Praise of Older Women (1978), for which she received a Genie nomination. Heyn, Christopher. Watson eventually returned to Canada and landed a leading role in La Femme Nikita, which ran from 1997 to 2001. Youll be missed :'(, Dylan Matthews (@iHeyes) March 23, 2015. The subject was incest. I seized the character and made her something. [7], Watson got her first role at age 19 in a CBC movie called Honor Thy Father. geoff ewart (@geoffewart) March 23, 2015. Watson then played the grieving and lonely mother, Risa Walker, in Atom Egoyans critically acclaimed The Sweet Hereafter (1997). Handout TORONTO Canadian actress Alberta Watson passed away Saturday after a battle with cancer. Her final film role was in the Vancouver-shot Helen (2009), starring Ashley Judd. Audience Relations, CBC P.O. I had the pleasure of working with her. Patrick Mullen is a writer, blogger, film critic, film festival programmer, and social media coordinator. She was a deeply disturbed woman with a roller coaster of emotions. [5] While at the workshop she acted in Hamlet, which was directed by Ren Bonnire,[6] who later directed her in La Femme Nikita. It didn't scare me at all. Watson died at Torontos Kensington Hospice with her husband Ken at her side. Her Canadian TV series credits include roles in Heartland, The Newsroom, The Border and Show Me Yours. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alberta-Watson, The Canadian Encyclopedia - Biography of Alberta Watson. Watson found additional strong TV work playing Detective Denise McGoohan in Chasing Cain (2001) and Chasing Cain: Face (2002). Her Gary Goddard Agency rep, Pam Winter, confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that Watson passed away on Saturday at Torontos Kensington Hospice after a long battle with cancer. Id loved her in so many things, I was star struck. [10], Watson lived in New Jersey for eight years[11] with her husband until they divorced. Watson died at Toronto's Kensington Hospice with her husband Ken at her side.. Many of Watsonspeers and fans took to Twitter to remember her. Canadian actor, director, writer, and producer. The role was turned down by several actresses such as Susan Sarandon, Jessica Lange and others. Closed Captioning and Described Video is available for many CBC shows offered on CBC Gem. Watson continued acting with the hit CBC TV series The King of Kensington and such tax shelter films as Stone Cold Dead (1979), Dirty Tricks (1981), and The Soldier (1982). Died (60) Add to list Awards 3 wins & 6 nominations Photos 28 Known for Hedwig and the Angry Inch 7.7 She was 60. A decade later, she had a recurring role as a different character (with the same first name) on the seriesNikita. .more .more Comments 405 Add a. After a long battle with cancer, Watson died at the age of 60 from complications of the disease. Watson began acting at age 15 with the Theater House of God at the Bathurst Street United Church in Toronto. The subject was incest. Although the film received mostly negative reviews, Watsons performance led to appearances on such American television series as Hill Street Blues, The Equalizer, and Law & Order and a continuing role on the short-lived ABC drama Buck James. She balanced her work in La Femme Nikita with roles in Canadian films including The Life Before This (1999), Desire (2000), and Deeply (2000). Her son visits for the summer and she's laid up with a broken leg and things get out of hand. All Rights Reserved. She moved south and worked for many years in New York and Los Angeles. Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter. In 2010, Watson guest-starred in Heartland, a series on CBC Television, and she won a 2011 Gemini Award for her portrayal of Sarah Craven. The original version of this entry was published by [2] Watson said:[7].mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 40px}.mw-parser-output .templatequote .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;padding-left:1.6em;margin-top:0}. CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices. [4], Watson took a workshop for the Hair musical. TV Actresses. U.K. agency missed chance to stop attack at Ariana Grandes Manchester concert: report, Travis Scott accused of assaulting nightclub worker, calls incident a misunderstanding. heartland actor dies alberta watson. In a nod to her La Femme Nikita role, Alberta played a recurring character Madeline Pierce in Nikita, the CW's 2010-2013 reboot of the film and TV series. The provocative film was controversial when it premiered at the Toronto Festival of Festivals (now the Toronto International Film Festival), but it earned 10 Canadian Film Award nominations, including one for Watson for Best Supporting Actress. I seized the character and made her something. . Renowned for her consistency and reliability, Watson was perhaps best known for the TV series La Femme Nikita (19972001) and 24 (200405), but she also gave memorable performances in David O. Russells Spanking the Monkey (1994), Atom Egoyans The Sweet Hereafter (1997), and John Cameron Mitchells Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001). Get a roundup of the most important and intriguing national stories delivered to your inbox every weekday. The Canadian actress, who also had roles in the 'La Femme Nikita' and 'Nikita' TV series, passed away after a long battle with cancer. Actress Alberta Watson is photographed during the Toronto International Film Festival in 2006, in Toronto. She worked with director Colleen Murphy on the film Shoemaker (1996), for which she received a second Genie nomination for Best Actress. . Watson played Erin Driscoll, head of the fictional intelligence agency that employs operative Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland). (Surnow was such a fan that he not only hired her again but also named a character in the series, Alberta Green, after her.) She also appeared in The Lookout (2007) with Joseph Gordon-Levitt, as well as in the TV series Angelas Eyes (2006), The Border (2008), and Heartland (2010), for which she won a Gemini Award. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. RIP Alberta Watson. I think Im still in shock about @Alberta_Watsons death. [13] When her hair started to regrow, she sported the short haircut in her role as Madeline in the show's third season.[13]. Watson's agent Pam Winter says the La Femme Nikitastar died Saturday in Toronto. Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day. She followed La Femme Nikita with a string of notable independent films, including The Art of Woo (2001), John Cameron Mitchells Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001), Thom Fitzgeralds The Wild Dogs, (2002) and Jeremy Podeswas TV movie, After the Harvest (2001), which brought her another Gemini nomination. Watson died on March 21, 2015 due to complications from cancer at Kensington Hospice in Toronto; she was 60 years old. ALBERTA WATSON won a Gemini (pretty much, a Canadian Emmy) to Best Performance by an Actress, Guest Role in a Dramatic Series, for her portrayal of Sarah Craven ('Where the Truth Lies', S4 E05, CBC's series Heartland). Best as Madeline in La Femme Nikita/Nikita. io. Congrats, Alberta!! Watson shared the National Board of Review award for Best Ensemble and helped bring the film international recognition. During the show's second season (in 1998), Watson was diagnosed with lymphoma, for which she had to undergo chemotherapy treatment which caused her to lose her hair. Alberta Watson, Canadian actress, dies after battle with cancer | CBC News Loaded. She began performing with a local Toronto theatre group, T.H.O.G. Colorectal cancer cases rising among younger adults in Canada and U.S. Ex-husband of Edmonton soldier who tried to kill their children plans to sue Canadian military, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle evicted from their U.K. home by King Charles, Angry parents speak out on their daughter who froze to death on N.S. She played Dr. Rebecca Myer in the 1980s Buck James TV series, and Erin Driscoll, the head of a counter-terrorist unit, in 24. Watson died on Saturday at age 60 after a long battle with cancer. :)Song: \"We build bridges\" by Liz DurrettWe build bridgesDon't weSometimes need a handDespite our best laid plansDon't weSometimes miss what we hadAnd we struggleDon't weSometimes lose the reasonsBut in the peaceful morningWe can clearly seeWhere we've beenOh, and the tide pulls us out, alrightOh, and the tide pulls us out, alrightOh, when the tide brings us backHow sweet it is She played the role of Madeline in La Femme Nikita for four seasons from 1997 to 2001 (with guest appearances in the short fifth season).