Fascinating Brantford, Famous People

Andrea Brooks, was born March 3, 1989, in Brantford, Ontario, she began acting at the age of fifteen. Some of her television credit includes Supernatural (2005), iZombie (2015), UnREAL (2015), and Supergirl (2015) (photos courtesy of www.imdb.com)

Phil Hartman started as a graphics designer doing album covers for bands before he became an actor, he was born September 24, 1948, in Brantford, Ontario. He starred in Houseguest (1995), Greedy (1994), Jingle All the Way (1996), Sgt. Bilko (1996), and Small Soldiers (1998). He was most famous for his various characters on Saturday Night Live (SNL). He died May 28, 1998, at age 49.(photos courtesy of www.imdb.com)

Jay Silverheels an indigenous actor, was born Jerry Smith on May 26, 191, in Six nation reservation in Brantford, Ontario. He was a star lacrosse player and a boxer before he became a stuntman and then an actor. He starred in several movies, including Key Largo, 1948, The Cowboy and the Indians (1949), and Tonto in The Lone Ranger‘s TV series 1949. He died May 5, 1980, at the age of 67. (photos courtesy of www.imdb.com)

One of Brantford’s most notable athletes was Wayne Gretzky, born on January 26, 1961, in Brantford, Ontario. Nicknamed “The Great One. ” Wayne Gretzky is widely considered the greatest hockey player of all time. His accomplishment includes NHL’s all-time scoring leader in Goals, Assists & Points in the regular season & Stanley Cup Playoffs, leading the NHL scoring record 10 times, Captain of 4 Stanley Cup Championship teams, named 9 times MVP. Additionally, he is the only NHL player to score 200 points in a season 4 times in 5 years. Because Wayne Gretzky was a great ambassador of pro sports, he received Canada’s Order, the highest civilian honour. His trademark jersey No. 99 was retired by the NHL in 1998, and he retired in 1999. He also starred in D2 The Mighty Duck (1994). (photos courtesy of www.imdb.com)

Michelle Nolden was born March 17, 1973, in Brantford, Ontario Canada. She is an actor, director, and writer. She is known for The Traveler’s Wife (2009), ZOS: Zone of Separation (2009), Saving Hope (2012) and more. (photos courtesy of www.imdb.com)

(a.k.a. Tekahionwake, “double wampum”)

Was born on 10 March 1861 on the Six Nations Reserve. She was born at the family home of Chiefswood on Six Nations, the youngest of four children. Although a mixed-race woman of Mohawk and European descent, she was an incredible poet, writer, artist, and performer. Pauline, at 23 years old, moved to Brantford shortly after her father’s death. They lived at 7 Napoleon St, now the block of Dufferin Ave in Holmedale neighbourhood. She is most known for her books of poetry The White Wampum (1895), Canadian Born (1903), and Flint and Feather (1912); and a collections of stories Legends of Vancouver (1911), The Shagganappi (1913), and The Moccasin Maker (1913). Pauline Johnson died of breast cancer in 1913. She died in 1913.
(photos courtesy The Canadian Encyclopedia)

“The Conscience of Canada”

June Rose Callwood was born in 1924 in Chatham, Ontario. She was a writer, activist and philanthropist. June Rose Callwood started from a humble beginning. Nevertheless, she excelled in many activities she participated in. For example, She attended Brantford Collegiate Institute in Brantford (BCI) and became the editor of the newspaper; was a champion swimmer and diver; and short story contest winner, which led to a job with the Brantford Expositor and, later, the Globe and Mail, where she met and married her husband. June won many accolades for her social activism, including the nickname “The Conscience of Canada.” (photos courtesy of https://www.gg.ca/en/node/143 )

• Callwood founded organizations to combat problems: Digger House, for homeless youth; Nellie’s, for women in crisis; Casey House (named after her son killed in a highway accident), for people with HIV/AIDS.

Alexander Graham Bell was born on March 3, 1847, in Scotland. After the death f his younger and older brother, both of tuberculosis, he emigrated to Canada with his family, and they settled in Brantford, Ontario. Alexander later moved to Boston. As an inventor, scientist, and engineer, he invented and patented the first telephone. Nevertheless, in August of 1876, he received the first one-way long-distance call, transmitted from Brantford to nearby Paris, Ontario, over a telegraph wire. Alexander Graham Bell died on August 2, 1922. (photos courtesy of Science, Technology and Innovation )

James Hillier was born on August 22, 1915, in Brantford, Ontario. He attended the University of Toronto, where he received his doctorate in physics in 1941. As a graduate student, James completed a prototype of the electron microscope that Ernst Ruska had invented. This transmission electron microscope was used as a prototype for later electron microscopes. Over the course of his career, Hillier was awarded 40 patents and numerous accolades. (photos courtesy of https://ethw.org/James_Hillier)