"Dying is easy . . ."

[tugmoose]

 

Gene Janson: 1934 - 2006

`The face of Middle America'

 

Veteran stage, TV and movie actor--as well as the pitchman for WTTW-Ch. 11 pledge drives--was doing what he loved when he collapsed on stage during a Wednesday mat

 

By Sid Smith and Chris Jones

Tribune Arts Critics

Published October 6, 2006

 

 

Veteran actor Gene Janson, familiar to viewers of WTTW-Ch. 11 as the genial, soft-sell pitchman during the station's pledge drives, seemed a throwback to Old World gentility, his reassuring voice and manners a comfortable blend of sophistication and Midwestern honesty.

 

The veteran actor, 72, collapsed on stage Wednesday, Oct. 4, in mid-performance during Remy Bumppo Theatre Company's revival of "The Best Man" at the Victory Gardens Greenhouse Theater, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave. He was rushed to Lincoln Park Hospital, where he died later surrounded by his family. The cause was a heart attack, according to his son, Christopher.

 

In the drama, he portrayed a fictional former U.S. president who dies unexpectedly, a performance some considered one of his finest. The production came during Mr. Janson's 50th year in show business.

 

"I did a lot of industrial films and commercials with him over the years, and he struck me as the essence of the Chicago performer," B.J. Jones, artistic director of Northlight Theatre and veteran Chicago actor, said Thursday. "Generous, talented, warm and supportive. There was a handbook we were all in for a while, and we each had a catchphrase. His was something like, `The face of Middle America.' That's what he was, an everyman. He was a great guy."

 

"He brought so much to his character," said James Bohnen, Remy Bumppo artistic director. "There was so much going on inside that he chose not to show. But you could feel it pulsating. He was having the time of his life with this part."

 

Bohnen added that Mr. Janson's spirits Wednesday were upbeat and animated in the dressing room before the matinee began. "He was laughing, telling jokes."

 

Twenty minutes into the performance, Mr. Janson took his seat on the stage couch in a scene with fellow actor David Darlow. Suddenly, he put his head in his hands, and Darlow asked if he was OK, Bohnen said. "He replied that he was not," Bohnen said.

 

Darlow rushed offstage to call for assistance, several other actors came on stage to tend to Mr. Janson and the stage manager asked the audience to remain in their seats. Later, a nurse in the audience came to the stage to help. Fellow cast members accompanied Mr. Janson, who was rushed by ambulance, to the hospital.

 

"This is a great shock to all of us," said Kristin Larsen, Remy Bumppo managing director. "Gene was so full of energy and love for his work."

 

Mr. Janson's credits includes such movies as "The Blues Brothers," "While You Were Sleeping," "My Best Friend's Wedding," "Blink," "The Road to Perdition" and "The Kill Reflex." TV credits include "The Untouchables," "Early Edition," "Unsolved Mysteries" and "Today in Chicago."

 

Although he served on the artistic board of the Apple Tree Theatre in Highland Park (and often performed there), most of Mr. Janson's recent stage credits were for smaller Chicago theaters such as The Artistic Home and Chicago Dramatists. A consummate Chicago character actor, Mr. Janson specialized in playing avuncular father figures, embittered academics and crusty old political types--usually with decent hearts underneath gruff exteriors.

 

Mr. Janson's role in Gore Vidal's classic political drama "The Best Man" was very much of that type. Mr. Janson played a former president of the United States who relished the role of kingmaker and refused to relinquish his power, even though he knew himself to be dying.

 

Remy Bumppo, which canceled the rest of Wednesday's matinee and, as a tribute to Mr. Janson, Thursday's performance, planned to resume the production Friday with Mr. Janson's understudy, Charlie Beck.

 

Mr. Janson is survived by his wife, Peggy; a son, Christopher; two daughters, Maureen Janson Heintz and Colleen Wares; and four grandchildren.

 

A wake will be held from 3 to 9 p.m. Sunday at the Smith-Corcoran Funeral Home, 6150 N. Cicero Ave. Mass is scheduled for 10 a.m. Monday at St. Mary of the Woods Church, 7033 N. Moselle Ave.