Pearson, Peter, 1938- : Peter Pearson was born in Toronto in 1938 and was educated at Victoria College, University of Toronto, where his fellow students included Margaret Atwood, Dennis Lee, Charles Pachter and Margot Kidder. He went on to study television production at Ryerson and completed his studies at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome. He began his career as a journalist with the Timmins 'Daily Press' in 1961 and then moved to CBC television, where he was producer and story editor of the celebrated 'This Hour has seven days', 1964-1966. He worked for two years at the National Film Board, 1967-1968, directing 'Saul Alinsky went to war' and 'The Best damn fiddler from Calabogie to Kaladar', as well as a series of Royal Canadian Navy training films. He left the NFB to became an independent filmmaker, forming the production company Milne-Pearson Productions Ltd. with Michael Milne and producing 'Seasons of the mind' (1971) for Ontario Place. He established his own company, Oro Films, in 1970 and in 1973 made the critically acclaimed 'Paperback hero', produced by John Bassett's Agincourt Productions. He wrote and directed a number of programmes for the CBC's 'For the record' series, including 'The Insurance man from Ingersoll', 'Kathy Karuks is a grizzly bear', 'The Tar sands' and 'Snowbirds'. After a period as a film administrator and teacher, Pearson worked as the producer and director of 'Ken Dryden's home game', a CBC series on hockey hosted by Ken Dryden.
During the 1970s, Pearson served as president of the Directors' Guild of Canada, was founding Chairman of the Council of Canadian Filmmakers, and served on the Advisory Board of the Canadian Film Development Corporation. Sent to Russia as part of a federal government delegation in 1982, Pearson was subsequently appointed Executive Director of Telefilm Canada in 1985, a post he left amid public controversy concerning Telefilm's fiscal responsibility. Pearson taught film studies at Queen's University, 1982-1983, and at Concordia, 1987-1988.
Peter Pearson's films won many awards, among them Canadian Film Awards for Best Director and Best Film of the Year for 'The Best damn fiddler from Calabogie to Kaladar' (1969), American Film Festival Blue Ribbon Award for 'Saul Alinsky went to war' (1970), Canadian Film Award for Best Theatrical Short for 'Along these lines' (1975), Canadian Film Award for Best Original Screenplay for 'One man' (1977), and ACTRA Award for Best Original Screenplay for 'The Insurance man from Ingersoll' (1977). His film 'Paperback hero' (1973) was a popular, as well as critical, success.
