Fellow actors from the King Of Kensington remembered Al Waxman yesterday as a passionate professional -- with a soft side.

Fiona Reid played the wife of Waxman's Larry King on the highly popular CBC comedy that ran from 1975 to 1980.

"I'm still identified on the street as Larry King's wife, and I love it," Reid said. "Al hit a chord with everybody. He was so positive about this country. He dreamed big and made us all better. He really was an artist for his time."

Waxman wasn't just the show's star, Reid said.

"He had a lot to do with the end product of the show ... My memories of Al have to do with how much he just passionately wanted the show to be something. He knew this character was an everyman who connected with the entire country. It was really on the money, as far as the multicultural community Toronto was becoming."

Ardon Bess played Nestor Best for three seasons.

"As an actor, he knew what he was doing," Bess said. "He knew the business. He said, 'Every day you're trying to make it in the business, and the next day, you're still trying to make it.' "

But Waxman had a soft side too, Bess said.

"You saw it especially with his children and his wife."

As far as Bess is concerned, King Of Kensington will be Waxman's most enduring legacy.

"I still do theatre and film around the country, and people still recognize me (from the show)," Bess said. "And they always want to know what he was like."

Jonathan Welsh was in the first King Of Kensington episode, playing a radio deejay.

Mentor

"My line was, 'Okay, here we go, down the dumper,' and Al often reminded me of that," Welsh said of the man who became a professional mentor, and with whom he served on the original board of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television.

Waxman expected his co-workers to be as prepared and professional as he was, Welsh said.

"His heart was huge, but he didn't have time for fools. He was very demanding. Once you were on set, you had to be there. So all this lovable nonsense, behind it was a very determined individual."

Like many Toronto actors of a certain age, Kenneth Wickes worked on a few episodes. He said that Waxman refused to be typecast by the role of Larry King.

"With Al, he proved what a wide range he had. It's gratifying he was able to do that," Wickes said. "He really sort of blossomed. He did fabulous things."

Harvey Atkin said Waxman "cast me as different characters in King Of Kensington 10 different times."

Atkin later played Desk Sgt. Ronald Coleman in the CBS police drama Cagney And Lacey, on which Waxman co-starred.

"Both of us got cast in the Cagney And Lacey pilot, the one with Loretta Swit, and we hung out together all the time in L.A. We were the two Canadians, the two Jews. Our dressing rooms were side by side.

"But this wasn't just a one-time thing with Al and me; he was a good friend. We went back 25 years.

"I saw him last about a month ago, and I always greeted him the same way: I'd grab him in the ass. He wouldn't even have to turn around and see it was me, he'd know."


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