Had Tommy Douglas been American, there'd be folksongs and Hollywood movies honouring his exploits, and probably a federal holiday celebrating his birth.
And as that country tends to deify those deemed great nation-builders, every American would know his story.
Douglas was, of course, Canadian. His legacy is instead largely self-created, coming down to us via a bill of rights, the eight-hour workday, government funding for the arts and universal health care.
All were first introduced in Canada by Douglas.
Yet not every Canadian knows his story.
Most of us are aware, however, of the CBC poll a year or so ago in which the former Saskatchewan premier was voted the "Greatest Canadian," selected as the one person who had the greatest impact on this country.
Well, now we have a movie as to what exactly that impact was, and a very good movie at that. Prairie Giant: The Tommy Douglas Story, a two-part miniseries, airs on CBC (Cable 4) tonight and tomorrow night, at 8 both nights.
Featuring an all-star Canadian cast of Brent Carver, Nicholas Campbell, Don McKellar, Kristin Booth, R.H. Thomson, Paul Gross, Aidan Devine and Andy Jones, Prairie Giant introduces TV viewers to Michael Therriault as Tommy Douglas.
Authentic period costumes and sets vividly recreate the times and, with an army of 2,500 extras, the work has the feel of a feature film. Archival footage enhances the storytelling.
Ironically, the story of the father of Canadian medicare turns out to be the stuff of Hollywood after all. Think of those endearing American movies of the 1930s and 1940s where fair-minded but fiery Irish priests in the cloth of Pat O'Brien championed the little guy against all odds.
Switch the heritage to Scottish and change the Catholic priest into a Baptist minister, and you've got Tommy Douglas.
He was born on Oct. 20, 1904 in Scotland, and his family emigrated to Winnipeg six years later. Although small in stature, Douglas was twice the amateur lightweight boxing champ of Manitoba before becoming a preacher.
Prairie Giant: The Tommy Douglas Story begins in 1930, when the young minister arrives with his bride Irma at his new church in Weyburn, Sask. Seeking to get more yield from the church than just sermons, Douglas builds a gym in the basement. Under his tutelage, local boys learn about Christian values - as well as how to throw a right cross.
Kiefer Sutherland was originally tapped to play Tommy Douglas - a fascinating choice since Sutherland is actually the grandson of Douglas. But because of commitments to his hit TV series 24, Sutherland was forced to bail on the project.
Enter Therriault.
"It's sad Kiefer couldn't do it, but I'm obviously very grateful the opportunity came my way," said Therriault, who is 32. "This is the role of a lifetime. Tommy Douglas has touched the life of every Canadian."
Therriault is a remarkable ringer for Douglas in Prairie Giant. Indeed, his director, John H. Smith (The Boys of St. Vincent, Dieppe), praises Therriault's work as "the best performance of any actor on Canadian television ever."
A classically trained stage actor through seven seasons at the Stratford Festival, Therriault won a Dora for his performance in the Toronto production of Mel Brooks's The Producers.
Having just finished a run on Broadway in the revival of Fiddler on the Roof, Therriault was in Toronto rehearsing the stage play of Lord of the Rings - he portrays the hobbit-gone-bad Gollum - when I reached him by telephone.
I relay the director's comment about his being the best performance of any actor on Canadian TV. "That's a, um, very nice compliment," said Therriault, with a modest laugh.
"There was a lot of pressure because Tommy Douglas was a hero to so many people, especially in Saskatchewan where we filmed, and I wanted to do him justice," said Therriault.
Although the talented actor discovered he could do a pretty good imitation of the former premier, he opted to instead capture the essence of the man rather than merely mimic him.
"There was a lilt, a music to his speech-making and I tried to infuse that in him without going, 'OK, here's my Tommy Douglas impersonation.' I wanted to pay him the most respect."
Douglas arrived in Weyburn just as the Great Depression began. The Dirty Thirties were all about tightening up your belt and going to bed hungry. Along with the drying up of jobs, drought would also bake the Prairies into a dust bowl.
To help out, Douglas established a job and food distribution centre at his church. As the unemployment lines continued to grow, so did the anger. When a miners' strike turned violent, we watch the horror reflected in the face of Douglas.
No longer content to preach Christian values while members of his church are being beaten down by a seemingly unresponsive government, Douglas enters politics - albeit reluctantly.
The Depression-era preacher proved to be a skilled orator in the political arena. His famous Mouseland speech in 1944 described Canadians as mice - living under rules made for cats.
Putting human rights and needs above the pursuit of profit and power, Douglas served five terms as the premier of Saskatchewan, following his election in '44. More than 100 bills, 72 of them aimed at social or economic reform, were passed in his first year in office. Eventually he ushered in the first public hospital insurance program in Canada, what we know today as medicare.
Prairie Giant is Therriault's first film, and he extensively researched his subject, becoming an expert on Douglas. One invaluable resource was Shirley Douglas.
"She was exceptionally helpful, always available on the phone if I needed help. She never put stress on us, that 'you've got to get my father right!' As an actress she understood the terror of that, and kept saying, "You know, it's your character."
At a health summit in Ottawa last year, Therriault listened to a speech she made. "When it comes to Shirley, the apple didn't fall very far from the tree. The music - that lilt I was telling you about - she sounds so much like her dad. And there's that fire that he also had. So I didn't have to look very far for a true-life example of who Tommy Douglas was. It's living and breathing in Shirley," said Therriault.
Prairie Giant spans five decades and was shot on location in Saskatchewan and Ottawa. In the movie we learn that Douglas was the leader of the first socialist government in North America.
After five terms as premier, in 1961 he was elected national leader of the newly formed New Democratic Party.
One year later Saskatchewan introduced North America's first socialized health plan. Other ideas of Douglas included old age pensions and mothers' allowances.
Douglas died of cancer 20 years ago last month at age 81.
"I think it's really important that people watch this movie, especially young people," said Therriault.
"All the things Tommy Douglas fought for - universal health care, the 40-hour workweek, the Arts Council in Canada - all these things are currently under the stress of being taken away."
Therriault confesses he didn't know much about the man until he began his research.
"I think most of my friends were like that. None of us knew who Tommy Douglas was before this all came about. And it's really important that we know the battles that were fought to give us what we have today, and we have to keep voicing our concern for them, so we don't lose them.
"It is our responsibility to speak up and say we want to hang on to these things," said Therriault.
Prairie Giant: The Tommy Douglas Story is the first time director John H. Smith had the chance to work with his son, screenwriter Bruce M. Smith (The Sleep Room). The script succeeds in showing Douglas as a hero, a valiant fighter who also possessed a tender side and had a good sense of humour.
During an early scene tonight taking place in the church basement gym, Douglas recommends to a boy being picked on by a bigger youth, to head-butt the bully smack in the nose.
Therriault laughed. "That was based on a real story, when Tommy taught Kiefer Sutherland how to head-butt, and they put it into the script. I think being a little guy himself, he was like, if you're being treated badly, you have a right to fight back."
One of Therriault's favourite scenes comes in a gentle moment between Douglas and his wife, Irma (Kristin Booth), as she fixes his tie.
"John suggested that we improvise, so I recited a Robbie Burns poem to her. Tommy loved poetry, particularly Burns. I think it's a truly intimate moment that speaks to the great love between them."
Next up for Therriault is playing Gollum in the stage play of Lord of the Rings, which opens next week in Toronto.
Say, can two roles be any more diverse?
"Well, Gollum and Tommy Douglas don't have too much in common, but Frodo and Tommy are similar in a sense. Frodo goes on a journey, a little guy who accomplishes great things, but never setting out on purpose to do that," said Therriault.
"And Tommy Douglas lived out that classical hero mythology of the little guy who goes on a similar adventure beyond his personal want. He didn't necessarily want to become a politician. He fell into it out of necessity, and in the end makes a great change that he never would have anticipated."
