Elwy yost biography
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Elwy Yost was such an unlikely TV star. With that big round head, bushy moustache and over-sized glasses, he looked more like a butcher or detective or some other character actor from one of his favourite films from the '30s or '40s.
The former host of TVO's Saturday Night at the Movies passed away Thursday in Vancouver. He was 86.
Yost was so well known in Toronto in the '70s and '80s his name was a way of proving citizenship, like knowing the Pizza-Pizza phone number or the location of Honest Ed's. He provided a window to classic films at a time when you couldn't just call up a Preston Sturges or Frank Capra title at Netflix or Rogers on-demand or even on video or DVD. There was no Turner Classic Movies 30 years ago; Elwy was it.
His genuine enthusiasm was so infectious he made you want to check out whatever black and white oldie TVO happened to snag for that week. Even better was the interviews Yost and a small crew used to shoot on film down in Hollywood each season. C
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Elwy Yost was the host with the most
Magic Shadows, which airs tonight at 8 p.m. ET on TVO, presents a loving tribute to Saturday Night at the Movies and its creator and longtime host, Elwy Yost
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I’d covered the Toronto International Film Festival, interviewed David Cronenberg on a beach in Cannes, and rubbed shoulders with Jennifer Aniston at the Sundance festival in Park City, Utah. But I never felt I’d “made it” as a film critic until the day in 2007 when Thom Ernst, host of Saturday Night at the Movies, called me up and asked if I’d be on the show.
Ernst was a great host, presiding over eight seasons of the venerable TVO series until its untimely cancellation in 2013. Before him, Johanna Schneller and Shelagh Rogers had each hosted for a couple of years. But they all stood in the l
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Magic Shadows, Elwy Yost: A Life In Movies
Archival footage and interviews with family, friends, and colleagues tell the story of how a school teacher from Weston, Ontario became a Hollywood bio authority.
Find other films that have the same director or cast members as Magic Shadows, Elwy Yost: A Life In Movies.
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