B: October 20, 1933 in Toronto, Ontario
D: June 7, 2019 in Toronto, Ontario
Nonnie Griffin was born Lorna Margaret Jean Griffin and began her career onstage when she was 16 at the now defunct Red Barn Theatre in Jackson’s Point, Ontario. She went on to study first at the Toronto Conservatory and then at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London where she studied voice, speech arts and drama. She also studied with the famed mime artist Marcel Marceau. Her stage work includes a 10-month run as the title character in Hello, Dolly! at the Limelight Dinner Theatre in Toronto in 1990. She appeared in the original Toronto production of John Murrell’s Waiting for the Parade and played Jessica in the original Montreal production of David French’s Jitters. Other stage work included appearances at the Canadian Repertory Theatre in Ottawa, the Peterborough Summer Theatre, the Jupiter Players in Toronto and the Bristol Old Vic in London, England, among many others.A generation of children grew up with her when she was part of the TVOntario children’s series, Polka Dot Door. Her dramatic work on television dates back to the medium’s so-called Golden Age, including her being cast in the role of Diana Barry in the first televised production of Anne of Green Gables in 1956. For all of her early career she was credited as Margaret Griffin. She was 85 and getting ready for a new production when she died in hospital of a ruptured aortic aneurysm. For her appearances in television dramas, we list the title of the drama followed by the year of production and the title of the series.
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