Dawn Greenhalgh, Canadian Stage Veteran Who Voiced the Queen in ‘Babar,’ Dies at 93

Dawn Greenhalgh, a veteran Canadian actress of stage, film and television, died Nov. 6 in Toronto. She was 93.

Born in Shanghai, China, she spent her childhood with her family in a Japanese prisoner of war camp, where she discovered a love for music, theater and dance. Greenhalgh moved to Canada with only a guardian at the age of 14, attending Montreal High School and beginning her performing career.

In 1953, at 19 years old, she became a founding member of Canada’s Stratford Festival. She went on to become a founding member of the Neptune Theatre in Halifax and Theatre Plus in Toronto. She performed on stages around the world and in New York studied with Uta Haagen, Herbert Berghof and Mira Rostova.

Greenhalgh’s film roles included Sofia Coppola‘s “The Virgin Suicides” and David Cronenberg’s “Map to the Stars.” She also worked with her daughter, Megan Follows, in the popular Canadian series “Anne of Green Gables.” Other television appearances included “Five Days at Memorial,” “Saving Hope” and “La Femme Nikita.” She voiced Queen Celeste, Babar the elephant’s wife, on the animated series “Babar.”

With the Stratford Festival, she performed in plays including “All’s Well That Ends Well” with Alec Guinness, “Antony and Cleopatra” and “Love’s Labour’s Lost.”

“Dawn Greenhalgh was a powerhouse, a dynamic, brilliant actress,” Stratford Festival Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino wrote on Instagram. “As an extraordinary artist she could be both charming and unsettling. It was a pleasure to hear her perspective on plays and productions as it was informed by a lifetime of wide experience, a sparkling intellect and an independent, free thinking mind.”

She is survived by her children Edwina Follows; Laurence Follows; Samantha Follows and Megan Follows, six grandchildren and two step-grandchildren.