Voice of Rusty and Jerome, Lindsay’s Rod Coneybeare, dead at 89
One of Lindsay’s most famous voices — Rod Coneybeare, 89 — has died. Coneybeare was the voice of Rusty and Jerome on the 27-year run of The Friendly Giant, one of the most popular kids’ shows in Canada at one time.
Coneybeare’s obituary appeared in the Toronto Star, noting he died in Lindsay.
The family notes that he, “leaves behind beloved and everlasting memories of a man with a biting intellect, a dark and incisive humour, an appreciation of art, popular music and classic movies.”
The Friendly Giant starred Bob Homme as the giant who interacts by storytelling with Rusty, a naive chicken who lived in a sack hanging on the castle wall, and Jermome, a baritone giraffe who visited by leaning in the castle’s window.
Homme died in 2000. Coneybeare, according to the obituary, is survived by his wife Moira, four children and seven grandchildren.
[…] Coneybeare died last Thursday in Lindsay, Ont. at the age of 89. […]
Look up way up, and I’ll call Rusty.
Loved this show, loved the routine and story time . Let’s not forget when the kittens came on and jammed with the rooster and Friendly.
Best parents I never had.
Thanks CBC.
I was in at the bottom of a tower in Wales some years ago when the person I was with said,” Look up – way up.”
The response came back from people at the top, ” And I’ll call Rusty.”
Of course, we knew that they were Canadians, too.
I loved that show and I hope there is a special place in Heaven for all who made it the treasure that it was.