Lister Sinclair died this morning. He was the voice of “Ideas” at the CBC roughly the years I was doing “Ideas” documentaries regularly.
As host, Sinclair wasn’t directly involved in many of the programs. Often he just recorded an intro and conclusion. You could do a multi-hour program without ever meeting him. So I didn’t know him well. But I do remember a gathering Ideas was organizing at a country place in Caledon. Sinclair did not drive, and one of the Ideas staffers was asked if she could give him a ride. “Well, okay,” she said, “but if I’m driving, someone else will have to come along to listen to him.”
He could be just a little that way – able to make you wonder, after you had felt months working up an hour’s broadcast, whether he could have strolled in, switched on the microphone, and tossed off his own version in real time.
But he was good at the craft. Watching Lister Sinclair, I saw and heard what a voice actor does. I remember drafting my own thoughts for him to read, then hearing him deliver them on first reading with more persuasive authority than I might ever have mustered.
Once he came in, glanced at the sheet of text I had written to introduce a political documentary, and gave a reading full of drama and excitement. “Aah,” I said cautiously, “I actually wanted that part to sound more world-weary and cynical.” Sinclair gave the sheet a second look and saw my point. No histrionics. His second reading nailed it.
