[Alford Saga 08] • The Inheritor

This eighth and final novel in the Alford Saga is a stand-alone autobiographical roman à clef about the remarkable life, loves, agonies and achievements of one of Canada’s most distinguished film and television producer-directors.

After returning home on the death of his father, Paul Alford struggles to make his living as a writer, but somehow lands a job as a producer-director in the newly created drama department of the CBC. Thus begins a long career that takes Alford to New York, London and Hollywood and eventually leads to his celebrated, ground-breaking trilogy with Genevieve Bujold, Isabel, Act of the Heart and Journey, now part of the Canadian film canon.

On the television front, Alford produced and directed – and sometimes wrote – more than 120 dramas. Notable among these were his TV adaptations of the works of such legendary playwrights and authors as Jean Anouilh, Harold Pinter, Christopher Fry, Tennessee Williams and Dylan Thomas; his Macbeth with Sean Connery; his production of Mother and Daughter, starring Angela Leigh, principal dancer of the National Ballet of Canada, and her daughter; and his creation of what has been dubbed one of the best documentaries of all time: Seven Up!

A must-read story about the flowering of the Canadian culture industry, The Inheritor is a virtual who’s who of film and television in Canada in the 1950s, featuring such renowned Canadian actors as William Shatner, Donald Sutherland, Kate Reid, William Hutt, Barry Morse, Frances Hyland, Gordon Pinsent, Martha Henry and Tony Van Bridge... the list goes on.