Actor brought passion, integrity to stage

Glenn Cannon, an award-winning actor and director, educator and mentor to several generations of young actors, died Saturday at Straub Clinic & Hospital. He was 80.

Cannon’s death was announced by the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists Hawaii Local. Cannon served for more than 20 years as president and board member of the former Screen Actors Guild Hawaii Branch and at the time of his death was co-president of the combined Hawaii local.

Becky Maltby, a longtime friend and colleague who worked with Cannon onstage and also as a Hawaii Local board member, recalled him as a man with "a vital presence that would fill the room."

She added, "The passion and integrity he put into his work was unrivaled. A brilliant, funny, compassionate, noble man. He will be profoundly missed by so many."

Maltby captured many facets of Cannon’s character, career and impact on others when she produced a biographical film on his life and times for a party in his honor at Manoa Valley Theatre in 2011.

Russell Motter, a Po‘o­kela Award-winning actor, remembered Cannon as "a tough critic."

"But I think many of us loved him for that," Motter said. "We wanted so much to do our best for him. To deliver a line that elicited that great laugh of his was a treasured prize."

Born in Philadelphia in 1932, Cannon graduated from Temple University in 1954 and went to New York to pursue an acting career. He appeared on Broadway in "A Moon for the Misbegotten," "The Good Woman of Setzuan" and in many off-Broadway shows and touring productions.

His career soon expanded to include roles in films such as "Cop Hater" and "Mad Dog Coll," and television shows including "77 Sunset Strip," "Alfred Hitchcock Pre­sents," "Combat!" "Johnny Staccato," "The Gallant Men" and "The Outer Limits."

In 1965 he accepted a teaching fellowship at Stanford University and became an actor, director and teacher with the Stanford Repertory Theatre, an Equity company of nine actors supplemented by students in Stanford’s theater program.

Cannon was hired by the University of Hawaii in 1968 as a professor in the Drama Department and never left the islands. In his 45 years in Hawaii, Cannon directed more than 50 shows at UH-Manoa and probably close to another 50 for most of Hono­lulu’s major community theater groups.

Newscaster Joe Moore, a veteran stage and television actor, described Cannon as "not only a dear friend and colleague, but … truly my mentor as an actor."

Moore said, "In the early days of the original ‘Hawaii Five-0,’ I was turned down for three roles before I realized the problem was I didn’t know what I was doing as a television or film actor, so I went to Glenn for lessons. After three sessions with him, I was cast in my first ‘Five-0′ role, and never had a problem being cast for a network TV series after that."

Moore subsequently chose Cannon as his director when he staged two original plays, "The Heydrich Covenant" and "Prophecy and Honor," and again when he presented "The Boys of Autumn" with Pat Sajak at the Hawaii Theatre.

"As a director he was a taskmaster, bringing out the best an actor could bring to a role," Moore said. "As a friend he was always there with a sympathetic ear but not shy about letting you know what he felt you needed to hear in any given situation. The acting community has suffered a great loss, and I have lost a dear friend."

The range of Cannon’s own work as a stage actor in Hawaii is represented on one hand by his performance in the title role of Manoa Valley Theater’s 2003 production of "Visiting Mr. Green" and on the other by his bizarre comic bit part of a Yiddish Satan in red long johns in Hawaii Pacific University’s staging of "A Night at Rosie’s" in 1997 and its sequel, "Aloha Rosie’s," in 2005.

Cannon received 12 Po‘o­kela Awards for excellence from the Hawai‘i State Theater Council, most recently in 2011 for his work as director of Manoa Valley Theatre’s "August: Osage County." He received the council’s Pierre Bowman Award for lifetime achievement in 2009.

"His work (at UH-Manoa) focused on many of the great plays of the Western canon, ranging from intense dramas to period comedies to musicals," said Marty Myers, manager of UH’s Kennedy Theatre, by email. "He was (also) instrumental in getting the Academy for Creative Media started on campus."

Cannon’s years in Hawaii also saw him extend his career as a television actor. Fans of the original "Hawaii Five-0" remember him as District Attorney John Mani­cote. He subsequently portrayed Dr. Ibold for seven seasons on "Magnum, P.I." and also appeared in "Jake and the Fatman," "Tour of Duty," "Island Son" and "Lost."

Cannon is survived by wife Samsil "Sam" Cannon, son Caleb and a granddaughter. Services are pending.