Billy Van

Billy Van Evera (1934 – 6 January, 2003) was a Canadian comedian and actor.

Biography

Van was born in Toronto, Ontario. As a youth, he and his four brothers toured North America as a singing act. He first gained audience notice in the 1960s as a performer on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation produced satire programme Nightcap.

In 1971 Billy Van began making The Hilarious House of Frightenstein. It is this show for which he is most well known, and it has subsequently developed a cult following. A total of 130 episodes were produced, with Van playing almost every character.

In 1982, he hosted TVO's Bits and Bytes, a show devoted to the usage of early (mostly 8-bit) personal computers.

Van also appeared occasionally in the Canadian TV show Bizarre, hosted by John Byner.

Van died of lung cancer in 2003 at Toronto's Sunnybrook Hospital.

One of Billy Van's brothers, Jack Van Evera, also became an actor and appeared on many Canadian television series such as The Forest Rangers and Adventures in Rainbow Country.

Filmography

Movies

1982: The Wizard of Oz (voice)
1988: Family Reunion
1992: This is My Life

Television series

1963-?: Nightcap
1970: The Ray Stevens Show
1970-?: Party Game
1971: Rolling' on the River
1971: The Hilarious House of Frightenstein
1972: The Ken Berry "Wow" Show
1973-1974: The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour
1974: The Hudson Brothers Razzle Dazzle Show
1974: And That's the News, Goodnight
1975-1976: The Bobby Vinton Show
1976: The Sonny and Cher Show
1978: Eureka! (voice)
1980: Bizarre
1983: Bits and Bytes (host)
1987: I'll Take Manhattan (mini-series)
1991: Bits and Bytes series 2 (host)

Television movies

External links