Trailblazing figure skater dies at 65

Canadian figure skating legend Toller Cranston died last weekend of an apparent heart attack.

“He was famous…as a brilliant skater who really pushed the boundaries of artistic skating,” says P.J. Kwong, a figure skating analyst, coach and author. “He was the first man to…introduce dance-like movement on ice. Up to that point, we’d had men who really were just interested in more jumps and athleticism versus expression of music.”

Cranston won a bronze medal at the 1976 Olympics and at the 1974 world championships, and was a six-time winner of the Canadian senior men’s championship.

‘Men…were like penguins’

“In many ways, men of that era…were like penguins, right up and down and a certain kind of proscribed movement and very much all of them the same,” says Kwong. “When Toller came on the scene, for me, he was more of a swan. He was extremely unique, extremely avant-garde and fascinating not only on the ice, but certainly off the ice as well.”

She describes Cranston as eccentric, outspoken, yet vulnerable. He turned professional in 1976 and became the star of his own ice show. After retiring from skating, Cranston turned his creative skill to painting and writing and spent much of his time in Mexico.

‘In the spotlight’ one last time

It was fitting that the skating world learned of his death during this year’s Canadian figure skating championships, says Kwong. “The spotlight was on Toller even in death. There was a moment of silence in his honour… and it was a chance for the entire skating community to be together and to remember him.”