Editing Frank Shuster

{{Short description|Canadian comedian (1916–2002)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2021}}
{{Infobox person
|name              = Frank Shuster
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|size=100%|OC}}
| image            = Wayne and Shuster.jpg
| alt              = 
| caption          = [[Johnny Wayne]] and Frank Shuster
| birth_date       = {{Birth date|1916|9|5}}
| birth_place      = [[Toronto]], [[Ontario]]
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|2002|1|13|1916|9|5}}
| death_place      = Toronto, Ontario
| resting_place    = [[Pape Avenue Cemetery#Holy Blossom Memorial Park|Holy Blossom Memorial Park]], Toronto
| other_names      = 
| known_for        = 
| alma_mater       = [[University of Toronto]]
| occupation       = Comedian 
| nationality      = 
| awards           = [[Order of Canada]]
| spouse           = Ruth Shuster (née Burstyn)
| children         = [[Rosie Shuster]] and Steve Shuster
| relatives        = [[Joe Shuster]] (cousin)
| module =
  {{Infobox military_person |embed=yes
| allegiance       = {{flag|Canada|1921}}
| branch           = [[File:Lesser badge of the Canadian Army.svg|25px]] [[Canadian Army]]
| battles          = [[World War II]]
| serviceyears     = 1942–1946
| rank             = [[Sergeant]]
| unit             =  
}}
}}

'''Frank Shuster''', {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|OC}} (September 5, 1916 – January 13, 2002) was a Canadian comedian best known as a member of the [[Double act|comedy duo]] [[Wayne and Shuster]], alongside [[Johnny Wayne]].  Wayne played to Shuster's [[straight man]]. 

== Early life ==
Shuster was born to a [[Judaism|Jewish]] immigrant family<ref>{{Cite news|title = Canadian comics focused on cultural nation-building.|url = https://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/2011/08/25/salutin_wayne_and_shusters_comedy_of_gratitude.html|newspaper = The Toronto Star|date = August 25, 2011|access-date = November 24, 2015|issn = 0319-0781|first = Rick|last = Salutin}}</ref> in [[Toronto]], [[Ontario]], and spent part of his childhood in [[Niagara Falls, Ontario|Niagara Falls]]. Shuster was originally Shusterovich.<ref name=SFU>{{cite news |last1=KEZWER |first1=Gil |title=Tickling the funny bone: Icons of Canadian humor, Johnny Wayne and Frank Shuster, live on in CBC's archives |url=https://newspapers.lib.sfu.ca/jwb-12477/page-22 |access-date=15 November 2024 |work=Jewish Western Bulletin |date=5 July 1996 |ref=22-23}}</ref>  His family returned to Toronto in the College/Spadina area,<ref name=SFU /> in time for Shuster to attend high school at Toronto's [[Harbord Collegiate Institute]], where he met Johnny Wayne in 1930. 

The two would soon be performing sketches and routines at school talent shows, continuing to do the same when they both attended the [[University of Toronto]], majoring in English literature.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title = Frank Shuster|url = https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/frank-shuster-9241657.html|website = The Independent| date=January 30, 2002 |access-date = November 24, 2015|language = en-GB}}</ref><ref name=SFU />  Starting with entertaining [[Scouts Canada|scouts]], he and Shuster wrote some original scores and performed at the university's ''Hart House Follies''.<ref name=SFU />

== Professional career == 

By the early 1940s Wayne and Shuster began appearing on local radio station [[CFRB]], and during World War II they joined the [[Canadian Army]] as performers, entertaining Canadian troops, and performed on the CBC Radio series ''The Army Show''.<ref name=":0" /> 

After the war, the duo appeared on [[CBC Radio|CBC radio]] and [[CBC Television|television]], becoming a network fixture with regular appearances from the 1940s through the 1980s. They appeared on ''[[The Ed Sullivan Show]]'' 66 times.<ref name=":0" /> The duo would remain a comedy team for 50 years, until Wayne's death in 1990. 

In 1996, Shuster was made an Officer of the [[Order of Canada]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.gg.ca/honours/search-recherche/honours-desc.asp?lang=e&TypeID=orc&id=3694 | publisher=[[Governor General of Canada]] | work=Order of Canada | title=Frank Shuster | access-date=May 4, 2008 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080528185924/http://www.gg.ca/honours/search-recherche/honours-desc.asp?lang=e&TypeID=orc&id=3694 | archive-date=May 28, 2008 }}</ref>

== Later life ==

Shuster was married to Ruth Shuster {{circa|1943}}, and had two children, Rosie and Steve. [[Rosie Shuster]] (b. 1946) was a comedy writer for ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' and other television programs, and former wife of [[Lorne Michaels]]. Steve Shuster, a standup comic, writer, musician, and actor, died in 2017 at the age of 67.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.worldofradio.com/dxld2108.txt | publisher=[[CBC Radio]] | work=Summer Comedy Summary | date=July 6, 2002 | title=CBC Previews for Saturday, July 6 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/2017/03/10/remembering-steve-shuster-a-comics-comic.html|title=Remembering Steve Shuster, a comic's comic &#124; The Star|website=thestar.com|date=March 10, 2017 }}</ref>

He was also the cousin of [[Joe Shuster]], co-creator of ''[[Superman]]''.<ref>{{cite news | last =Mietkiewicz | first= Henry | title = Superman at 'The Star' | work = [[The Toronto Star]] | date =April 26, 1992}}</ref>

Shuster died on January 13, 2002, in Toronto, Ontario, at the age of 85.<ref>{{cite news |title=Comedian Frank Shuster dies at 85 |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/comedian-frank-shuster-dies-at-85-1.349117 |access-date=January 1, 2024 |work=CBC News |date=January 14, 2002}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb name|id=0795971|name=Frank Shuster}}
* {{discogs artist|Frank Shuster}}
* {{Findagrave|6378111}}
* [http://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.redirect?app=fonandcol&id=107127&lang=eng Frank Shuster fonds (R4610)] at [[Library and Archives Canada]]

{{Wayne and Shuster}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shuster, Frank}}
[[Category:1916 births]]
[[Category:2002 deaths]]
[[Category:Canadian people of Dutch-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:Canadian male television actors]]
[[Category:Canadian television personalities]]
[[Category:Comedians from Toronto]]
[[Category:Jewish Canadian male actors]]
[[Category:Jewish Canadian comedians]]
[[Category:Male actors from Toronto]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of Canada]]
[[Category:University of Toronto alumni]]
[[Category:Canadian sketch comedians]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian comedians]]
[[Category:Canadian Screen Award winning writers]]