Actor John F. Dunsworth, famous for playing the iconic role of Jim Lahey on the hit series Trailer Park Boys, has died at age 71.
Here’s what you need to know about his legacy and net worth:
1. He Has an Estimated Net Worth of $500K
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Dunsworth leaves behind an estimated net worth of $500,000.
Lahey grew up in a family of 10 children. His daughter, Sarah, appeared alongside him on episodes of Trailer Park Boys.
In a 2010 interview, Lahey was asked what advice he find shimself giving to young actors. He said, “My experience– I tell them what I think are the important components of art and craft. ‘He who has science and has art, religion too, has he who has not science has not art let him religious be.'”
2. He Played Jim Lahey in ‘Trailer Park Boys’
‘Trailer Park Boys’ is a Canadian mockumentary TV series created and directed by Mike Clattenburg. The show focuses on the residents living in the fictional trailer park in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.
Trailer Park Boys premiered on Showcase in 2001. The planned final season ended in 2007, with a finale special titled “Say Goodnight to the Bad Guys”.
Dunsworth was cast by series creator Mike Clattenburg. In an interview with The Globe and Mail Inc., he recalled, “Mike called me and asked if I wanted to be in this short film called One Last Shot. That was 1998. And One Last Shot became the basis for Trailer Park Boys… I was on a boat, out on a lake near here, with Mike. He says to me, ‘John, everybody is going to recognize you. You’re going to be famous for this.’ Frankly, I didn’t believe him. About five minutes later, another boat goes by, slows down, and somebody shouts, ‘Hey, Lahey!'”
For his role in ‘Trailer Park Boys’, Dunsworth received the Gemini Award in 2005. In 2013, he won an ACTRA Maritimes Award for Forgive Me.
3. He Was the Star of a Video Documentary in 1988
In 1988, Dunsworth was the star of a short video documentary called “John Dunsworth: The Candidate”. The doc follows Dunsworth as he tries win support from locals for a political campaign.
In a 2012 interview, the actor was asked how much of Dunsworth is Mr. Lahey, and how much of Mr. Lahey is John Dunsworth. He responded, “Well, I teach theater, and I try to get my students to be the person that they’re playing. To know them well enough so that they can just— when I’m studying a character for stage and there’s only three weeks, there’s usually a process I go through where I start to call the character I’m playing ‘he’, and then I start calling them my name… and then eventually one day, if magic is a fate, I start to call myself ‘I’. And when that happens you can call it an existential leap if you like, but it’s the difference between knowing what to do and just doing it.”
4. He Became Familiar for His Role on the CBC Series ‘Pit Pony’
Dunsworth became familiar for his role on the CBC series Pit Pony, a period-piece about a coal mining community.
It was through ‘Pit Pony’ that he also grew close with Clattenburg, who was only a rookie director at the time.
In an interview in 2010, Dunsworth said, “I think the secret of acting is not so much to be a character, but to be in the moment. To take a look at the given circumstances. To use one’s imagination, and to make choices. To use your imagination and to divine the magic ‘if’.”
5. He Has Recorded His Own Audio Stories
Before his passing, Dunsworth recorded his own audio stories that you can learn more about here.
In a 2012 interview with Off Set TV, Dunsworth was asked what the future looks like for him. He said, “I always wanted to travel Canada, and in the last six years, I’ve been everywhere, and getting paid to do it with people who just want to hang out with Lahey.”