Paul Soles

Biography:

Paul Robert Soles (August 11, 1930 – May 26, 2021) was a Canadian actor, voice performer, and television personality whose career spanned more than six decades. He was best known for voicing Spider-Man in the 1967 animated series and Hermey the elf in the 1964 holiday classic Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. At the time of his passing, he was among the last surviving members of that special’s original voice cast.

Soles was born in Toronto to Lillian (Goodfellow) and Arthur L. Soles, Jewish immigrants from Poland and Lithuania. He grew up with two siblings and was also the cousin of Bernard “Bunny” Cowan, with whom he collaborated on the 1960s Spider-Man cartoon and the children’s program Max, the 2000-Year-Old Mouse.

His television career began in 1953 on CFPL, and he went on to host and co-host several shows, including the CBC game show Take Your Choice, the talk program Canada After Dark, and the long-running public affairs series Take 30. He also produced documentaries, such as The World Around Us, traveling with film crews in Britain to capture everyday life.

Throughout his career, Soles contributed voices to numerous animated series and films, including Rocket Robin Hood, The Smokey Bear Show, The Marvel Super Heroes, Iron Man, The King Kong Show, Spider-Woman, JoJo’s Circus, and Mysticons. He narrated The Wonderful Stories of Professor Kitzel and voiced characters in productions like Heidi (2005) and the Oscar-nominated animated short The Colours of My Father: A Portrait of Sam Borenstein. Later in life, he voiced Maxwell Finnwich in Detentionaire and Barnabas Dinklelot in Mysticons.

In addition to voice acting, Soles had notable on-screen roles. He played Costas Stavros on the Canadian soap Riverdale, portrayed “The Lawbreaker” on CBC’s This Is the Law, and appeared in films such as Ticket to Heaven (1981), Just the Way You Are (1984), The Gunrunner (1989), and The Score (2001). He also made a memorable cameo as Stanley, the pizza shop owner, in Marvel’s The Incredible Hulk (2008). In 2001, he stepped into the role of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice at the Stratford Festival after actor Al Waxman’s sudden death.

Soles earned critical recognition later in his career, winning a Gemini Award in 2006 for his work in Terminal City and a Canadian Screen Award in 2017 for his performance in the digital comedy My 90-Year-Old Roommate, a role he continued into his late 80s.

Paul Soles passed away peacefully in his sleep at his Toronto home on May 26, 2021, at the age of 90.