With the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) taking place it made me think of the movie stars that have visited us over the past century. There have been lots of them. Some of us of a certain age will remember Shirley Temple, Gene Autry, Walt Disney, and Rudy Valle, Joseph Cotton, Jean Peters, Marilyn Monroe, Jackie Gleason, Jack Benny, and Sid Caesar. One of my favourite actors Jimmy Stewart visited Niagara Falls in September 1929 and checked into the General Brock Hotel (now Crowne Plaza Hotel) with his mother and father and two siblings (he wasn’t yet married).Newspapers quoted him saying, “the falls are the most picturesque sight I’ve ever seen, and I’m thrilled to death about the scenery along the river.”

Countless continue to visit us. Here’s some I have met personally over the years, Glen Campbell, Liberace, Lily Tomlin, John Candy, Michael Moore, Dan Ackroyd, Regis Philbin, and Kathy Lee Gifford, James Cameron, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Robert Urich, Christopher Reeve, Margot Kidder, Ned Beatty, Gene Hackman, Dick Clark, David Copperfield, Sophia Loren, Jim Nabors (Gomer Pyle), Kevin Spacey, Jeff Daniels, John Travolta, Danny DeVito, Rhea Perlman, David Cassidy, and David Suzuki. I’ve got stories to tell about all of them.

I’ll stop here. Some movie stars visit Niagara Falls unannounced and leave within a few hours.

Attached is a photograph taken of Christopher Reeve, as Superman in the 1980 movie filmed in Niagara Falls, Superman 11.