Juan Root ~by Judith
Synchronicity is a strange and wonderful thing. My lovely wife and I were driving home from some long overdue family time in Brantford, Ontario on Sunday, October 24, 2021...unaware that Brantford was the same city where over 70 years ago, WOLF DOG co-star Juan Root and Thelma Wyles were married. The legendary Fats Waller conducting his orchestra at their reception.
As I was driving, my smart phone was receiving an email message from their daughter, Judith Wyles who had just read my WOLF DOG website post about her late father and was reaching out. I hadn't yet realized the excitement that would greet me when I saw the post and begin a rapid and informative exchange with Judith.
Even though this was a very busy weekend for us, I responded with thanks to Judith for reaching out. After a bit of back and forth, I learned she was thrilled to find there is someone out there who appreciates not only her father's life history, but his lone feature film role, WOLF DOG's Bill Hawkins, bank robber.
STUDIO PHOTO of JUAN ROOT
JUAN ROOT and his pride and joy, daughter Judith.
Root was a handsome actor who, while performing in a Vancouver production in the early 1940s, charmed a young female Vancouver News Herald journalist off her feet during her interview with his co-star, actress Anna Neagle. The two fell in love and were soon married. Judith Wyles was soon to be born to Juan Root and Thelma Wyles Root in May of 1944.
Young Judith came to love and admire her talented father. When he was a CKNW Vancouver radio morning host, Root would call up grade one student Judith before she left for school and ask for her musical request, usually a Guy Mitchell number. While their time together was brief and sparing, it was memorable and meaningful. Root doted on Judith, even teaching her to swim at a young age. Juan would often visit Judith at camp, causing her to note how the older girls would try to catch the attention of her charming and handsome father. Sadly, by the time Judith reached age seven, Thelma and Juan were divorced.
Besides major roles in TUTS (Theatre Under The Stars) productions "Macbeth", "The Student Prince", "Kiss Me Kate" and "Pyjama Game" with Doris Buckingham and a young Robert Goulet, Juan took part in little theatre productions in the ports off Horseshoe Bay (Bowen, Gibson's and others) by boat.
While not reputed as a singer, (at least not at the level of Canadian-born bass legend and WOLF DOG cohort Don Garrard), Juan was known to say that any decent actor could sing, because singing was just a matter of controlled breathing.
Root was also making a name for himself in TV and radio circles. He appeared three times on the CBC highbrow anthology series "On Camera", as well in three episodes of "Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans". Juan also got occasional work as an interviewer on CBC Radio's "Assignment", before his feature film debut in WOLF DOG 1958.
While Juan was accomplished in radio & TV, theatre was his first love and he was good at it, mentoring many other talents, most notably ESSO spokesperson Murray Westgate. Twelve year old Judith spent her last summer with Juan in late 1950s Ontario, at a cottage on Heart Lake, Brampton "when it was pollution-free and the home of snapping turtles and sunfish".
Afterward, contact between Judith and Juan was sporadic and limited. Juan had returned to the theatre in his native U.S. and by way of New Mexico, ended up working in theatre across Texas, where he became ill at age 43, passing away in Houston on October 4, 1961. Juan was survived by seventeen year old daughter Judith. His end came fifty years ago, almost to this day of this writing.
Thelma Wyles was a journalist on an interview assignment with the Vancouver Press Herald, when while interviewing actress Anna Neagle, she was swept off her feet by the dashing Juan Root. They fell in love, married and gave birth to Judith.
GALLERY OF JUAN ROOT:
ABOVE: Pictured at a cocktail party - excerpt from book by John Belshaw).
RIGHT: Promo shot for a theatrical production.
I thank Judith, who now resides in Nova Scotia by way of Great Britain, for sharing many fond and vivid memories. I hope our email exchanges have brought as many smiles to her face as they have to mine.
I close with one of my favorite of Judith's bittersweet recollections. "Thelma (Mother) always said that if she could have afforded him (Juan) she would have kept him."
Thank you Judith and thank you, Juan, wherever you are.
RIGHT: Starring as Harrison Howell in TUTS (Theatre Under The Stars) production, "Kiss Me Kate"
Juan Root, CKNW morning D.J. "on the air" with the "Rhythm Pals", Mike, Mark & Jack circa 1950.
Portrait of lovestruck Juan and pregnant Thelma, who later observed to Judith, "he was looking at you, not me."