Austin Willis

Canadian actor and television host Austin Willis had a varied film and television career in Canada and abroad. Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, he appeared in the early science-fiction series Space Command and hosted the music program Cross-Canada Hit Parade during the 1950s. In the 1970s he gained new fans as host of This Is the Law, a humorous game show, and he also presented the short program So The Story Goes. His best-known international film role was Simmons, the card player beaten by Auric Goldfinger in the opening of Goldfinger (1964); he had first been set to play Felix Leiter before switching parts with fellow Canadian Cec Linder. He became a Member of the Order of Canada in 2002. Willis died in 2004.