By Dan Lalande
From 1990-92, Abner Jeffries, local constable and town blacksmith, could be found bumbling his way through Avonlea, going on about “strange goings-on.” These days, he’s more settled than suspicious, cooking homemade artisan pizzas on his Australian wood-fired BBQ, concocting Concorde-Frontenac noir grape juice from the fruit of his own vines, or dehydrating seasonings for soups and salads.
He’s not in Charlottetown either, though he’ll be there August 6-9 for the first annual Lucy Maud Montgomery convention. The three-day affair will include a salute to Road to Avonlea, the iconic TV series that brought Abner to a wider audience. Until then, he’ll be in suburban Ottawa, tending to his teeming yard and flexing his epicurean prowess. Otherwise, you’ll find him basking in the company of his musical family, marketing his own film productions or fielding offers to reconnect with the fan base that made Avonlea an international sensation.
Abner is one of the many guises of happy homebody James O’Regan, the Ottawa-born army brat who found his first theatrical home at Carleton University when he joined its Sock ’n’ Buskin Theatre Company. He divided those formative years between acting, radio (CKCU FM) and another performance-based passion: liturgical theology. James, who spent 10 months as an Augustinian postulant, has had over 100 articles published on the subject, most preaching the parallels between the pulpit and the stage. “Really good theology is all about stimulus-response,” he points out. “So is performing with others.” In time, he developed a method by which liturgical performance could be measured, an innovation that earned him a PhD.
James may be a Renaissance man, but to fans of Avonlea, he’s forever Abner. They’ll get a chance to meet the man behind the character when he participates in panels with fellow actors, crew members, even descendants of the Montgomery family. There’ll be a VIP reception, dinner at Dalvay-by-the-Sea, and a tour of the many exteriors featured in the show.
“I’ll be happy to see the actors again,” he says. “I’m working on a series of 10-minute docs featuring the ones who are or have become painters. I own art from a fair hunk of the 11 or so involved. Plus, the fans at these kinds of things are a delight. I’m happy to give them proximity to the show by just being there.”
Long before he was handpicked for the role of Abner, James was an honorary Maritimer. He had vacationed there for 20 years, becoming a big fan of the food, the music and the people. It was easy for him, as Abner, to convey the local vibe. That said, James, a man who likes to make things like jams and syrups, developed his own blend:
“The Ottawa Valley and the Maritimes share some speaking habits,” he explains. “I had a professor at Saint Paul University who had the quintessential Cape Breton-Ottawa Valley thing of inhaling a yes: ‘Yuh, yuh.’ I used that on the show and ended up being the only character in the entire series who had a maritime accent!”
When James wasn’t Abner, he was in almost every commercial on TV. He appeared in over 25 one-offs or campaigns in a 10-year period, shilling everything from antacids to automobiles. Though he also has credits in more familiar productions, it’s the form that best suits his looks and style.
“I have pretty good comedic timing,” he admits, “but the face is the big seller—very expressive. In commercials, you have about 28 seconds to get the story across, so clear, easily understood gestures are required. I can deliver that.”
You might also recognize him from his most successful passion project: the cult short Edsville, about a small town where everybody looks and acts like one-time TV icon Ed Sullivan. It did particularly well on CBC, where it regularly outdrew The Royal Canadian Air Farce, This Hour Has 22 Minutes and The Kids in the Hall. In a more serious vein, James also produced Shooters, a documentary about his father’s role as part of the famed WW2 photographic unit responsible for the only existing footage of the D-Day landing. It pops up on documentary-oriented TV channels, is stocked by libraries across Canada and, like Edsville, may soon find itself available through streaming.
Before he heads East for the convention, James will be growing his own Walla Walla onions, cutting the tops off quail eggs or making his own applesauce or yogurt.
Whether it’s beans for his signature edamame dip or his own continuing career, James O’Regan is always growing something.
