Paul Soles


Paul Robert Soles is a Canadian actor, voice actor and television personality. He led the voice cast in such series such as The Marvel Super Heroes, voiced the title character in Spider-Man, and portrayed Hermey in the 1964 television special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer; Soles is one of the last surviving participants of the special's voice cast.
Soles first screen appearance was on CFPL in 1953, and he continues to perform over 60 years later, performing as of 2016 in the comedy web series My 90-Year-Old Roommate on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's online comedy channel, CBC Comedy.

Acting roles

Soles is widely known as the voice of Hermey the misfit elf in Rankin/Bass' Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer from 1964. He went on to voice Bruce Banner the alter ego of the Hulk and his friend Rick Jones in the 1966 Incredible Hulk animated series from The Marvel Super Heroes program. He also voiced fellow Marvel superhero Spider-Man in the original animated television series also from the late 1960s, and he played "The Lawbreaker" on the CBC panel quiz show This Is the Law in the 1970s, and played Costas Stavros on the Canadian soap opera Riverdale. In 2001, Soles took over the role of Shylock the Jew in the Stratford Festival of Canada production of The Merchant of Venice after Al Waxman, who was originally scheduled to play the part, died. Soles played Stanley the pizza shop owner in The Incredible Hulk, and his other film appearances have included roles in Ticket to Heaven, Just the Way You Are and The Gunrunner opposite Kevin Costner. He also played Danny, the Montreal Customs House janitor in the 2001 crime thriller The Score.
Soles won a 2006 Gemini Award for his role in the television series Terminal City, and a 2017 Canadian Screen Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Digital Production for My 90-Year-Old Roommate.

Voice work

Soles also did voices on various animated television shows and films such as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Rocket Robin Hood, The Smokey Bear Show, The Little Brown Burro, King of the Beasts, The Marvel Super Heroes, the original Spider-Man cartoon, The Trolls and the Christmas Express, Take Me Up to the Ball Game, Willy McBean and his Magic Machine, Festival of Family Classics, The Reluctant Dragon & Mr. Toad Show, Noah's Animals, Iron Man, and The King Kong Show, and Spider-Woman
Soles was also the narrator of The Wonderful Stories of Professor Kitzel, the voice of The Commissioner in the 2005 animated television series Funpak and has also supplied the voice of Dr. Reboux in the animated version of the 2005 film Heidi.
Soles also voiced the Academy Award-nominated animated documentary .
In 2011, Soles started voicing the recurring character Maxwell Finnwich on Detentionaire.

Television hosting

He was the host of the short-lived CBC Television late-night comedy talk show Canada After Dark, and co-hosted the public affairs show Take 30 for 18 seasons with hosts such as Anna Cameron and Adrienne Clarkson. He also hosted the CFPL television game show Take Your Choice for one year in the early 1960s.

Documentary producer

Paul Soles was also a producer of documentaries while he was an on-air talent at CFPL-TV in London, Ontario. He worked on a series called, The World Around Us, and travelled with film crews in Great Britain in the early 1960s, filming many aspects of British life. He even got on a soap-box in Hyde Park in London to speak his mind. Soles has worked with people like Dennis Goulden and Jim Plant and Tom Ashwell and Jon Boynton.

Family

Soles and his wife Lucy have several children and grandchildren. Soles is cousin of Bernard "Bunny" Cowan, and they both worked on the original 1960s Spider-Man animated series and the 1967 children's series Max, the 2000-Year-Old Mouse.