Magnussen: Toller was generous, creative and a bit of a ‘scatter brain’
Posted January 24, 2015 10:16 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
NORTH VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – “He was so ahead of his time.”
That’s one of the thoughts running through Karen Magnussen’s mind, as she tries to come to terms with Toller Cranston’s passing.
Cranston, who won a bronze medal as a figure skater in the 1976 Winter Olympics, died at his home in Mexico Saturday.
He was 65.
Both Magnussen, who won a silver medal in the 1972 Winter Olympics, and Toller arrived on the figure skating scene in 1968.
She says they went on to become good friends as they competed on the world stage, and had kept in contact in the decades since.
“I had just heard from him in September. He wanted my husband and I to come down and visit him in Mexico,” says Magnussen, who lives in North Vancouver.
She admires the flair he brought to figure skating, and laments that aspect is getting lost in the sport.
“The figure skating world wasn’t ready for him. He’s the one that put art and creativity in skating. And that art is being taking away from the sport because of the marking system. That’s the sad part.”
She says Toller was so creative, he even had a hand in designing sets and costumes for his TV skating specials.
Besides his creativity, Magnussen remembers Cranston as a bit of a scatter brain.
“He lost his passport when we were coming out of Czechoslovakia. So my mom held up the plane. The plane officials said ‘We didn’t hold up the plane for so-and-so so we’re not holding up the plane for you.’ And she said ‘You have to!'”
He did make the plane, but she says he had so many other things on his mind that losing a passport wasn’t a big deal for him.
Cranston was also an avid painter, and had his works displayed in museums and galleries around the world.
