Harley Venton

Who is Harley Venton?

Harley Venton is a Canadian actor from Thunder Bay, Ontario. He emigrated with his family in 1965 to Hibbing,on the iron range of northern Minnesota.

In the fall of 1965 he enrolled at Hibbing Junior High School where, in exchange for 20 cents and, more importantly, to get out of two periods of classes, he went to see something called a 'play.' He was enthralled, enchanted and decided, then and there, that acting was what he wished to do for the rest of his life. He went out for the spring drama club production of Desperate Ambrose a farcical comedy about a greenhorn dandy who goes west, is flattered into taking on the position of sheriff in a Wild West Town and, quite by comedic misadventure, manages to clean up the rough and tumble town. He 'tried out' for this first acting role having studied with some of the finest acting teachers extant: Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, Milton Berle, The Marx Brothers, Danny Kaye, Jonathan Winters, Harvey Korman, Tim Conway, Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett, and, perhaps most importantly for this particular role, Don Knott's as Deputy Barney Fife. Relying on instinct he pulled out all the stops and got the leading role his first time out.