Jonathan Crombie, who played the dreamy Gilbert Blythe in the miniseries Anne of Green Gables has died.
His sister Carrie Crombie told CBS news that Jonathan died of a cerebral haemorrhage on April 15. He was just 48 years old.
Crombie was 17 when he was cast in his first movie role: Gilbert Blythe, Anne’s nemesis, turned best mate turned life-long love in the Anne of Green Gables miniseries.
Crombie beat out many other actors for the role, including Jason Priestly (let’s face it – things would not have been the same if Brandon Walsh had played Gilbert. There would have been a lot more slate breaking and a lot less swooning on bridges.)
Thank you, Jonathan Crombie, for giving life to our first literary crush (and if we’re honest, probably our last).
So let’s watch it again: Gilbert and Anne’s first romantic moment.
How dare he indeed.
And then from slate breaking to heart-thumping gazes like this:
These guys know what we mean:
Thank you, Jonathan Crombie. And rest in peace.
Top Comments
It sounds weird, but I really felt a torrent of despair when I heard of Crombie’s unexpectedly sudden passing, I had to pause and question why. I just finished reading the junior edition of L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables to my children 2 weeks ago and I was thrilled that they had asked if they could watch it on DVD.
The fabric of my teenage years had countless viewings of Kevin Sullivan’s ‘Anne of Green Gables’ woven into it. Over the years, I have continued to be ins...pired by it and I have found many men, women and children of all ages who shared my enthusiasm. Although set in an historic period, Avonlea was depicted as a timelessly natural place with next-door-neighbour characters. It was depiction of life that was real enough to be either like our future or like our lives would have been if we had lived in the past.
Alongside Megan Follows as Anne, Crombie captured generations of hearts for a lifetime when he played the dashingly-cheeky, respectfully-heroic, faithful-but-at-times-elusive Gilbert Blythe. Montgomery’s wonderful story of orphan Anne rising to remarkable heights in a man’s world and Gilbert being supportive of Anne throughout, that made it a book ahead of it’s time. It was the extraordinary way that this rags-to-riches story encouraged viewers to ‘dream big’ both for Anne and for themselves that seemed to connect Crombie and Follow’s images to their own hearts. It was Crombie's face linked with Blythe’s great depth of character that populated the dreams of many of those wanting to ‘find’ their own Gilbert.
It’s totally irrational that I feel like I knew Crombie and Follows, but as a student studying hard for my exams, writing stories or dreaming of my career I visualised myself succeeding with a picture of Anne in my head and Gilbert’s character was there beside her. This would explain my feelings of despair and why I caught myself being shocked that Crombie could die because in my heart he seemed to be immortal. If this is how I feel, I cannot imagine how his family are feeling, and my heart and prayers go out to them.
Jonathan thank you for the part you played in inspiring me all these years and for all the years I will continue to draw on that inspiration.
My two daughters are devastated