Email exchange regarding proposed land donation of King Karl's Castle, 2010. Post in Tideline about King Karl's 90th birthday, 2018. Pamphlets for King Karl's Castle, undated
Email exchange regarding proposed land donation of King Karl's Castle, 2010. Post in Tideline about King Karl's 90th birthday, 2018. Pamphlets for King Karl's Castle, undated
Karl Triller (September 30, 1928 - February 27, 2022) was born in Hungary and immigrated to Canada as a young man in the early 1950s. He worked in northern Ontario for a couple of years before moving to BC, where he worked as a baker and cook in forestry camps.
He married Elizabeth Wolf in 1956 and they had four children: Margaret in 1956, Rudy in 1958,Terry in 1960 and Fred in 1962. Around 1964 they settled in Courtenay,and Karl worked for Safeway for the next 16 years. Karl and Elizabeth divorced in the late 1970s.
Karl took early retirement at the age of 52 and moved to Cortes Island. He had always loved castles, and the granite rock of his property on Manzanita Road was the perfect place to build one. He designed, built and furnished a five-story, eight-bedroom German medieval-style castle of cement blocks over the course of 12 years. The castle featured eight bedrooms, a large dining hall, and a dungeon in the basement. The castle opened for business in the early 1990s, serving as a bed-and-breakfast and a venue for banquets and parties.
Karl took an active part in community life, and was crowned King of Cortes in Dec 2000. His duties included leading the Cortes Island Day parade and presiding at community Christmas dinners.
From the "Out of the Archives" program: "This extravaganza marked the peak of Cortes Cinema's (CC) exploits in madness. Inspired by Saturday being the day that Cortes's gravel roads were littered in paper garbage (it flew off the dump truck). The script was a collaboration of some of the most unstable minds at CC's arsenal. The plot is, like the scriptwriters' minds, simple, but the late Al Murray's acting as the Lone Ranger left eceryone in the dust. The film is a tribute to Al, the funniest man that stepped in front of the CC's lens. Shot on Super 8 on location at the Cortes Island Dump."
Cast: Al Murray, Pierre & Wendy deTrey, Jean Fontaine, Jim Palmer, Isolde Ruthenberg
Cameos: Gary Bergman, the Reverand Rollo Boas, Wlmer Ellingsen, Jo-Ann Green, Peggy (the Queen of Cortes) Newsham, George Sirk
From the "Out of the Archives" program: "This extravaganza marked the peak of Cortes Cinema's (CC) exploits in madness. Inspired by Saturday being the day that Cortes's gravel roads were littered in paper garbage (it flew off the dump truck). The script was a collaboration of some of the most unstable minds at CC's arsenal. The plot is, like the scriptwriters' minds, simple, but the late Al Murray's acting as the Lone Ranger left eceryone in the dust. The film is a tribute to Al, the funniest man that stepped in front of the CC's lens. Shot on Super 8 on location at the Cortes Island Dump."
Cast: Al Murray, Pierre & Wendy deTrey, Jean Fontaine, Jim Palmer, Isolde Ruthenberg
Cameos: Gary Bergman, the Reverand Rollo Boas, Wlmer Ellingsen, Jo-Ann Green, Peggy (the Queen of Cortes) Newsham, George Sirk
