Career
He is best known for playing "Doc" on the television series Fraggle Rock. His acting career spanned film, radio, television, and the stage. Parkes worked often on Canadian Broadcasting Company radio, beginning in 1959, and shifted into television and film, acting in such diverse series as the 1960s" ecological adventure series The Forest Rangers, children"s show The Littlest Hobo, and the detective series Cagney and Lacey.
Parkes played the role of Doc in the North American version of Fraggle Rock.
When he was cast in Fraggle Rock, Parkes was just finishing a regular role as another type of "doc," playing Doctor Arthur Lowe (no relation to the English actor of the same name) on the Canadian television series Home Fires. After Fraggle Rock, in addition to returning as Doc in A Muppet Family Christmas, he continued to work in children"s television, guest starring as alcoholic photographer Philosophy (opposite Sesame Park puppeteer Nina Keogh) on the TVOntario puppet series Today"s Special, and appearing regularly on Public Broadcasting Service"s Shining Time Station as store owner Barton Winslow.
In 1996, he portrayed Jonathan Swift in the Home Box Office Original Film Handel"s Last Chance. He appeared on an episode of Public Broadcasting Service"s Noddy, as Wally the Wanderer in "Noah"s Leaving", which aired in 1998.
In 1999, he appeared with Willem Dafoe and Billy Connolly in The Boondock Saints (playing a Tourette"s syndrome-afflicted bartender, also named "Doc").
He reprised the role for The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day. In 1993, the Toronto International Film Festival ranked the film 10th in the Top 10 Canadian Films of All Time. He died three days after his 90th birthday on October 19, 2014.
