I still remember the first time I saw the first Anne of Green Gables movie. I was 10 or 11, sleeping over at my fake aunt’s (my mom’s college roommate’s) house, snuggled up with her and my fake cousin on their couch. My Aunt Bonny let me eat spoonfuls of peanut butter straight from the jar (I wasn’t allowed to do that at home) and as I ate and watched, I fell in love. With the movie. With Anne. But most of all with Gilbert.
As I read, re-read, watched, and re-watched the books/movies over the next several years, I couldn’t have told you why I loved Gilbert so much. But it’s pretty easy to figure out now. He liked Anne not because she was the prettiest girl in school, but because she was the smartest and most interesting. (Movie Marilla said it best: “You made Josie Pye and Ruby Gillis and all of those wishy-washy young ladies who waltzed by him look like spineless nothings.”) It took Gilbert years to win her friendship and even longer to win her love. Still, he never gave up. Anne had a horrible temper, but he could match her iron will with one of his own. Gilbert Blythe was the quintessential boy next door (even if he was cuter than most).
My crush on Gilbert came too early for me to scour the internet for information about the real life actor who portrayed him, but those who knew Crombie best sure make him sound almost as wonderful. He didn’t care when fans came up to him and called him “Gil” instead of “Jonathan.” Instead of trying to distance himself from the boyish Montgomery hero adored mainly by women and young girls, he always talked about how proud he was to have been a part of Anne. And despite being a successful actor, he took the bus between Toronto and NYC, because it seemed like a waste of money to him to take a plane.
L.M. Montgomery left us with the better parting words than any I could ever think up:
“A world without any Gilbert in it! […] Would it not be a very lonely, forlorn place?”
Rest in peace Jonathan…
