After dropping out of high school in the 1920s, Purdy became a bicycle messenger, while performing at banquets and church shows to earn extra money.
In 1929, Purdy was accepted into the Hart House Theatre Company at the University of Toronto, studying with personalities such as Maud Hope and Dora Mavor Moore.
[1] At CFRB Purdy was eventually promoted to the position of head of the drama department and established the Canadian Theatre of the Air, the first national radio playhouse.
This network included comedian Alan Savage, along with future television personalities Lorne Greene, Monty Hall and Andrew Allan.
At the time, Scottish Television was an ITV contractor and followed the trend of making cutbacks to funding, and by 1959 Purdy decided to return to Canada to work on the CFTO television license application, where he remained as director of programs until 1961, when he resigned to set up his own programming company, Rai Purdy Productions, where he directed People in Conflict and Magistrate's Court for CTV.