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GRATIEN GELINAS
SUMMARY CURRICULUM VITAE
Gratien Gélinas was born in St-Tite-de-Champlain, Quebec. With 60 years
experience, Gratien Gélinas is a Canadian Theatre and playwriting mogul.
Self taught he was forced to terminate his classical studies at the
Collège de Montréal due to the depression in 1929. He nevertheless had a
remarkable artistic career.
RADIO
He started in1934, on CKAC in Robert Choquette's Le Curé de
Village. The following year, he received his first recognition
as a monologist in the revue Télévise-moi ça! written by
Louis Francoeur and Jean Béraud. In 1937 and for the two following
years, he created Fridolin, the character that made him
famous
THEATRE
In 1938, he went on stage with Fridolinons, the first of a
long and successful series of topical revues that lasted until 1946.
In Theatre, Ti-Coq, Gratien Gélinas' first play, was
presented at the Monument National in 1948 and obtained a record success
during its run with over 600 performances including Finland and Sweden.
In 1956 he performed at the Stratford Shakespearean Festival (Ontario).
Mr. Gélinas played Dr. Caius in The Merry Wives of Windsor
and Charles VI in Henry V, with Christopher Plummer.
In 1957, Gratien Gélinas founded la Comédie-Canadienne, starting a
theatre movement whose primary function was to foster a national
character in the performing arts through the presentation of Canadian
works.
In 1959 his second play, Bousille and the Just, had more
than 700 performances around the world
In 1966 he wrote his third his play Yesterday the children were
dancing. It was presented in English at the Charlottetown
Festival. It was also televised on the CBC national network in 1969 and
through the United States on the educational television network in 197l.
In 1986 Gratien Gélinas wrote a new play, The Passion of Narcisse
Mondoux, which toured successfully with over 600 performances
throughout Canada and the U.S.A, including 30 in New York City.
In 1987, at the National Centre for the Arts in Ottawa and at the Rideau
Vert in Montreal, an all-age audience rediscovered the marvelous
Fridolin character when Les Fridolinades was
revived nearly 50 years after its creation. The response was so great
that in 1989 the Fridolinades 2 was presented at the
Rideau Vert and went on tour throughout the Province of Quebec.
TELEVISION
In 1954, Gratien Gélinas wrote and performed the series Les
quat'fers en l'air. The following year, he acted in Roger
Lemelin’s Les Plouffe. In 1987 he played the central part
of Baptiste Lambert in Claude Fournier’s Les Tisserands du Pouvoir.
CINEMA
In 1942, Gratien Gélinas wrote and directed a parody of La Dame
aux Camélias, la vraie, the first fiction sound
colour film in Canada. In 1952 he adapted Ti-Coq for the
screen. He produced the film himself, co-directing it with René
Delacroix. From 1969 to 1978 Gratien Gélinas was President of the
Canadian Film Developement Society, to become Telefilm Canada. In the
eighties he played in Red, by Gilles Carle, in Claude
Fournier’s The Tin Flute and in Norman Jewison’s
Agnes of God with Jane Fonda and Ann Bancroft. |
