B: December 8, 1909 in Sainte-Tite, Québec
D: March 15, 1999 in Deux-Montagnes, Québec
Gretian Gélinas was a director, actor and author but he began his working life as an accountant. He began to act professionally in 1936 and in 1937 he created his character “Fridolin” for radio. One year later he brought the character to the stage where he remained the main character of Gélinas’ enormously popular satirical revues, Les Fridolinades which ran continuously until 1946. In 1948, Gélinas wrote Ti-Coq, a play that was performed more than 600 times and filmed in 1952. In 1957, he was the founding director of la Comédie-Canadienne and was a founding member of the National Theatre School in Montréal. His second play, Bousille et les justes, whose success exceeded that of Ti-Coq, ran for 700 performances. In 1966 he wrote his third play Hier, les enfants dansaient. Recipient of numerous honorary degrees, Gélinas was a member of the Royal Society of Canada and a Companion of the Order of Canada.
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