Denise Pelletier

Denise Pelletier was primarily a stage actor. She began her film career in the classic, Tit-coq. The idea for the film came to its director, Gratien Gélinas in 1947 but plans for the film did not materialize and the screenplay was reworked as a stage play a year later. It was immediately successful and enjoyed over 500 performances in Québec and Eastern Canada over the next three years. When the film was made – it was shot in 1952 and released a year later – it too became a huge hit. It is estimated more than 300,000 people saw it between February and April 1953. She was honoured with the Order of Canada in 1970, and made her last stage performance in 1975 at the Stratford Festival in The Divine Sarah. There were plans to bring the play to Montreal, but Pelletier died during a heart operation on May 24, 1976, two days after her 53rd birthday.

Also see Gilles Pelletier