Jean Gascon
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Jean Gascon (December 21, 1920 – April 13, 1988) was a
Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...
opera director, actor, and administrator.


Career

Originally bent on a career in medicine, Gascon abandoned it for the stage after considerable work with amateur groups in Montreal. A scholarship in 1946 from the Government of France enabled him to study dramatic art in Paris. He studied with Ludmilla Pitoëff. After returning to Canada in 1951, he co-founded Montreal's Theatre du Nouveau Monde and became its first Artistic Director. During this time, he also started a long association with the newly established
Stratford Festival The Stratford Festival is a repertory theatre organization that operates from April to October in the city of Stratford, Ontario, Canada. Founded by local journalist Tom Patterson in 1952, the festival was formerly known as the Stratford Shak ...
in 1956, playing the
Constable of France The Constable of France (, from Latin for 'count of the stables') was lieutenant to the King of France, the first of the original five Great Officers of the Crown (along with seneschal, chamberlain, butler, and chancellor) and the commander-in ...
in
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and directing three farces by Moliere. He returned to Stratford to direct
Le malade imaginaire ''The Imaginary Invalid'', ''The Hypochondriac'', or ''The Would-Be Invalid'' ( French title ''Le Malade imaginaire'', ) is a three- act ''comédie-ballet'' by the French playwright Molière with dance sequences and musical interludes ( H.495, H ...
in 1958 and
Othello ''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'', often shortened to ''Othello'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare around 1603. Set in Venice and Cyprus, the play depicts the Moorish military commander Othello as he is manipulat ...
in 1959. Between 1960 and 1963, he was founding Administrative Director of the National Theatre School of Canada and was awarded the Canadian Drama Award, the Prix Victor Dore. In 1963 he returned to Stratford to direct ''
The Comedy of Errors ''The Comedy of Errors'' is one of William Shakespeare's early plays. It is his shortest and one of his most farcical comedies, with a major part of the humour coming from slapstick and mistaken identity, in addition to puns and word play ...
'', and then Le Bourgeois gentilhomme and
The Marriage of Figaro ''The Marriage of Figaro'' (, ), K. 492, is a ''commedia per musica'' (opera buffa) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienn ...
the following season. He was awarded the
Molson Prize The Thomas Henry Pentland Molson Prize for the Arts is awarded by the Canada Council, Canada Council for the Arts. Two prizes are awarded annually to distinguished individuals. One prize is awarded in the arts, one in the social sciences and human ...
in 1967. Then between 1968 and 1974, he was artistic director of Stratford Festival of Canada. In 1977 he became theatre director of the
National Arts Centre The National Arts Centre (NAC) () is a Arts centre, performing arts organization in Ottawa, Ontario, along the Rideau Canal. It is based in the eponymous National Arts Centre (building), National Arts Centre building. History The NAC was one ...
in
Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...
. Gascon's career in the Canadian theatre as a
bilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...
actor and director achieved an impressive reputation. He gained honorary degrees from McGill and Bishop's Universities. He was also awarded the
Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...
(in 1975), the Prix du Québec and the Royal Bank Award. As an actor in both English and French languages, his credits include such noteworthy portrayals as Richard in ''Richard II'', and the Captain in ''Dance of Death''. He was the French/Indian ''Batise'' in the 1970 movie '' A Man Called Horse'' and was in a film in 1988 called À corps perdu (''Straight for the Heart'').


Personal life

He was the brother of actor Gabriel Gascon and filmmaker Gilles Gascon. Gascon died of a heart attack in 1988 in
Stratford, Ontario Stratford is a city on the Avon River (Ontario), Avon River within Perth County, Ontario, Perth County in southwestern Ontario, Canada, with a 2021 Canadian census, 2021 population of 33,232 in a land area of . Stratford is the County seat, s ...
and was entombed at the
Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery (, ) is a rural cemetery located in the borough of Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, which was founded in 1854. The entrance and the grounds run along a part of Côte-des-Neiges Ro ...
in Montreal.


Filmography


Honours

* In 1967, he was made an Officer of the
Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...
and was promoted to Companion in 1975. * In 1985, he was awarded the Quebec government's Prix Denise-Pelletier.


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gascon, Jean 1920 births 1988 deaths Companions of the Order of Canada Canadian male stage actors Canadian male television actors Prix Denise-Pelletier winners Male actors from Montreal 20th-century Canadian male actors 20th-century Canadian poets Burials at Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery Canadian artistic directors Canadian expatriates in France