Millaire, Albert, 1935-2018 : Millaire, Albert, CC, CQ (Montréal, 1935-2018), comedian, actor, director, narrator and artistic director.
Albert Millaire was born in the Ville-Émard neighbourhood of Montréal on January 18, 1935. He studied at the Collège de l'Assomption, then at the Conservatoire d'art dramatique de Montréal, from which he graduated in 1956. He began his career as a professional actor in the late 1950s, performing roles in plays in the classical repertoire (Lorenzaccio, Tartuffe, Hamlet) and the contemporary European and North American repertoire (works by Tennessee Williams, Samuel Beckett, Luigi Pirandello). He performed in companies such as the Théâtre universitaire canadien, the Théâtre-Club, the Théâtre de la Marjolaine and the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde (TNM). In 1961, with actors Jacques Zouvi, Jean-Louis Millette, François Guillier and Hubert Loiselle, he founded the Centre-Théâtre. He was the artistic director there until leaving for Europe in 1963 to study in France, Germany and London (notably at Covent Garden).
Upon his return to Canada, he regularly performed during the 1960s and 1970s at the Théâtre du Rideau Vert, Comédie-Canadienne and TNM. For a short time, Albert Millaire was general secretary of the Union des artistes (UDA), and he was involved in establishing an insurance plan for artists in 1962 and 1963.
He pursued his career as an actor by working in several theatre companies: Théâtre du Café de la Place (1978-1979), which he co-founded, Théâtre du Bois de Coulonge (1988-1989), Théâtre Profusion (1996-1998), UBU compagnie de création (1996-1998), Théâtre de l'Opsis (2001-2004), Espace Go and Le Trident (2003). He performed on numerous stages in both English and French throughout Canada, including at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, the Centaur Theatre, the Stratford Festival in Ontario (1970s to 1990s) and the National Arts Centre. Albert Millaire played over a hundred roles during the course of his theatre career.
Between 1965 and 1975, Albert Millaire directed a number of theatrical productions for TNM as well as various other theatre companies in Quebec and elsewhere in Canada, including Arthur Miller's The Crucible (1965), Anne Hébert's Le temps sauvage (1966), Jacques Ferron's Les grands soleils (1968), Guy Dufresne's Les traitants, Roch Carrier's La guerre, yes sir! (1970) and Le malade imaginaire (Stratford, 1980). Millaire collaborated with numerous opera houses as a director and artistic director (Opéra du Québec, Opéra de Montréal, Opéra de Québec, Centre Orford).
During his career, in addition to having worked as an assistant director for the TNM during the 1970s and having founded his own company in 1979, Millaire was the artistic director of the Théâtre populaire du Québec, the Théâtre d'été du Manoir Saint-Castin (Québec), the Théâtre du Bois de Coulonge and the Théâtre de Repentigny.
Albert Millaire also acted in several roles in successful television soap operas and television series, both in French and English. Among other productions, he was in Au chenal du moine (1957-1958), Le courrier du roy (1958-1961), Filles d'Ève (1960-1964), D'Iberville (1967-1968), Edgar Allan, détective (1981-1983), Laurier (1987), Road to Avonlea (broadcast by CBC) (1990-1996) and more recently in L'héritière de Grande Ourse (2005), Le coeur a ses raisons (2005-2007), and Mémoires vives (2013-2017). Between 1958 and 2010, Millaire played roles in numerous television plays on Radio-Canada. He performed in a variety of roles on television in plays by classical and contemporary authors, including Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac (1985) and Jacques Rampal's Célimene et le Cardinal (1994). Millaire also acted in several movies, including Le Maître du Pérou (1958) and Astataïon ou le festin des morts (1965) by Fernand Dansereau, Gilles Carle's La vie heureuse de Lépold Z (1965), Claude Fournier's J'en suis! (1997), Éric Tessier's Sur le seuil (2003), Aurore (2005) and Luc Dionne's L'Enfant prodige (2010).
In addition, Millaire acted as a narrator and reader at concerts by various orchestras and music ensembles, such as the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, the McGill Chamber Orchestra, and the ensemble I Musici de Montréal. He was the narrator for various literary and poetic recordings, including Fables de Jean de La Fontaine and La Chèvre de M. Seguin, Éditions Alexandre Stanké, 1993-1994, and served as spokesperson for the governments of Quebec and Canada as well as for a number of companies. As a lyricist, Albert Millaire composed several songs with renowned musicians, including François Cousineau and Cyrille Beaulieu.
Albert Millaire was also a member of various selection boards in the arts, and he served on numerous committees and boards of directors of Canadian cultural institutions. Positions included Vice-Chair of the Advisory Board of the Canada Council for the Arts, Co-Chair of the Canadian Committee for UNESCO for the Decade of Culture, Chair of the Canadian Council on the Status of the Artist, President of the Académie québécoise du théâtre, President of the Wilfrid-Pelletier Foundation, board member of the Conservatoire de musique et d'art dramatique du Québec, Co-Chair of the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards Foundation Board of Directors, member of the Advisory Council of Concordia University's Faculty of Arts, and member of the Board of Directors of the Ordre national du Québec.
Albert Millaire received many prestigious awards and honours over the course of his career, including the Prix Victor-Morin presented by the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Montréal (1983), the rank of Member of the Order of Canada (1989), the Laurier d'or of the Collège de l'Assomption, his alma mater (1991), the rank of Knight of the Ordre national du Québec (1995), the rank of Companion of the Order of Canada (2005), the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Theatre (2006), an honorary doctorate from the Université de Montréal (2007), the Gemini Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Supporting Role in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series for his part in the miniseries Mémoires vives (2014), the rank of Knight of the Ordre de la Pléiade (2015), and Commander of the Ordre de Montréal (2016).
Albert Millaire died in Montréal on August 15, 2018. He was survived by his spouse, producer and director Michèle Marchand, as well as his three daughters Anne, Catherine and Frédérique, from his previous marriage to actress Rita Imbeault. Millaire had also been the companion of actress and author Maryse Pelletier.
