Monique Mercure

Marie Lise Monique Émond (14 November 193016 May 2020), better known as Monique Mercure , was a Canadian stage and screen actress. She was one of the country's great actors of the classical and modern repertory. In 1977, Mercure won a Cannes Film Festival Award and a Canadian Film Award for her performance in the drama film J.A. Martin Photographer.

Early life and education Mercure was born Marie Lise Monique Émond in Montreal, Quebec, the daughter of Eugene and Yvonne (née Williams) Emond. Her parents enrolled her as a young child in diction, tap dancing, musical theory and cello classes. She married composer Pierre Mercure in 1949. The couple had three children; their daughter Michèle also worked as an actress, most notably in the films Kid Sentiment and A Scream from Silence (Mourir à tue-tête).

Mercure studied music and dance before studying theatre at St. Lawrence College, Ontario. In 1960 she held her first major role in replacing an actress in The Threepenny Opera. She won the Canadian Film Award for Best Actress at the 28th Canadian Film Awards for the same film that same year.

In 1978, she received a Canadian Film Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress at the 29th Canadian Film Awards for The Third Walker.

Mercure was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1977. She was subsequently promoted to Companion seventeen years later in 1994.

At the 4th Genie Awards in 1983, Mercure was a Best Actress nominee for Beyond Forty (La Quarantaine). She won a Genie Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1992 for her role as Fadela in Naked Lunch. In 1999, she won another Best Supporting Actress Genie for her role as Grace Gallagher in Conquest.

Mercure received the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement, the Prix Denise Pelletier, The University of Toronto conferred an honorary doctorate on her in 1998.

Death Mercure died on 16 May 2020, at a palliative-care centre in Outremont, Montreal. She was 89, and had been suffering from throat cancer. who was at her bedside. Messages of condolence were conveyed by Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, Quebec premier François Legault, and Montreal mayor Valérie Plante. Trudeau praised Mercure for how she "helped promote Quebec cinema beyond our borders", adding that "her legacy will live on through her work".

Filmography

Film Year Title Role Notes 1963 À tout prendre Barbara 1965 Mission of Fear (Astataïon, ou Le festin des morts) Indian woman 1966 This Is No Time for Romance (Ça n'est pas le temps des romans) Madeleine 1967 Waiting for Caroline Yvette 1969 Don't Let the Angels Fall Mrs. Pelletier 1970 Two Women in Gold (Deux femmes en or) Fernande Turcot 1970 Love in a Four Letter World Louise 1971 Finalement... 1971 Mon oncle Antoine Alexandrine 1972 The Time of the Hunt (Le Temps d'une chasse) Richard's wife 1972 Françoise Durocher, Waitress 1974 Once Upon a Time in the East (Il était une fois dans l'est) 1975 The Vultures (Les Vautours) Yvette Laflamme 1975 For Better or For Worse (Pour le meilleur et pour le pire) Loulou 1976 Let's Talk About Love (Parlez-nous d'amour) Madame Jeannot 1976 The Absence (L'Absence) Estelle 1977 J.A. Martin Photographer (J.A. Martin photographe) Rose-Aimée Martin 1977 The Third Walker Marie Blanchard 1978 The Song of Roland (Le Chanson de Roland) Marie 1978 Christmas Lace 1979 Quintet Redstone's Mate 1979 Stone Cold Dead Dr. Bouvier 1980 Contrecoeur Blanche Lavallée 1980 La cuisine rouge The mother 1981 De jour en jour Odette 1982 Odyssey of the Pacific Aunt Elsa 1982 Beyond Forty (La Quarantaine) Grosse Louise 1982 A Day in a Taxi (Une journée en taxi) Passenger 1984 The Years of Dreams and Revolt (Les années de rêves) Yvette Laflamme 1986 Qui a tiré sur nos histoires d'amour Madeline 1989 In the Belly of the Dragon (Dans le ventre du dragon) Mireille 1991 Montreal Stories (Montréal vu par...) Dame Moufette Segment "La Toile du temps" 1991 Naked Lunch Fadela 1992 La fenêtre Mother 1994 La fête des rois 1998 Conquest Grace Gallagher 1998 The Red Violin Madame Leroux 1999 When Justice Fails Pauline Wesson 1999 Set Me Free (Emporte-moi) Hanna's grandmother 2004 Geraldine's Fortune Olive Larose 2004 Battle of the Brave (Nouvelle-France) Hortense 2005 Saint Martyrs of the Damned (Saints-Martyrs-des-Damnés) Malvina 1 2007 Twilight (La Brunante) Madeleine 2009 The Master Key (Grande Ourse, la clé des possibles) Centenarian 2011 Récits d'hyperinflation Comtesse de Mompiédout 2011 The Girl in the White Coat Mrs. Valinsky 2011 Human Beasts (Bêtes humaines) Monique Messier 2015 Marche avec moi Old lady in the garden 2017 It's the Heart That Dies Last (C'est le cœur qui meurt en dernier) Pierrette

Television Year Title Role Notes 1985 Tramp at the Door Madeleine Fournier