For some, she will forever remain the Fanfreluche doll who happily twisted the tales of our childhood. For others, the sweet Grandmother of Pass-Partout who was eager to tell great stories. Born in Moscow on 1is October 1923, actress, author and screenwriter Kim Yaroshevskaya died on Sunday at the age of 101 following a fall a few weeks ago, it was confirmed Duty with close family members. Before this event, she was in great shape, we are told.
Daughter of revolutionary intellectuals, the little girl, who dreamed of having a doll, bore, like many children of the time, the first name Kim, which was the acronym for International Communist Youth. At the age of 7, she became an orphan when her parents were eliminated by Stalin. Taken in by her grandmother, who lives in poverty, little Kim leaves Russia at the age of 10 to live with an aunt in Montreal. Not being Catholic, she was sent to an English school. She learned French during her studies at the Beaux-Arts.
Et Kim creates Fanfreluche
Fond of tales since her early childhood, particularly those of Pushkin, Kim Yaroshevskaya created the character of the Fanfreluche doll during an improvisation at the Ordre de bon temps, a secular cultural movement founded by Roger Varin in 1956. From this improvisation were born the clown Fafouin (Guy Messier) and the pirate Maboule (Jacques Létourneau), who will, with Fanfreluche, be the stars of Fafouin (1954-1955) and The surprise box (1956-1966), children’s show hosted by Pierre Thériault.
After some hesitation, she agreed to extend her character’s television adventure in Fanfreluche (1968-1971), of which she wrote all the episodes. From 1977 to 1987, she became a grandmother in Pass-Partout. Whether she wears Fanfreluche’s brown curls or Grand-Mère’s gray bun, the actress with her sparkling eyes has no equal when it comes to captivating children with her tales that she tells with her soft accent and fluty voice.
Great roles in the cinema
Winner of the Order of Canada (1991) and the Mérite du français (2003), Kim Yaroshevskaya has often played immigrants on both the big and small screens. In 1986, Paule Baillargeon offered him his best role in the cinema in Soniawhere she plays, alongside Lothaire Bluteau, a lady suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. We also find it at Léa Pool in The woman from the hotel (1984), Anne Trister (1986), Headlong (1988) et Sex of the stars (1993). In Cuervo (1990), a TV film by Carlos Ferrand, she plays twins living in diametrically opposed universes.
On television, she plays in Ent’Cadieux (1993-1999) et Tribu.com (2001-2003), for which she was nominated for a Gémeaux in the category of best supporting actress for a drama series or program in 2002. We will see her one last time in Beating heartshort film by ZhiMin Hu, where she plays a woman suffering from loneliness.
A woman of the theater
Alongside her acting career, Kim Yaroshevskaya will pursue a career as an author. In 1998, she published Little Kim (Boréal), an autobiographical tale illustrated by Luc Melanson, where a little Russian girl who wants a doll is given a gun by her parents so that she can become strong and courageous. Published in 2012 Tales of humor and wisdom (Rebel Planet), which is intended for adults and not children.
Although television and cinema pampered her, the actress loved the stage above all. In Stratford, in the 1970s and 1980s, she played Shakespeare; in major Montreal theaters, she has performed Tennessee Williams, Ionesco, Chekhov, Lorca, Pirandello, Camus, Robert Gurik and Réjean Ducharme.
“Because even if people talk to me first about what I did on TV, it was in the theater that I had the best moments of my career,” she confided to Michel Bélair in our pages in January 2012, as she prepared to star in Watchful (or The watchman), by Morris Panych, with Éric Bernier, in a production by Martin Faucher, at the Rideau vert. On May 30, 2017, Ms. Yaroshevskaya became a Companion of the Order of Arts and Letters of Quebec. A totally deserved honor for this great lady who has won over generations of children, young and old.
