Interpreter of Fanfreluche | Actress Kim Yaroshevskaya dies at 101

Kim Yaroshevskaya died on Sunday at the age of 101. Sometimes Fanfreluche, sometimes Grandmother, her voice will have rocked generations of children.

Read Mario Girard’s column: “Thank you for the dream, dear Kim! »

Born on 1^is October 1923 in the Soviet Union, she arrived in Quebec at the age of 10, then entered the Montreal School of Fine Arts in 1940. An artist at heart from a very young age, she took music lessons , drawing and dance, before discovering a love for the theater.

“Kim, it was a shrub with branches. Of fantasy, of friendship, of generosity, of love…”, lists the actor Marcel Sabourin, who was one of his great friends.

“She was extraordinarily talented at speaking to the world. How lucky that she came here to flourish in her talent, in her personality! », he adds.

The birth of Fanfreluche

In the 1950s, with her theater troupe Le Grenier, she created the famous character of the Fanfreluche doll. She will subsequently play him on - in the television shows Fafouin, The Surprise Box et Fanfreluchetelling “a beautiful tale in its own way”.

“I was incredibly lucky to be exactly the right age to listen to his television shows. She has become almost my best friend, like for many people,” says actress Pascale Montpetit.

“The greatest legacy she left us is the ability to change the course of history,” adds director Jennifer Alleyn, who was her friend for 35 years. “She did it with her stories. That’s how she charmed us: she decided that the big bad wolf wouldn’t eat Little Red Riding Hood. She allowed herself to change the course of her stories, as she changed the course of her own history, since she was forced to leave Russia, leave a language, a family. »

Clémence DesRochers knew Kim Yaroshevskaya in the late 1960s, at the time of The Surprise Box. The interpreter of Mademoiselle Sainte-Bénite has nothing but praise for her friend. “She was a very gentle woman. And very fragile too. She was very intelligent. »

The creators of -’s youth programs then formed a close-knit group. “We each had our own studios and filming days, but we really liked going out together,” remembers Clémence DesRochers. We went to the Café des artistes and talked. »

During one of these meetings, the two women exchanged sorrows and memories. This gave Clémence the idea to write a text (The little Russian), which is found in his collection The world is funnypublished in 1966.

A few years later, from 1977, Kim Yarochevskaya comforted a new generation of toddlers in the cult show Pass-Partoutwhere for 10 years she played the role of Grandmother, whom Passe-Montagne, Passe-Carreau and Passe-Partout regularly visited.

She also starred in numerous soap operas, including Banana peel et Ent’Cadieux, and even at the cinema. Léa Pool had the chance to direct it in 1986 and 1988, for the films Anne Trister et Headlong. The director chose Kim Yaroshevskaya because she inspired a mother figure.

“She was very attentive, humble and warm in the way she expressed herself,” recalls M^me Pool. “There was a lot of light and love emanating from her.”

A talented storyteller

In 1998, she published At Petite Kim, a book of children’s stories inspired by his own childhood. “I love stories and I have a very personal way of telling them,” the actress declared to Nuns’ Island Magazinein January 2008.

Tales and fables were omnipresent throughout her career, even after she left behind the characters of Fanfreluche and Grand-Mère. Kim Yaroshevskaya loved to go on stage and tell in her soft voice to a captivated audience these tales and legends, coming from her head or from elsewhere.

The actress also maintained her passion for boards throughout her life. In the winter of 2012, she took the stage of the Théâtre du Rideau vert, where she starred in the play Vigil (or The Watchman)with Éric Bernier. In the theater, she has also performed plays by Eugène Ionesco, Alfred Jarry and Anton Chekhov.

“Despite her age, she has always been on the side of modernity,” says her friend, the director and playwright Stéphane Lépine, in a voice full of emotion. He collaborated with her to put together her latest show, My trip to Americaat Quat’Sous.

In 2017, she published her biography, which bears the same name. Pascale Montpetit had the opportunity to work with her on the reading of her story, to read it on stage many times in the years that followed.

“She had an incredible capacity for wonder, she never felt sorry for herself despite a life full of challenges,” remembers the actress.

It was serene, peaceful, that Kim Yaroshevskaya took her last breath, according to Jennifer Alleyn, who was at her bedside during her last days.

“She was ready for her last journey,” assures M.^me Alleyn. She flew away, surrounded by love. Even if she is a woman who was not a mother, she had all the children of Quebec. »

With The Canadian Press, Mario Girard, The Press, and Luc Boulanger, The Press