Michelle Tisseyre | |
|---|---|
 Tisseyre in 1941 | |
| Born | Mary Jane Michelle Ahern 13 March 1918 |
| Died | 21 December 2014 (aged 96) Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Occupation(s) | Television host, journalist and translator |
| Known for | First woman to present a "Grand Journal" newscast forCBC French services (Radio-Canada) |
| Notable work | Translation ofWinter by Morley Callaghan for which she wonGovernor General’s Literary Award |
Michelle Tisseyre (née Ahern; 13 March 1918 – 21 December 2014) was a Canadian television presenter who also worked in the fields of journalism and translations. She joinedRadio-Canada in 1941 and did pioneering work as a broadcasting journalist on theCanadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) radio and television till 1947. Thereafter, she worked freelance for some time and then rejoined Radio-Canada in 1950, and was its director from 1953 to 1960 when the first TV show TV-Montreal was launched. In 1941, she became the first woman to present a 15-minute newsletter broadcast in CBC's French services.[1][2][3]
She lived to the age of 96. She received several awards for her career achievements, including theGovernor General’s Literary Award for her translation ofWinter (authored byMorley Callaghan), and being made an Officer of theOrder of Canada for her work on publications. In 2001, at the age of 80, she returned to college, graduating in 2006 with aBA degree in Art History fromMcGill University.[1][4]
Tisseyre was born Mary Jane Michelle Ahern on 13 December 1918 atMontreal,Quebec. She was born in a well-to-do family. Her father was John G. Ahern, a lawyer andbâtonnier of theProvince of Québec who was also president of the Québec Bar. Ahern was the son ofMichael Joseph Ahern, a surgeon of theHôtel-Dieu de Québec and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at theLaval University. Her mother was Jeanne Marcil, daughter ofCharles Marcil, who was a Member of Parliament forBonaventure,Ottawa, for 36 years. Her mother divorced Ahern and moved to Sweden to reunite with her lover.[1][2]
Initially, Tisseyre's education was in the Couvent du Sacré-Cœur de Sault-aux Récollets and at the Institut pédagogique de la Congrégation Notre-Dame.[1] At the age of 12 she was hospitalized for one year for treatment fortuberculosis in the sanatorium inSaranac,Upstate New York. She then joined theMcGill University in 1936 where she was the firstFrench Canadian to be given admission to study history and philosophy. Here in 1937, she met Jacques de Brabant, director of Esterel resort in theLaurentien and married him. Following her marriage she discontinued her college studies. But this marriage did not last long as her husband left her for another woman duringWorld War II; she divorced him in 1946. She was left with a child to manage on her own when she auditioned for employment withRadio Canada.[1][2][4]
In 1941, encouraged by Roger Baulu, Tisseyre started working as an announcer with Radio-Canada and she had very good fluency in bothFrench andEnglish languages. As a woman she was the first to broadcast 15-minute newsletter of war for theCBC French services, much to the chagrin of Michel Ouimet who was then a well known reporter.[1][2] She became the first woman journalist to interviewManuel Ávila Camacho,President of Mexico in 1944, and then such interviews became her special forte in reporting and interviewing. For three years, from 1944 to 1946, she was assigned to the CBC International Service. Along withRené Lévesque and René Garneau, she was hostess of the showLa voix du Canada, which was a special broadcast for the French armed forces of Canada working in various parts of the world during thewar.[1][2]
After the war, Tisseyre married for the second time on 17 January 1947. Her husband wasPierre Tisseyre (1905–95) who was a French writer and journalist and who had come to Canada in 1945. She then left her job with CBC in 1947 and became a freelance journalist.[1]
From 1953 to 1962, Tisseyre was the presenter of theRendez-vous avec Michelle (Meet Michelle), a CBC television talk show, the first such show on TV in Canada. During 1955 to 1960, she also hosted many shows for theMusic Hall, interviewing famous artists likeÉdith Piaf,Jacques Brel,Charles Aznavour,Félix Leclerc andJean-Pierre Ferland.[1] At the start of her television shows, in 1953, she did a pre-planned stunt, in which she, as a slim presenter, flipped and overthrew a 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) judo world champion when he had become aggressive.[4]
During 1962 to 1970, along with Wilfrid Lemoyne, Tisseyre was the hostess of the show known asAujourd’hui which was the first of its kind related to public affairs which was very popular with viewership of over one million, as the subject discussed related to the reforms to be implemented in Québec society.[1]
Tisseyre's career achievement also covered writing weekly articles for ten years for a Photo-Journal. She also wrote for theLa revue populaire and theLa revue moderne. In 1965, she edited theL’Encyclopédie de la femme canadienne (Encyclopedia of Canadian Women).[1]
Tisseyre started performing for the theater in 1948 with the radio playLes Dames de notre temps. She continued to act in different roles for theatres in Montréal, between 1949 and 1970; the plays she acted in were: as Armande inLes femmes savantes (1949),Elmire in Tartuffe by the playwrightMolière (1952) andNoëlle in La facture of Françoise Dorin (1970).[1]
Tisseyre took up the career of a translator after she left CBC in 1970. She associated with her husband to do translation work atLes Éditions Pierre Tisseyre, her husband's publishing house. As editor, she translated a number of French-language books such as: La Collection des deux Solitudes — a series of novels by English Canadians likeWinter byMorley Callaghan,Margaret Laurence,W. O. Mitchell andRobertson Davies.[1]
Tisseyre ventured into politics once during the referendum campaign of 1980 when she addressed the Montreal Forum, an assembly of 15,000 people, most of them women.[2]
After Tisseyre's husband died in 1995, she pursued her studies at the McGill University and received a BA degree in 2006 when she was 88 years old.[1]
Tisseyre wrote her memoirs titledIntimate memoirs in 1998.[2]
Tisseyre had five children.[1] On May 26, 1977, her granddaughter Yaya drowned; on July 28, 1993, her son François died in a plane crash; and on March 3, 1995, her husband died.[2] She died on December 21, 2014, at the age of 96 in Montreal.[3]
The awards which Tisseyre received during her lifetime are:[1]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
