Pierre Lalonde, a singer and one of the few truly bilingual TV personalities in Quebec history, has died. He was 75.
The news was announced just after noon on Wednesday in a brief press release by his agency. It does not say how he died, but he had been suffering from Parkinson’s disease.
The official obituary notice is posted here.
Lalonde hosted series like Jeunesse d’Aujourd’hui, but anglophones might remember him more for his English series like Mad Dash and the Telethon of Stars. As part of its 50th anniversary in 2011, CFCF-12 posted a full episode of the Pierre Lalonde Show on its website.
Coverage from TVA Nouvelles, The Globe and Mail, CTV Montreal, La Presse and TC Media. The Gazette has a gallery of photos of Lalonde and his family.
The Journal de Montréal compiles reaction from the artistic community.
Tributes from:
RIP Pierre liked you as youth when I watched you hosting the game shows
My first foray into live television was as Pierre’s co-host on CFCF’s (CTV Montreal) annual Telethon of Stars. Always a gentleman. Always a friend. Very sad news.
I also remember Pierre from my days at CFCF TV and the annual Telethon of Stars, a genteman with everyone, no ego, friendly and kind to all. Rest in Peace, Pierre, you deserve peace at last. Sylvia PIllot
I worked with Pierre in the 70’s and 80’s on The Mad Dash, The Telethon of Stars, and The Piere Lalonde Show.
He was always the gentleman and one of the very few who could move effortlessly between “the two solitudes.” He also managed to wor for just about every TV station in town, often at the same time — an amazing feat.
His Trois L stage show with Michel Louvan and Donald Lautrec has equally remarkable — the equal of anything you could see in Vegas.
Very sad to read this just now. I remember watching him on CFCF and various shows. He was always a class act. Deepest sympathies to his family and friends. Canada needs more Pierre Lalonde’s . . . .
A sign of getting old is reading stories like the death of people you grew up watching on television. RIP Pierre. Thanks for entertaining me in both French and English.
You took the words out of my mouth. . .I so agree Steve. I had not thought of f his voice and T.V. programs for a long time and yet his death triggered many good memories of a good man. Very sorry to hear this. ?