The one who so aptly embodied La Sagouine, this endearing icon of Acadia with colorful outspokenness, died Saturday at the age of 92. Actress, teacher and former senator Viola Léger passed away in Dieppe, New Brunswick.
For her public and the faithful of the work of Antonine Maillet, she will always remain “the real Sagouine”, which she interpreted no less than 3000 times, in French and in English, in the four corners of the country and abroad. .
“She has always been one of my great friends and certainly the greatest actress that Acadia has ever known,” testified Antonine Maillet in a press release on Saturday.
In an interview, Mr.me Maillet added that she expected the death of her friend, who had been dying for a few weeks. Mme Léger lived at the Notre Dame du Sacré-Coeur home in Dieppe.
“We are losing a person who was close to me, because we had a real friendship, but that’s what I owe her to Viola: because if she hadn’t played the Sagouine, the Sagouine [n’aurait] not had the success it had, and therefore [je n’aurai pas] received the recognition as a writer that I have received,” she shared, saying she was saddened by her loss.
The famous actress retired from public life in February 2017, shortly after suffering a stroke that left her with sequelae such as memory problems and blurred vision.
Each time she walked the boards in the skin of her character as an Acadian housekeeper, “she left Viola and became La Sagouine”, remembered the agent of the actress, Lucienne Losier, in an interview granted to The Canadian Press when Viola Léger announced that she was stepping down for good.
“La Sagouine made Acadie known and a particular Acadie, which is that of the people who had been neglected. When we speak of a sagouine, it is a washer of places, a furbisseuse of floors. Who could have imagined that [ce serait] the most famous person in Acadia? “remembered the author Antonine Maillet in an interview, Saturday evening.
The Federal Minister of Official Languages, Ginette Petitpas Taylor, highlighted the career of Ms.me Leger in a social media post.
“Acadia will never have had such a loyal ambassador as Ms.me Léger for whom the character of La Sagouine was not only the role of a career and a life, but also represented a symbol of great pride and tenacity for all Acadians and Acadians,” shared the one who was elected Member of Parliament for Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe.
The Société Nationale de l’Acadie recalled that Viola Léger alone embodied the course of modern Acadia.
“By accepting, in 1971, the role of La Sagouine offered to her by its creator, Antonine Maillet, Viola Léger could not have suspected that she was going to take on not only a unique character, but also that she would become an icon of our people. and its proud spokesperson,” said the president of the Société Nationale de l’Acadie, Martin Théberge, in a written statement.
The Quebec Minister of Culture, Mathieu Lacombe, also offered his condolences on Twitter, indicating that it is a great loss “for L’Acadie and for all of us too”.
“A great lady leaves us, after having marked the imagination of several generations with La Sagouine. […] All our thoughts are with his loved ones. Have a good rest, Mr.me Lightweight,” he wrote.
From education to theater
Born in 1930 to an exiled Acadian family in Massachusetts, Viola Léger grew up mainly in New Brunswick, where she studied to become a teacher.
She was still on the school benches when she met Antonine Maillet, then a teacher, with whom she forged a solid friendship that would influence her professional life forever.
In 1967, when she was approaching her forties, Viola Léger left for the United States to learn theater teaching at Boston University, then flew to Paris to cut her teeth in theatrical interpretation at the École Jacques Lecoq.
It was at this time that she received a phone call from Antonine Maillet who asked her if she was interested in the role of “La Sagouine”, the character of an old Acadian housekeeper that she had just created. .
Daughter and wife of fishermen, this 72-year-old heroine, a modest floor washer, recounting her life and her memories in “chiac” will quickly become a symbol of Acadia. She will first come to life on the boards of a New Brunswick theater in 1971, then will be presented at the Théâtre du Rideau Vert, in Montreal, the following year, still in the guise of Viola Léger. La Sagouine will then visit the theaters of many cities, across Canada, but also in Europe.
His interpretation had evolved over the years. The general manager and artistic director of the Pays de la Sagouine in Bouctouche, Luc LeBLanc, had underlined in an interview granted to La Canadian Press in February 2017 that Viola Léger said in recent years: “I have it under my skin”. “La Sagouine is Viola Léger,” he said. Many people also confused the interpreter and his character.
She had never tired of bringing La Sagouine to life, Ms.me Losier. “Every night, she had her characters, her old people she was talking to in her head. She said that every night was different, ”reported the agent.
A television star
Viola Léger would become even more popular when, in 1976, Radio-Canada television broadcast a series of 16 monologues from La Sagouine. That same year, she will play a new heroine by Antonine Maillet, Evangéline Deusse, an uprooted octogenarian Acadian, philosophizing on exile, installed on her Montreal park bench where she will meet love.
In September 2016, filmmaker Renée Blanchar recorded ten monologues with a 4K camera to immortalize Viola Léger’s performance.
During her life, the actress participated in numerous theatrical productions, notably in the plays of the famous Quebec playwright and novelist Michel Tremblay. In 2001, she will obtain, ex aequo with that which gives him the counterpart in Grace and Gloria, the Masque for the best actress of the year. Critics will praise her interpretation of a dying old lady in this play by American Tom Ziegler. She will also shine on television, notably in her role as Gabrielle Lévesque in the soap opera Bouscotte of Victor-Lévy Beaulieu, from 1997 to 2001.
“She had time to do everything she wanted to do,” said the agent of the interpreter of La Sagouine in February 2017.
It was Jean Chrétien, then Liberal Prime Minister, who appointed her to the Senate in 2001 as the representative of New Brunswick. Four years later, she will leave the political scene blowing out her 75 candles, satisfied with her time in Ottawa, but also happy to get back on the boards and slip into the skin of her characters.
During her life, Viola Léger received numerous honorary doctorates and prestigious awards, including the title of Chevalier de l’Ordre de la Pléiade (1978), the Medal of the Council of French Life in America (1987), as well as the titles of Officer of the Order of Canada (1989) and Knight of the French Order of Arts and Letters (1991).
A documentary, Simply Violawas dedicated to him by director Rodolphe Caron.
The emblematic performer also tells about herself in The little story of La Sagouinebook published in the spring of 2017.
The one who was called late on by the performing arts had founded her own theater company, Compagnie Viola Léger inc., based in Moncton.
Details regarding the funeral of Mr.me Léger will be unveiled soon, his press officer said on Saturday.