La Maison Deschênes
We are having some difficulty tracking down Roy's involvement with this series
Pierre Paquette contacted the site, with the following information:
The show aired on TQS from 1986 to 1990, in an early evening slot and starred Vincent Gratton and his brother Benoit, Pascal Rollin, Raymond Bouchard and Leo Illial. The story centres around a fashion house, with Raymond Bouchard playing the director. The two Gratton brothers played brothers in the show - one good, one bad. The "bad" brother being egged on by Pascal Rollin's in a rare bad guy role.Genevieve Labelle has also contacted us with a bit more information:
In answer to your question about La Maison Deschênes, it’s true that it was a terrible programme, but so funny!
I’m depending solely on my memory for the following information, so I can’t promise it’s absolutely accurate, but it’s generally reliable.
I believe the programme was broadcast from Monday to Friday around 7pm
The action took place in Montreal in a fashion house, named after the man who founded it (William Deschênes played by Leo Ilial)
I think that the series began with William Deschênes having just retired, or the business was up for sale, because there seemed to be some rivalry between the Deschênes children - it’s all a bit blurred ….
Andrée Lachapelle played his wife or ex-wife Françoise, and in my memory she was always smashed because she drank too much champagne - it was pretty funny …
They had 3 children :
Marthe (played by Marie-Josée Caya)
Jean-François (played by Benoit Gratton)
David (played by Vincent Gratton)
Thomas Gratton was in the series, but I don’t really remember what part he
played.
I
remember that one of the 2 brothers (I think it was Jean-François, the bad one)
had a drug problem and took coke - unbelievable!
I
remember the following actors : Anne Bédard, Rene Gagnon, Yvon Leroux (he played
the caretaker, Marcel), Macha Grenon ( I think she was a young model and the
photographer’s girlfriend), Anne Letournaux ( Carla, an ambitious young
designer...), Jean-Marie Moncelet, Michel Poirier ( the photographer), Valerie
Valois.
The series was written by Léopold St-Pierre
We even heard from Leo Illial’s cousin, Dan Donaty, who writes :Quite some memories. One of the actors, Leo Ilial was my cousin. We were raised together in France, during World War Two.
I visited him in Montreal some years back and was impressed with his success since he moved to Montreal. He returned to the south of France where he had a farm and eventually died in a car accident.
Here is the full cast list from the archives of Canadian TV programmes.
So does this jog your memory? Do you remember Roy appearing in this show? Better still do you have a tape or photograph of his appearance? If so, please get in touch - faq@roydupuis-online.com