Bella Ouellette

Bella Ouellette
Born	Agnes Martine Ouellette (1886-10-19)19 October 1886 Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Died	5 December 1945(1945-12-05) (aged 59) Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Nationality	Canadian
Occupation	Actor

Agnes Martine "Bella" Ouellette (19 October 1886 – 5 December 1945)[1][2] was a Canadian Québécoise actor who worked mainly in theatre and radio in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Biography

Bella Ouellette made her debut acting performance at the age of thirteen alongside Louis Labelle and Blanche de La Sablonnière, famous artists at the time.[3] In 1902 she made her professional debut in the play "La Passion" directed by Julien Daoust [fr] at the Monument-National theatre in Montreal.[4]

Subsequently, Ouellette had a successful career on the stages of Montreal theatres from the early 1900s until the late 1930s. She was the leading actress of the troupe of Julien Daoust.[5] She married Daoust on 14 February 1906 in Ste-Brigide, Montreal.[6]

Ouellette separated from Julien Daoust in 1919 and created her own theatre troupe in 1922 with Jeanne Demons [fr], the Ouellette-Demons Troupe.[7] By the 1920s she was considered one of the grande dammes of Quebec theatre.[8]

In the early 1930s she was active in the theatre troupe of Fred Barry [fr] which was paired with the comedian Albert Duquesne [fr]. The Barry-Duquesne Troupe took up in Montreal's Chanteclerc cinema, which would later be known as the Stella Theatre. The troupe included Marthe Thiéry [fr], Antoine Godeau [fr], Pierre Durand, Mimi d'Estée [fr], Henry Deyglun [fr], Jeanne Demons and Gaston Dauriac.[9] The Barry-Duquesne Troupe, accompanied by the Alouette Quatuor (transl. the Four Larks), embarked for Paris in 1937 to perform Henry Deyglun's Vers la terre canadienne (transl. Towards Canadian Soil). It was the first occasion for a Québécoise troupe to stage a Canadian play in France.[10]

Faced with the slump in theatre in Montreal in the later 1930s, Ouellette turned to radio and completed her career in early soap operas such as Claude-Henri Grignon's Un homme et son péché [fr] (transl. A Man and His Sin).[8]

Ouellette married Fred Barry in 1944.[10]

The archival fonds (collection of works) of Fred Barry and Bella Ouellette are preserved in the Montreal archives centre of the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ).[4]

References

1. "Acte de baptême de Marie Agnès Martine Ouellette de la Basilique-Notre-Dame de Montréal, naissance 1046 de l'année 1886. Baptisée le 24 octobre 1886 et née le 19 octobre" [Act of baptism of Marie Agnès Martine Ouellette of the Basilica Notre-Dame of Montreal, birth 1046 of the year 1886. Baptized 24 October 1886 and born 19 October]. Familysearch.org (in French). The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.^[dead link‍]
2. "Le monde du théâtre perd Bella Ouellette" [The world of theatre loses Bella Ouellette]. Le Jour (in French). Montreal: Le Jour cooperative. 8 December 1945. p. 7.
3. Lery, Raoul (June 1928). "Canada qui chante. Revue musicale, artistique, littéraire, illustrée" [Canada who sings. Musical, artistic, literary, illustrated revue] (in French). 2 (5). publication of Almer Perreault and Hervé Germain: 1–2. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
4. "Fonds Fred Barry and Bella Ouellette (MSS446)" [Fred Barry and Bella Ouellette fonds (MSS446)] (in French). Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ).
5. Dictionnaire des artistes du théâtre québécois. Cahier de théâtre Jeu. 2008. p. 303.
6. "Archives Nationales". National Archives. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
7. Dictionnaire des artistes du théâtre québécois. Cahier de théâtre Jeu. 2008. p. 304.
8. Bergeon, Raymonde; Ouellette, Marcelle (1986). Radio-Canada 1936–1986. Les Entreprises Radio-Canada.
9. "Fondation de la troupe théâtrale Barry-Duquesne" [Founding of the Barry-Duquesne Theatre Troupe]. Bilan du siècle (in French). University of Sherbrooke. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
10. Dictionnaire des artistes du théâtre québécois. Cahier de théâtre Jeu. 2008. p. 34.

Sources

• Bergeon, Raymonde; Ouellette, Marcelle (1986). Radio-Canada 1936–1986. Voix, visages et légendes [Radio-Canada 1936–1986. Voices, Faces and Legends] (in French). Les Entreprises Radio-Canada.
• Dictionnaire des artistes du théâtre québécois [Dictionary of artists of Quebec theatre] (in French). Cahier de théâtre Jeu. 2008. p. 424. ISBN 978-2-7644-0621-2. Retrieved 6 November 2017.
• 101 années de vedettariat au Québec [101 years of stardom in Quebec]. Outremont, Éditions du Trécarré. 2000. p. 160. ISBN 2-89249-977-1.
• Authority control. "Fichier d'autorité international virtuel" [Virtual International Authority File] (in French). Online Computer Library Center, Incorporated.