Widely acknowledged as a founder of modern French-Canadian theatre, his status is due almost equally to his contributions, in chronological order, as actor, author and director over a period of more than 60 years.

Gélinas was born in the village of Saint-Tite de Champlain, but brought in early infancy to Montreal. His mother, Geneva Davidson, of Scots-Irish extraction, and his father Mathias, a salesman and saddler by trade but chronically under- or unemployed and alcoholic, proved to be incompatible, something of which Gratien was long ashamed, especially when the marriage dissolved and his father disappeared for years at a time.

Gélinas was born in the village of Saint-Tite de Champlain, but brought in early infancy to Montreal. His mother, Geneva Davidson, of Scots-Irish extraction,…

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Citation: Doucette, Leonard Eugene. "Gratien Gélinas". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 February 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5260, accessed 19 March 2024.]

5260 Gratien Gélinas 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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