Michel Rivard

Michel Rivard

Born: September 27, 1951
in Montréal, Québec, Canada
Michel Rivard (born September 27, 1951) is a singer-songwriter and musician from Quebec, born in Montreal. His father, Robert Rivard, was an actor. Michel began his career at an early age appearing in a Canadian television series (Rue des Pignons) and in TV commercials.

Rivard's career as a writer and composer began in earnest when he became a member of the theatrical group Quenouille Bleue, established in 1970. Later, he became a member of Théâtre Sainfoin, when it was founded in 1973.

In 1974, Rivard and other members of Théâtre Sainfoin, formed the group Beau Dommage (an old Québécois expression meaning "certainly" or "damn right"). Rivard wrote and composed for Beau Dommage.

Beau Dommage became a very popular group, and as a result of his songwriting ability Rivard's popularity increased as well. Perhaps his most popular song from this era is "La complainte du phoque en Alaska". Although Beau Dommage disbanded in 1978, there were reunion concerts in 1984 and 1994, both of which Rivard participated in. Characteristic of Rivard's creative energy, he also put out his first solo album in 1977, Méfiez-vous du grand amour.

In 1978, as a sign of his increased prestige, Michel opened for Maxime Le Forestier and was accompanist for Forestier at the Olympia in Paris. Although an unlikely pairing, it resulted in a continued friendship. Rivard released his second LP, De Longueuil à Berlin, in 1979; that year also marked the beginning of Rivard's appearance in a series of concerts in Paris.

The following years saw Rivard involved in various collaborations, including film collaborations. These film collaborations included roles in Les Enfants de Kennedy, and Maria Chapdelaine. He also wrote scores for films, such as André Melançon's L'Espace d'un été, and Jean-Michel Ribes's Rien ne va plus. He also acted playing the lead Yves Simoneau's Pourquoi l'étrange Monsieur Zolock s'intéressait-il tant à la bande dessinée? (Why is the Strange Mr. Zolock so interested in Comic Strips?) (1982). He joined the LNI (Ligue nationale d'improvisation [National Improvisation League]) in 1980 and performed for several years. Not wanting to miss an opportunity for some political humour, Rivard was a candidate for the satirical Rhinoceros Party of Canada in 1980 when he ran against former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.

He returned to music in 1983 with the release of his third LP, Sauvage. This LP included "Schefferville, le dernier train", a tune that became quite popular and which was written for the film Le Dernier glacier. (Rivard also acted in this film). Rivard made a music video of another song on Sauvage: "Rumeurs sur la ville". It was directed by Louis Saia and André Gagnon and won the Félix Video Clip of the Year for 1985 – awarded at the ADISQ (Association du disque, de l'industrie du spectacle québécois et de la vidéo) award ceremonies.

During this time Rivard toured Quebec. He released a fourth LP, called Bonsoir... Mon nom est Michel Rivard et voici mon album double. This was a live recording made during his 1983 and 1984 concerts. These live show recordings display his adeptness at comic improvisation as well as his musical creativity. ...

Source: Article "Michel Rivard" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Movies for Michel Rivard...

L'osstidquoi ? L'osstidcho!
Title: L'osstidquoi ? L'osstidcho!
Character: Himself
Released: August 24, 2023
Type: Movie
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Title: Salebarbes aux Îles
Character: Self
Released: December 4, 2021
Type: TV
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Title: White Night
Character: Bertrand Desmarais
Released: September 13, 2021
Type: TV
Back in the 1970s, we see a young Louise who is crazy in love with Vincent, a rebellious activist. Along the way, Louise will have to give up some of her political ideals and make some difficult sacrifices. Today, Louise has become a formidable businesswoman at the head of Nocturne, her perfume empire that owes much of its success to her top-selling perfume Nuit Blanche. Everything changes when, at an evening reception celebrating her success, Louise dies alone in her garden. Is it murder or an accident?
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L’origine de mes espèces, la genèse
Title: L’origine de mes espèces, la genèse
Released: March 5, 2021
Type: Movie
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Ensemble pour les Fêtes avec Isabelle Boulay
Title: Ensemble pour les Fêtes avec Isabelle Boulay
Character: Self
Released: December 19, 2020
Type: Movie
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Title: Dans la télé de...
Character: Self
Released: November 19, 2020
Type: TV
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Title: La tour
Character: Self - Guest
Released: September 28, 2020
Type: TV
An original talk show is set in Patrick’s warm and cozy apartment, where he welcomes friends and guests every day to discuss the latest hot topics that affect our lives. The show also features Patrick’s fictional neighbours.
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Title: Ça va bien aller
Character: Self - Guest
Released: April 6, 2020
Type: TV
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Title: La table de Kim
Character: Self
Released: January 3, 2020
Type: TV
Guests from different cultures and backgrounds join Kim Thúy for an hour of passionate and engaging conversations, an hour of fun and discovery.
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Title: Bonsoir bonsoir!
Character: Self
Released: April 1, 2019
Type: TV
Each day, Jean-Philippe Wauthier welcomes guests on the show in warm, friendly setting. His interviews focus on their newsworthy achievements but also, and most importantly, on their passions, interests and opinions.
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Title: L'effet Wow
Character: Self
Released: January 11, 2019
Type: TV
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Title: Cette année-là
Character: Self
Released: September 15, 2018
Type: TV
A culture show set hosted by Marc Labrèche and his collaborators, Simon Boulerice, Émilie Perreault and Fred Savard. Each week, based on a significant year in history, they revisit a cultural event of a previous era and compare it with today’s yardstick. The hosts and their guests examine subjects that link the chosen year to what’s hot in cultural circles right now.
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Title: Pour emporter
Character: Self
Released: August 17, 2018
Type: TV
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LNI : 40 ans d'improvisation
Title: LNI : 40 ans d'improvisation
Released: December 18, 2017
Type: Movie
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Title: La vraie nature
Character: Self
Released: October 8, 2017
Type: TV
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Title: Y'a du monde à messe
Character: Self
Released: May 12, 2017
Type: TV
Public figures from different backgrounds meet each week. At first glance, these guests would seem to have little in common. However, something does unite them all: an event or experience that they have graciously agreed to share that justifies their seat at the same table. As the program unfolds, their shared history is gradually revealed.
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Title: MTL
Character: Self
Released: April 13, 2017
Type: TV
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Title: Microphone
Character: Self
Released: January 5, 2017
Type: TV
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Title: La revue culturelle
Character: Self
Released: December 30, 2016
Type: TV
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Deschampsons
Title: Deschampsons
Character: Self
Released: January 19, 2015
Type: Movie
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Title: PaparaGilles
Character: Self
Released: October 3, 2014
Type: TV
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Title: En mode Salvail
Character: Self
Released: October 28, 2013
Type: TV
What to expect: interviews, musical performances, a fierce band, surprising stories and most of all, guests who are more than happy to play along and follow Éric Salvail on his beautifully crazy tangents!
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Title: Les enfants de la télé
Character: Self
Released: September 15, 2010
Type: TV
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Title: En direct de l'univers
Character: Self
Released: September 19, 2009
Type: TV
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Title: Les Appendices
Character: Self
Released: January 6, 2009
Type: TV
A frenzied series of wacky sketches, surprising and unexpected.
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Title: Cabine C
Character: Self
Released: October 9, 2007
Type: TV
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Days of Darkness
Title: Days of Darkness
Character: Le prêtre
Released: September 26, 2007
Type: Movie
Jean-Marc is a man without qualities living in times that are out of joint. His wife and children ignore him; he's a mid-level government functionary in Montreal doing his job without care. He has an active imagination of sexual conquest, but his only real feelings come when he visits his aged mother, whose health is failing. When his wife leaves abruptly to work in Toronto, Jean-Marc sets out to reorder things with his daughters, his social life, and at work. In a world that at best is a farce, does he stand a chance?
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Title: Les p'tites vues
Character: Narrator (voice)
Released: April 4, 2007
Type: TV
A series that features footage shot by amateur Quebec filmmakers from the 1920’s to the 60’s.
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Title: La petite séduction
Character: Self
Released: May 1, 2006
Type: TV
Dany Turcotte invites celebrities to discover a small rural towns in unexpected and surprising ways. Events are carefully planned cater to the celebrity’s tastes, desires and passions.
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Title: Il va y avoir du sport
Character: Self
Released: September 17, 2004
Type: TV
A program that tackles major subjects – human, political, cultural, economic and ethical issues – and presents them in a debate format that encourages lively discussion.
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Title: Tout le monde en parle
Character: Self
Released: September 12, 2004
Type: TV
Host Guy A. Lepage brings together six to eight personalities from different milieus—sports, politics, stage productions and more—that are the subject of everyone’s conversations and/or are important figures in recent events. Participants are invited to speak freely, voicing their opinions on headline news or on a subject that is near and dear to them. 
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Title: Belle et Bum
Character: Self
Released: September 20, 2003
Type: TV
Mélissa Lavergne and Normand Brathwaite host a unique musical show where all musical styles collide and where emerging artists rub shoulders with big-name performers.
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Title: Star Académie
Character: Self
Released: February 16, 2003
Type: TV
Star Académie is a Canadian reality TV series started in 2003, aimed primarily at the Quebec television audience, featuring an array of young women and men competing for the title of the best singer. It is the Québécois adaptation of the French television show Star Academy produced by Netherlands company Endemol, based on the Spanish format called Operación Triunfo. There have been seasons in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2009, and 2012.
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Title: Sucré salé
Character: Self
Released: June 3, 2002
Type: TV
Patrice Bélanger and his team are here to give Quebecers a little boost to their lives with this show where fun and pleasure prevail. With a front row seat to events happening across the province, the show is the reference for summer culture. Above and beyond the artists featured, the show puts our entire province in the spotlight.
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Title: Le Grand spectacle de la Fête nationale dans la Capitale
Character: Self
Released: June 23, 1998
Type: TV
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Mon amie Max
Title: Mon amie Max
Character: Denis Lajeunesse
Released: November 1, 1994
Type: Movie
Catherine, a concert pianist, is surprised one night by the arrival of her best friend from childhood, Marie-Alexandrine (Max), whom she hasn't seen for 25 years. Catherine and Max were Québec's most promising young pianists in the mid-1960's when the adventurous Max gets pregnant. She wants to keep the child, but her mother forces her to give him up for adoption; afterwards, Max leaves Québec and music. Now, years later, she returns, obsessed with finding her son. She locates the adoption records, and social services contacts her son to ask if he wants to see her. He refuses, but she keeps trying. Is a relationship with him possible? And what about her musical talent?
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The Last Glacier
Title: The Last Glacier
Character: Léonard
Released: November 16, 1984
Type: Movie
A docudrama on the closing of the town of Schefferville. When Raoul loses his job at the mine because the operations are ending, he's been settled there for ten years with Carmen and their son. They're now forced to leave the town, leaving behind the traces of an ephemeral prosperity.
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Maria Chapdelaine
Title: Maria Chapdelaine
Character: Médecin
Released: April 27, 1983
Type: Movie
A young woman, living with her parents and siblings on a remote farm in harsh, picturesque northern Québec, has three suitors: a steady and unimaginative farmer, Eutrope, the Americanized and wealthy Lorenzo, who has sought his fortune in Boston, and François Paradis, a rough and virile logger who captures her heart despite the warnings of her parents and the village priest. For a year, marked by seasonal change in an atmosphere charged with the strangeness of Indians and the demons of the woods, we see Maria at work and prayer, struggling with decisions, choosing to stay in Canada, in love with François, seeking to change his rough behaviors, and dealing with extraordinary loss.
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Pourquoi l'étrange monsieur Zolock s'intéressait-il tant à la bande dessinée?
Title: Pourquoi l'étrange monsieur Zolock s'intéressait-il tant à la bande dessinée?
Character: Dieudonné
Released: January 1, 1983
Type: Movie
"Why is the strange Mr. Zolock so interested in comics?" is a Canadian docufiction film, released in 1983. A documentary about comic books and graphic novels, the film features interviews with comics illustrators wrapped by a fictional frame story in which Monsieur Zolock (Jean-Louis Millette), an evil supervillain, hires private investigator Dieudonné (Michel Rivard) to investigate the cultural influence of comics as part of his plot to take over the world. The film won the Genie Award for Best Feature Length Documentary at the 5th Genie Awards in 1984.
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Singles
Title: Singles
Character: Alexandre
Released: January 27, 1982
Type: Movie
Abandoned by his wife, Bernard struggles to overcome his grief and settles in a residence for singles. Employed by "SOS Doctors", he provides night guards to occupy his insomnia. That's how he is brought one night to help a neighbor, Nadine Foulon, victim of discomfort in the elevator. It turns out that Nadine is also going through a difficult time, since her companion, Terry, a singer-guitarist, has left her. A professional photographer, she can not forget it and has since oscillated between depression and bulimia. Gathered by their pains of heart, these two beings will, with the wire of the confidences, become more intimate ...
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Title: Champs-Elysées
Character: Self
Released: January 16, 1982
Type: TV
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Title: Rue des Pignons
Character: Laurent Jarry
Released: September 6, 1966
Type: TV
Rue des Pignons was a French-Canadian TV series which ran from 1966 to 1977. Radio-Canada has reportedly lost most of the episodes of the series, only managing to trace about 35 of the 427 episodes from 1966 to 1977. The program's theme song was composed and recorded by Pierre Brabant who also played much of the show's background music.
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Title: Le Grand spectacle de la Fête nationale à Montréal
Character: Self
Released: December 31, 1969
Type: TV