Paul L'Anglais

Paul L'Anglais

Paul L'Anglais, producer (b at Québec 22 Oct 1907; d at Montréal 23 May 1982). A lawyer by training, he entered the world of radio in 1932 as a producer and director and worked there until 1957. He excelled in radio drama, radio plays and variety shows and had some 300 programs to his credit. After the war, he founded Québec Productions, built up studios and took the plunge into movies. His first production was a film shot simultaneously in French and English: Whispering City /La Forteresse (Fédor Ozep, 1947). He had set his sights on the international market, but didn't break in as hoped, so he reoriented himself locally. He adapted a popular radio drama by Claude-Henri GRIGNON, Un homme et son péché (Paul Gury, 1948), to which he wrote a sequel, Séraphin (Paul Gury, 1950). In the meantime, he adapted another radio drama, Le Curé de village (Paul Gury, 1949), by Robert CHOQUETTE. After these traditional works, which had relative success, he mounted a French co-production, Son copain (Jean Devaivre, 1950), which was a failure, and then left Québec Productions. He had long dreamed of directing for TV, and when the opportunity arose in 1952, he founded a production company. In 1959, he joined forces with J.A. DESÈVE to form Télé-Métropole (1961), where he would spend the remainder of his career. L'Anglais was a major pioneer among producers of Québec film, and a prominent figure in the world of communications.