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Jean-Claude Lord | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | 15 January 2022 | (aged 78)
Occupation(s) | Film director screenwriter |
Years active | 1964–2022 |
Children | 2 |
Jean-Claude Lord (6 June 1943 – 15 January 2022) was a Canadian film director and screenwriter.[1] He was one of the most commercial of the Québécois directors in the 1970s, aiming his feature films at a mass audience and dealing with political themes in a mainstream, Hollywood style.
Lord was born in Montreal on 6 June 1943.[2][3] He first worked as an assistant director and scriptwriter in the private sector.[3] He was an apprentice to Pierre Patry at the company Coopératio.[4]
Lord's first feature was Délivrez-nous du mal, released in 1965.[3] It depicted a gay couple, reportedly a first for a Québécois film and regarded as a breakthrough since the influence of the Catholic Church was still strong in Quebec.[5] His 1974 film Bingo exploits the post-October Crisis, post-Watergate paranoia prevalent in North America at the time with considerable panache. It was the subject of an intensive critical debate about its credentials as a left-wing film.[6]
Lord directed his first English-language film, Visiting Hours, in 1982. The low-budget horror movie, which featured William Shatner and Michael Ironside, became a cult favourite.[7] Four years later, Lord worked for the first time in television on the series Lance et Compte. It centred around a fictitious ice hockey team, whose uniforms were similar to the Quebec Nordiques, contending for the Stanley Cup and the World Cup of Hockey. The series – which ran from 1986 to 1989 – was credited with establishing a new benchmark for television shows in Quebec. It also aired in English on CBC as He Shoots, He Scores, and was shown in France in 1987.[8] He won a Prix Gémeaux in 1987 for the series.[5]
Lord subsequently worked primarily in television on several other series and made-for-TV movies.[3][9][10] He directed the revival of Lance et Compte that aired from 2000 until 2008.[11] He was conferred the Prix Guy-Mauffette by the National Assembly of Quebec in November 2017,[11] in recognition of the contributions he made to the audiovisual industry and culture.[7][8]
Lord was in a domestic partnership with Lise Thouin until his death.[5] Together, they had two children: Marie-Noëlle and Jean-Sébastien,[5] who is also a film and television director, most noted for the films Heaven (Le petit ciel) and Guardian Angel (L'Ange-gardien).[12]
Lord died on the evening of 15 January 2022. He was 78, and had suffered a major stroke on 30 December of the previous year.[5][7][13]