Here, with much help from Facebook friends, is a list of the most iconic figures in Montreal history.
Criteria: the longer the person stayed in Montreal the more credit they get.
Iconic? It's the wall-poster quality of "wow I can't believe I met that person."
It's more about heavyweights than lightweights: purpose and gravitas count more than just notoriety, therefore yes to war heroes and no to TV personalities.
It's not merely about virtue. Three larger-than-life criminals are on this list.
There is plenty of scuttlebutt about these figures in my upcoming Montreal: 375 Tales.
This list is meant as a fun exercise. Many were surely overlooked, underrated, overrated. Please share your suggestions in the comments section. (note - a couple of small changes have been made to this original list to zap duplication and to add Pierre Trudeau)
Criteria: the longer the person stayed in Montreal the more credit they get.
Iconic? It's the wall-poster quality of "wow I can't believe I met that person."
It's more about heavyweights than lightweights: purpose and gravitas count more than just notoriety, therefore yes to war heroes and no to TV personalities.
It's not merely about virtue. Three larger-than-life criminals are on this list.
There is plenty of scuttlebutt about these figures in my upcoming Montreal: 375 Tales.
This list is meant as a fun exercise. Many were surely overlooked, underrated, overrated. Please share your suggestions in the comments section. (note - a couple of small changes have been made to this original list to zap duplication and to add Pierre Trudeau)
- Jacques Cartier
- Maurice "Rocket" Richard
- Jean Drapeau
- Jeanne Mance
- Lily St. Cyr
- Camilien Houde
- Leonard Cohen
- Jackie Robinson
- Emile Nelligan
- Brother Andre
- Celine Dion
- Thomas D'Arcy McGee
- Charles "Joe Beef" McKiernan
- Oscar Petersen
- Louis Cyr
- Katheri Tekakwithi
- Pierre Trudeau
- Michel Pagliaro
- William Shatner
- Mario Lemieux
- William Cornelius Van Horne
- Guy Lafleur
- Jean Beliveau
- Gilles Villeneuve
- Gary Carter
- Mederic Martin
- Robert Charlebois
- George "Buzz" Beurling
- Jimmy Orlando
- Rufus Rockhead
- Mitsou
- Guy Laliberté
- Ginette Reno
- Rusty Staub
- Calix Lavallee
- Shadrack Minkens
- Michel Tremblay
- Marguerite Bourgeoys
- Ernest Rutherford
- Gerry Boulet
- Monica "Machine Gun Molly" Proietti
- Mom Boucher
- Sam Steinberg
- Sam Bronfman
- Laurent Beaudoin
- Moise Safdie
- Hugh McLennnan
- Oliver Jones
- Aldo Nova
- Frank Marino
- Doug Harvey
- Toe Blake
- Nick Auf der Maur
- Phyllis Bronfman
- Philippe Nicol
- JJ Harpell
- Douglas Leopold
- Genevieve Bujold
- Harry Ship
- Xavier Dolan
- Pierre Peladeau
- Jeff Skoll
- Jean Coutu
- Ewan Cameron
- Dany Laferrière
- Norman McLaren
- Jacques Plante
- Therese Casgrain
- Donald Gordon
- Gump Worsley
- Wilder Penfield
- Normand Bethune
- Stephen Leacock
- Armand Vaillancourt
- Frank Shoofey
- Richard Blass
- Butch Bouchard
- Red Storey
- Vladimir Guerrero
- Herbert Ames
- Frank Hanley
- Marjo
- Jeanne Le Ber
- Alys Robi
- Jojo Savard
- Paul Sieur Chomedey de Maisonneuve
- Irving Layton
- Mordecai Richler
- Percy Rodrigues
- Pedro Martinez
- Charlie Biddle
- Jacques Cinq Mars
- Gino Vanelli
- Leo Rene Maranda
- Al Palmer
- Dick Pound
- Michael Sarrazin
- Dunie Ryan
- Gerald Bull
- The Great Antonio
Thanks to the FB friends who helped create this list
Pierre Trudeau?
ReplyDeleteGood call. Added him at 17. Got rid of Russell Bowie at 99.
ReplyDeletelots more men, than women, Therese Casgrain? Idola St-Jean? Madeleine Parent? important women for our rights, Michel Chartrand? Simone Monet-Chartrand?. Good list though
ReplyDeleteMr. Urban Legend,
ReplyDeleteKnows More about Montreal than those that SHOULD!!
Thank You.
I believe the correct spelling for #16 is Kateri Tekakwitha. That's the way the Mohawks and numerous institutions named for her spell it.
ReplyDeleteChristopher Plummer, Sam Etcheverry, Scotty Bowman, Paul Desmarais, Maynard Ferguson, Sam Roberts, Norma Shearer, Mike Bossy, Raymond Bourque, Conrad Black, Trevor Payne, Michael Sarrazin, Corky Laing, Penny Lang. And.... criminal Alvin "Creepy" Karpis who was once "Public Enemy #1" in the US.
ReplyDeleteComing in late here, so I'll add the unforgettable CKGM radio "Hotline" talk show host from the mid-60s: the late Pat Burns (not the same as the identically-named former Montreal Canadiens' coach).
ReplyDeletePat Burns' deep-voiced delivery and controversial career in 1960s-era radio puts current so-called talk radio hosts to shame.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Burns_(broadcaster)
Not to omit actor Glenn Ford who, although born in rural Ste. Christine d'Auvergne, Quebec later moved with his parents to 753 Bloomfield Avenue in Outremont (Lovell's Directory 1921).
ReplyDeleteEmigrating to California in 1924, Ford eventually developed an acting career, starring in many memorable films such as "Gilda" with Rita Hayworth in 1946.
Among my personal favourite Glenn Ford films is "The Brotherhood of the Bell" concerning a sinister secret society. Dean Jagger and William Conrad have memorable roles in this 1970 TV release and is one of those films that has a way of staying with you long after you've seen it, particularly with regards to the many "conspiracy theories" which pervade our present-day society.
See: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066864/?ref_=fn_al_tt_3
George Balcan, Ralph Lockwood, Ted Blackman, Mitch Melnick. We're gonna need a bigger list!!!!
ReplyDeleteGeorges St-Pierre, Guy Laliberte, , Julie Payette,
ReplyDeleteMagic Tom and Johnny Jellybean, from a time when local tv was still new, and there were local tv celebrities. Now, all they have are news people, who they try to portray as celebrities.
ReplyDeleteWhat about Leroy, the Happy Wanderer?
What about Richard Lord?
The list is endless.
Michael
Richie Lord, Leeroy too little known.... Magic Tom, Johnny Jellybean and those other English radio characters... firstly they're all only known to English people and secondly radio and TV are like winds that blow past, they lack the staying power required of legend... Georges St. Pierre? You'd have to consider dozens of athletes ahead of him, from Johnny Rogers, to Odie Cleghorn, etc... Christopher Plummer and Norma Shearer come very close to making the list but both of them lacked significantly close ties to Montreal.. hell even Donald Sutherland used to live just down the road and maybe still does... Glen Ford is an excellent suggestion but he left very young and never came back.. Michael Sarrazin was a lesser star but he came back so he's on the list... Colin's other suggestions: Etcheverry, Bowman, Desmarais, Ferguson, Roberts, Bossy, Bourque, Black, Payne are all okayish, maybe all top 500 but not resonating in the 100. Therese Casgrain? Idola St-Jean? Madeleine Parent? I didn't put Michel Chartrand, Simone Monet-Chartrand,Idola St-Jean, or Madeleine Parent because I'm not sure who they are.
ReplyDeleteThink Andre the Giant deserves recognition.
ReplyDeleteHenry Morgentaler?
ReplyDeleteLAURIAT tried and failed to post this comment due to technical glitches so I am passing it on.----
ReplyDeleteAnd you didn’t mention Elmer (old flannel mouth) Ferguson from the Herald. And how could you forget Joseph Papp and his magical and fastest submarine in the world. Just a couple more of Montreal’s famous guys. We had great gals too; what about adorable Peaches? She always came to the Gayety the week after Lili finished her spooks.
That Peaches. God how I loved her.
MICHAEL FISH also could not get his comment to work. ---
ReplyDeleteHard to exclude Louis Hippolyte LaFontaine. He only established with Robert Baldwin of Toronto, the caring, sharing character of a United Canada as it has stayed up to now, even after the business people of 1867 made it possible for corporate people to exploit the whole of its expanded territory.
Ditto for Louis Papineau and Wolfred Nelson who are almost forgotten heroes.
Sorry to be serious here......
signed. Michael Fish
Sorry, Apparently your comments page seems to reject my efforts to comment there.
I will leave others to add some of the big business types like George Stephen, Lord Mount Stephen; Donald Smith, Lord Strathcona
PAUL had a comment ----
ReplyDeleteHowdy
List like your "100 Iconics", beg to be read- they're always amusing.
I do take exception to "iconic", though- it's a word that's been so overused lately that it's lost the impact it once had. What's next- May West, the iconic snack cake? Michael J.Pollard, the iconic bit-part actor?
Some other superlative: Giants, storied, legendary?
Speaking of storied, maybe Red Storey belongs on there
And speaking of (largely) bit-part actors, here's a little anecdote about one of your listers, Michael Sarrazin:
He was a childhood friend of my brother. One day they decided to dig a cave under the Sarrazin house. Sarrazin's father was definitely not thrilled to find that they'd actually chopped a hole through the basement floor. This led to a surprisingly jovial meeting between Sarrazin's dad and mine, laughing as they commiserated over their stupid sons. It also resulted in my bro suddenly becoming the family concrete mixing and patching expert.
But vis-avis your list:
Norman Bethune was Norman, not Normand. BTW Wikipedia has it that he pronounced his name Bay-thun rather than Beth-yoon like everyone else in the world does.
Ted Blackman definitely belongs. I once saw him heading to the Forum pressbox carrying five beers. In one hand! That's impressive.
Speaking of sports guys, how about Danny Gallivan?
Politicians; Pierre Trudeau, sure, but I didn't notice Justin on the list.
Brian Mulroney?
Rene Levesque?
I don't know if Jacques Cartier truly belongs. After all, he lived here before there even was a Montreal. Sort of like claiming British prime minister Bonar Law as Canadian. He was born in New Brunswick before confederation.
And two somewhat local notables:
Bat Masterson, American Wild West gunfighter and gambler was born in Henryville, practically a suburb.
Joachim Von Ribbentrop, Hitler's foreign affairs minister, lived in Montreal in the earl 20th century, only leaving in 1915.
Keep up the good work! Coolopolis is always fun to peruse.
-Paul
Not sure how you came up with Michel Pagliaro who is a very minor blip in the history of rock music. What about Doctor Wilder Penfield? At one time he was dubbed "the greatest living Canadian". Although born in the US, he lived in Montreal from 1934 until his death in 1976. In his retirement years he co-founded The Vanier Institute of the Family.
ReplyDeletePenfield is #17 on the list. Pagliaro was suggested by a ton of people in a FB discussion. People felt strongly about him.
ReplyDeleteComment from KEVIN---
ReplyDeleteHi Kristian ---
As usual, my computer skills are not up to posting a comment on Coolopolis.
Glad to see my girlfriend Jeanne Le Ber made the list.
Have you considered Robert Côté?
How about big-time bad-ass Ignace Bourget? Sending an army overseas is not enough to make the list? Plus those big clusters of grey-stone buildings all over Montreal are largely his doing.
Honorable mention for our behind-the-scenes founder Jerôme Le Royer de La Dauversière?
Add another female: Marguerite d'Youville. There's also Émilie Gamelin.
Spelling: Camillien, Peterson.
Maisonneuve should be Paul de Chomedey, sieur de Maisonneuve.
And someone already pointed out spelling for Kateri Tekakwitha. (You know that "Kateri" is just the Iroquois pronunciation of the French "Catherine"?)
You should reconsider Nick Auf der Maur. The backstabbing is just another facet of his colorful personality.
Best regards.
Kevin Cohalan
When you mentioned Dick Pound did you mean the one from the World Anti-Doping Agency or the Porn star? ;-)
ReplyDeleteWhy are Emilia Farts and Jonas not on this list.
ReplyDelete