Richard Monette
Richard Jean Monette ( born June 19, 1944 in Montreal, Quebec, † September 9, 2008 in London, Ontario) was a Canadian actor and director, who was Festival Theatre from 1994 to 2007 artistic director of the Stratford. For his services he was awarded the Order of Canada, Canada's highest award for civilians.
Career
Monette attended high school and college in Montreal, after which he moved to Toronto and there was an engagement at the Crest Theatre. His first role there was Hamlet. There were other minor roles until he was hired in 1965 for the piece Soldiers at the Royal Alexandra Theatre. With this piece, he joined May 1968 on Broadway.
In 1969, he left Canada and moved to London where he performed until 1974 in various theater productions. He returned to Canada and played on Broadway in the title role in Hosanna. The Stratford Company, he again played Hamlet. In the 1980s, followed by other performances at the theater, as well as various roles in feature films.
From the late 1980s, Monette focused on working as a director. He was appointed a few years later, the artistic director of the Stratford Festival. By 2007, he led there on all Shakespeare's plays, and various musicals such as My Fair Lady and Anything Goes.