“Yesterday, four hours before his death, his girlfriend, Denyse, placed her cell phone near Pierre’s ear while he was relaxing in his bed in intensive care,” says Robert Maltais, a good friend and author of the biography on Pierre Marcotte published in 2018. “I was able to tell him: ‘Pierre, I love you, I have always loved you, you are my friend.'”
• Read also: COVID-19 kills Pierre Marcotte
• Read also: Many tributes on social networks
Joined by The newspaper Thursday morning, Robert Maltais, author of the biography Pierre Marcotte live published by Éditions de l’Homme, was emotional when talking regarding his friend’s last moments.
“Denyse told me that he opened his eyes then. As his son Bruno-Pierre says, “he did it like a grown-up”.
Surrounded by his wife, Denyse, and his son Bruno-Pierre, the host was also able to see one last time his son Pascal, who teaches theater in the American West, via FaceTime before his big departure.
“He knew it, adds Mr. Maltais. They arrived from Charlevoix and he told his wife that he was really not well. He had a fever of 39.5. The next morning: ambulance and hospital. His lungs collapsed, he had a fever of 39.5. It happened ‘frighteningly’ fast, he didn’t spend 36 hours in the hospital.”
“As his wife said: for the first time in his life, he didn’t get the lucky number,” he adds.
Photo courtesy Julien Faugère
Robert Maltese
Tribute to a friend
If the usually reserved author agreed to share the details of the sudden and virulent departure of his accomplice, it was because he found it important to pay him a last tribute. “It was my daughter, who knew Pierre well and whom Pierre adored, who said to me: ‘dad, do it for Pierre, so that someone will talk regarding it well’.”
The two men became friends through their involvement in the Fondation des artistes, of which Pierre Marcotte was president from 2011 to 2016.
“Pierre loved his job, loved the world and he wanted to laugh all the time, he continues. Pierre Marcotte, true, good, hard-headed, heart of gold. An exceptional man, a finished madman, who said yes while laughing or no while laughing just as much. A chef!”
Listen to Gilles Proulx’s column at the microphone of Patrick Déry on QUB Radio:
Robert Maltais also praised the generosity of his artist friend who always kept “a handful of change” in his car to offer to whoever needed it. “He was like that, generous, and he didn’t judge. He also allowed himself to be approached by everyone, he spoke with everyone; he had really chosen the right profession.”
A job in which the show host The Tanners dove head first at the age of 16, never to leave.
Pierre Marcotte, 83, was preparing to return to the Casino de Montréal stage in the fall of 2022. He died following complications related to COVID-19.
♦ Friday at TVA, the show Sweety salty will broadcast an interview with Simon Boulerice with Pierre Marcotte shot just before the host fell ill.
♦ This Sunday at 10 p.m., TVA will rebroadcast the episode of the show true nature in which Pierre Marcotte participated in 2019.