Kim Yaroshevskaya

{{Short description|Canadian actress (1923–2025)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2024}} {{Infobox person | name = Kim Yaroshevskaya | honorific_suffix = {{postnominals|country=CAN|CM}} | image =  | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1923|10|1|df=y}} | birth_place = Moscow, Russian SFSR, USSR | death_date = {{Death date and age|2025|1|12|1923|10|1|df=y}} | death_place = Canada | native_name = Ким Ярошевская | occupation = Actress | known_for = {{hlist|''Fanfreluche''|''Passe-Partout''|''Home Fires''}} }}

'''Kim Yaroshevskaya''' {{postnominals|country=CAN|CM}} (1 October 1923 – 12 January 2025) was a Russian-born Canadian film, television and stage actress. Best known to audiences in Quebec as a children's entertainer, starring in series such as ''Fanfreluche'' and ''Passe-Partout'' in the 1970s,<ref>"Immigrants take the stage to relate their success stories". ''The Gazette'', 12 April 1991.</ref> she also had a starring role in the English Canadian drama series ''Home Fires'' in the early 1980s.<ref name=grady>Wayne Grady, "We'll Keep a Welcome". ''TV Guide Canada'', 8 November 1980.</ref>

==Background== Born in Moscow, Soviet Union, Kim Yaroshevskaya (her forename is actually the acronym of the International Communist Youth organization in Russian, KIM)<ref>[https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/kim-yaroshevskaya Profile], thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Accessed 8 November 2024.</ref> emigrated to Quebec at age ten with her family.<ref>"Une Moscovite bien de chez nous!" ''Photo-Journal'', 17 November 1962.</ref> In the 1950s, she was a founding member of the Quebec theatre collective Théâtre Le Grenier, with whom she created ''Fanfreluche''.<ref name=canenc>Yves Piché-Simard, [https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/kim-yaroshevskaya "Kim Yaroshevskaya"]. ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'', October 24, 2022.</ref>

==Career== Her other film and television roles included ''A Woman in Transit (La Femme de l'hôtel)'', ''The Alley Cat (Le Matou)'', ''Anne Trister'', ''Sonia'', ''Straight for the Heart (À corps perdu)'', ''The Sex of the Stars (Le Sexe des étoiles)'' and ''L'Amour avec un Grand A''. Her stage roles included productions of Aristophanes' ''Lysistrata'',<ref>"Lvsistrata as musical comedy". ''The Globe and Mail'', 4 June 1969.</ref> Samuel Beckett's ''Play'',<ref>"Mechanical means are Beckett's downfall". ''The Globe and Mail'', 8 May 1975.</ref> Jean-Pierre Ronfard's ''Le Grand théâtre du monde'',<ref>"Spanish influences remarkable in ambitious Ronfard production". ''The Gazette'', 17 January 1989.</ref> Athol Fugard's ''The Road to Mecca''<ref>"La Chemin de la Mecque is superb, searing Fugard". ''The Gazette'', 27 January 1990.</ref> and Ted Galay's ''After Baba's Funeral'' and ''Sweet and Sour Pickles''.<ref>"Galay's double offering a single delight". ''The Globe and Mail'', 5 February 1981.</ref>

In later years, she published several works of children's literature, including ''La Petite Kim'' (''Little Kim's Doll''),<ref>"Yaroshevskaya, K., & McDougall, C. (1999, Dec 10). Little kim's doll". ''CM : An Electronic Reviewing Journal of Canadian Materials for Young People'', 6.</ref> ''Contes de fanfreluche, tome 1 : Connaissez-vous le petit chaperon bleu et petit chaperon jaune?'' and ''Contes d'humour et de sagesse''. In November 2017, Yaroshevskaya, then aged 94, released her biography, ''Mon voyage en Amérique''.<ref>[https://www.ledevoir.com/lire/513202/kim-yaroshevskaya-dans-l-oeil-de-la-memoire "Kim Yaroshevskaya dans l’oeil de la mémoire"]. ''Le Devoir'', 18 November 2017.</ref>

==Honours== Yaroshevskaya was nominated for an ACTRA Award in 1981 for her role in ''Home Fires''.<ref>"Nominees announced for ACTRAs". ''The Globe and Mail'', 13 March 1981.</ref> She was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada (CM) in 1991,<ref name=canenc/> and was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal and Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.

In 2017 she was appointed to the Order of Arts and Letters of Quebec.<ref>Charles-Henri Ramond, [https://www.filmsquebec.com/kim-yaroshevskaya-nous-a-quittes/ "Kim Yaroshevskaya nous a quittés"]. ''Films du Québec'', January 13, 2025.</ref>

== Personal life and death == On 1 October 2023, Yaroshevskaya celebrated her 100th birthday.<ref>Pierre MacDuff, [https://www.ledevoir.com/opinion/idees/799092/culture-quebecoise-merci-madame-yaroshevskaya? "Merci, madame Yaroshevskaya"]. ''Le Devoir'', 30 September 2023.</ref> She died on 12 January 2025 at the age of 101 following a fall.<ref>{{cite news |date=12 January 2025 |title=Quebec children's show actor and author Kim Yaroshevskaya, dead at 101 |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/kim-yaroshevskaya-1.7429359 |access-date=12 January 2025 |publisher=CBC News}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=12 January 2025 |title=Kim Yaroshevskaya n'est plus |url=https://www.ledevoir.com/culture/831967/kim-yaroshevskaya-est-plus |access-date=12 January 2025 |publisher=Le Devoir}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist|2}}

==External links== {{Portal|Children's literature}} * {{IMDb name|0946514}} * {{discogs artist|Kim Yaroshevskaya}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yaroshevskaya, Kim}} Category:1923 births Category:2025 deaths Category:Actresses from Montreal Category:Actresses from Moscow Category:Canadian children's television personalities Category:French-language Canadian children's writers Category:Canadian women children's writers Category:Canadian film actresses Category:Canadian stage actresses Category:Canadian television actresses Category:Members of the Order of Canada Category:Television personalities from Montreal Category:Soviet emigrants to Canada Category:Writers from Montreal Category:Writers from Moscow Category:Canadian women television personalities Category:Russian women centenarians Category:Canadian women centenarians Category:20th-century Canadian actresses Category:20th-century Canadian writers Category:20th-century Canadian women writers Category:21st-century Canadian writers Category:21st-century Canadian women writers