{{Short description|Canadian actress and journalist}} thumbnail|Nicole Germain in 1946
'''Nicole Germain''', C.M. (born '''Marcelle Landreau'''; November 29, 1917 – February 11, 1994) was a Canadian actress in Quebec radio and film in the 1940s and 1950s and later as a journalist. In 1974, she was named a member of the Order of Canada.
==Personal life== Germain was born Marcelle Landreau. Her father was George Landreau, director of the Montreal Conservatory.<ref name="CinemaQC"/> She was also niece to Chief Justice Rinfret.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Evening Citizen|location=Ottawa|date=February 7, 1946|page=3|title=Miss Radio 1946 Visiting Ottawa}}</ref> She studied at the LaSalle Conservatory.<ref name="CinemaQC"/> Her daughter is Liette Desjardins.
==Career== Germain began acting in radio in 1939 and became so popular she was voted the French Canadian "Miss Radio 1946".<ref name="CinemaQC">{{cite web|title=NICOLE GERMAIN(1917-1974|publisher=cinemaparlantquebec.ca|url=http://www.cinemaparlantquebec.ca/Cinema1930-52/pages/textbio/Textbio.jsp?textBioId=29&lang=en|accessdate=July 8, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Jerry|last=White|title=The Cinema of Canada|year=2006|publisher=Wallflower|page=[https://archive.org/details/cinemaofcanada0000unse/page/37 37]|isbn=1-904764-60-6|url=https://archive.org/details/cinemaofcanada0000unse/page/37}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Milwaukee Journal/Screen and Radio|last=Selinger|first=Jack|title=Quebec Radio Stars Shine Alone|date=Sep 8, 1946|page=11}} Caption to photo of Germain calls her "French Canadian Miss Radio 1946"</ref>
Success in radio led Germain to a role starring in the French version, ''La Fortresse'', of the 1947 film ''Whispering City'' which is notable as one of the earliest attempts of a Canadian film to break into the U.S. market. The film, popular in Quebec, the English version failed to find an audience, either in the United States or Canada.<ref name="TakeOne">{{cite book|first=Wyndham|last=Wise|title=Take One's essential guide to Canadian film|publisher=University of Toronto Press Incorporated|year=2001|page=221|isbn=0-8020-3512-4}}</ref>
In 1949, she played Donalda in ''A Man and His Sin'', the film adaptation of Claude-Henri Grignon's novel ''Un homme et son péché'', followed by the film ''Séraphin'' a year later.<ref name="CinemaQC"/> In 1952, she played a concert pianist in ''The Nightingale and the Bells (Le rossignol et les cloches)''. She then had a long career as a television journalist and moderator. She was a panelist on the 1950s Quebec version of ''What's My Line?'', ''Chacun son Metier''. In 1955 she appeared as a contestant on the American ''What's My Line?'' (Episode #242), first as a contestant, then joining the panel next to Bennett Cerf.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tv.com/What%27s+My+Line%253F/EPISODE+%23242/episode/95199/summary.html|title=What's My Line Ep.242 summary|publisher=CBS Interactive|accessdate=2009-06-20}}{{Dead link|date=December 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}</ref>
She was co-chairman of the 1960 Christmas Gift Campaign for the Quebec Division of the Canadian Mental Health Association which raised gifts for Quebec's hospitalized mentally ill.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Shawinigan Standard|location=Shawinigan, Que.|date=Jan 4, 1961|page=6|title=Christmas Gift Campaign For Mental Patients Gratifying}}</ref>
At a conference on the French language held at the Menton, France in 1971, Germain urged the creation of an organization to find substitute French words when new English words are created.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Miami News|date=October 6, 1971|page=13A|author=((Reuters News Service))|title=Anglicisms threat to purity of French}}</ref>
==Awards and honours== In 1974 Nicole Germain was named a Member of the Order of Canada for her efforts to promote the French language.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gg.ca/honours/search-recherche/honours-desc.asp?lang=e&TypeID=orc&id=626|title=Order of Canada page|publisher=Gg.ca|date=2009-04-30|accessdate=2009-06-20}}{{dead link|date=February 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb name|id=0314477|name=Nicole Germain}} * {{in lang|fr}} {{YouTube|MiRm5xriMus|Video of 1958 TV interview}} by Germain with NHL player Butch Bouchard.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Germain, Nicole}} Category:1917 births Category:1994 deaths Category:Actresses from Montreal Category:Canadian women non-fiction writers Category:Canadian women journalists Category:Canadian television personalities Category:Canadian radio actresses Category:Canadian film actresses Category:Canadian women television personalities Category:Journalists from Montreal Category:Members of the Order of Canada Category:Television personalities from Montreal Category:Writers from Montreal Category:20th-century Canadian women writers Category:20th-century Canadian actresses Category:Place of death missing