For a very specific generation of The Simpsonsviewers, Béatrice Picard will forever be Marge Simpson. On Tuesday, Dec. 9, those fans lost the iconic voice behind the Simpson family matriarch when Picard passed away at the age of 96.
Quebec’s Théâtre Duceppe confirmed the news of Picard’s passing on their Facebook page, and included a statement from the actress’s children, which read in part:
“It is with great sadness that we announce the death of our mother, Beatrice, which occurred this morning, December 9th, at the age of 96. Throughout her life, Béatrice was able to combine her family life with her passion for the performing arts and the causes that were dear to her. So it seemed natural to us to share this news with her friends, her colleagues in the artistic world and, especially with her audience, for whom she was thinking until the very end.”
While American audiences know Julie Kavner as the voice of Marge, Canada’s French-speaking viewers knew Picard as Marge in what is known as Les Simpsons in Quebec and beyond. But Picard’s career, which spanned more than six decades, expanded far beyond her voice work.
According to The Canadian Press, Picard got his creative start in radio plays in the late 1940s. Beginning in the mid-1950s, she became a familiar face to television viewers in Canada, with one-off roles in many of the most popular series of the day. By the end of the decade, she was landing starring roles in long-running series, as well as regularly appearing on the stage.
While she began appearing in feature films in the 1970s, The Canadian Press declared that it took until 2007 for Picard to find her breakout movie role playing the title character in Gabriel Pelletier’s My Aunt Aline, for which she received a Genie Award nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role.
Yet it’s the raspy voice of Marge Simpson for which many fans will best remember Picard, as she voiced the role for more than 30 years—from 1990 to 2023, including in the translated version of 2007’s The Simpsons Movie.
The artists at Théâtre Duceppe paid their own tribute to the actress, writing that “The whole team of Duceppe joins the family of Béatrice in paying tribute to this great lady who touched the hearts of so many of our spectators. Throughout an immense career, an artistic journey as varied and prolific that spans 75 years, Béatrice Picard marked our cultural history. Bubbling with enthusiasm, lively, true, feminist of the early hours and molded by a relentless passion, she was able to captivate the people of Quebec with her talent and personality.”
