Canadian Actress, Singer Geraldine Doucet Dies at 85

Veteran Canadian actress and singer Geraldine Doucet, best known for her rendition of O Canada during Montreal Canadiens hockey games, died on Friday, age 85.

The Montreal Gazette newspaper reported Doucet, who was born to Italian immigrants in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City, died at her West Palm Beach winter home after battling an undisclosed illness. Doucet met her first husband, Roger Doucet, while studying at the New York College of music.

Geraldine Doucet married him and moved to Montreal, before becoming a Canadian citizen in 1975. After Roger Doucet died in 1981, she took over the singing of the Canadian anthem at NHL games in the former Montreal forum.

Doucet also became a mainstay of Quebec TV screens and live theater stages. She hosted The Geraldine Show talk show on the CBC in the 1980s, and had roles in Sirens and Nickelodeon’s Are You Afraid of the Dark. Among her last roles was the French-language cop drama 19-2. Doucet is survived by her second husband, Ben Linds, and son Paul.