Béatrice Picard, the French-Canadian performer whose voice became synonymous with Marge Simpson in The Simpsons for generations of Quebec viewers, has died at 96.
Per The Wrap, her family confirmed her passing on Tuesday, December 9, through a statement shared by Montreal’s Théâtre Duceppe, where Picard maintained a decades-long presence on stage.
In a message posted to Facebook, Picard’s children—François, Stéphane, Sylvain, and Frédéric—announced the news and reflected on her lifelong commitment to performance.
“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,” the family wrote. They added that she continued to think of her audience “until the very end.”
Picard was best known to international audiences for voicing Marge Simpson in the Quebec French dub of The Simpsons, a role she held for 33 years. She began voicing the character early in the show’s run and continued through its first 34 seasons, also reprising the role for The Simpsons Movie in 2007.
In the original English-language version, Marge Simpson is voiced by Julie Kavner, but Picard’s interpretation became equally iconic for French-speaking viewers in Canada.
Her career, however, extended far beyond Springfield. Picard was a familiar face on Quebec television long before The Simpsons became a global phenomenon.
Early on, she appeared in Le survenant, one of the first French-Canadian télé-romans, playing Angelina Desmarais. She later took on comedic roles in series such as Cré Basil and Symphorien, helping shape the tone of French-language TV comedy in the region.
Picard also remained active as a stage actor well into her later years. Over the course of her career, she appeared in more than 40 productions at Théâtre Duceppe alone. Her theater credits included French-language productions of classics like Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Death of a Salesman.
In 2017, Picard reached a new generation of film audiences with Marguerite, a short film written and directed by Marianne Farley. The project earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Live Action Short Film and featured Picard as an elderly woman confronting unexpected emotional truths when she moved into an elder care home.