[Deathwatch] Micheline Charest, television producer, 51

[Deathwatch Central]

Canadian TV Producer Dies After Plastic Surgery
Fri Apr 16

By Charles Grandmont

MONTREAL (Reuters) - Canada's entertainment industry was in shock on
Thursday over the sudden death of Micheline Charest, the co-founder of
scandal-plagued children's television producer Cinar Corp.

Charest, a 51 year-old mother of two, died in a Montreal hospital on
Wednesday, a day after being rushed to the emergency ward from a nearby
plastic surgery clinic.

"The end of Micheline Charest is as tragic as the end of Cinar," said
Louise Sansregret, a Cinar vice-president from 1998 to 2002.

"It's unbelievable. She was very much into fitness and, for her, the
operation was just routine," Sansregret said.

Charest co-founded Cinar with her husband, Ronald Weinberg, in 1976.
Under their leadership, the Montreal-based firm became an entertainment
powerhouse in children's television. Its hits included Emmy-award
winning "Arthur," top-rated "Wimzie's House," and "The Adventures of
Paddington Bear."

In 1997, the Hollywood Reporter ranked the blunt-spoken Charest as the
19th most powerful woman in the U.S. entertainment industry, ahead of
talk show host Rosie O'Donnell and singer Madonna.

Cinar was then a stock-market darling, worth more than $1 billion, but
the financial fairytale was about to turn into an investor's nightmare.


The company came under investigation in 1999 over allegations it
fraudulently obtained Canadian tax credits by listing Canadians as
authors of productions actually written by U.S. citizens.

Cinar's board forced Charest and Weinberg out six months later after
discovering that $122 million had been funneled without board
authorization to a Bahamian investment firm.

Cinar stock crashed before being delisted from Nasdaq and the Toronto
Stock Exchange, and disgruntled shareholders launched a flurry of
class-action lawsuits.

Cinar sued Charest and Weinberg, while the couple countersued.

Stymied by the scandal, Cinar's prospects for lining up new hit
programs quickly dwindled, pushing the company into deep losses. The
Canadian government stopped the flow of public funds to Cinar and
morale among the company's creative production staff sank.

In 2002, Charest and Weinberg were fined C$1 million each ($750,000) by
the Quebec Securities Commission, but they never admitted any guilt.
Police investigations wound down without criminal charges being laid.

Cinar was finally sold last February to a group of Toronto-based
investors for $144 million. Charest and Weinberg pocketed $18 million
on the sale.

"Micheline was glad that it was sold to people with know-how in the
entertainment industry," Sansregret said. "She had turned the page and
was ready to get on with life."

Many lawsuits sparked by the scandal remain outstanding, despite the
sale of the company, including the ones between Cinar and its ousted
founders.

"Nothing has changed with Charest's death," Cinar spokesman Alex
Radmanovich said.