Actor Michael Sarrazin remembered at funeral as battler who never gave up

<p>MONTREAL – Canadian Michael Sarrazin was remembered at his funeral on Tuesday as a battler whose unquenchable desire to become an actor catapulted him to the big time. </p> <p>Pierre Sarrazin noted that his brother, who never finished high school, struggled for many years before making it in Hollywood.</p> <p>”Ten long years of struggle before what they call ‘instant stardom’ swept him away,” he said during a simple service at the majestic St. Patrick’s Basilica in Montreal.</p> <p>”I remember those gloomy days, meeting him after coming back from New York City where he studied at the Actors Studio.</p> <p>”He was rail-thin from malnutrition, but had a burning desire to be an actor at all costs.”</p> <p>Michael Sarrazin, who died of cancer on April 17 at the age of 70, played opposite big-screen legends like Paul Newman, Jane Fonda and George C. Scott. </p> <p>Pierre Sarrazin said his brother never stopped believing in himself despite the poverty and the constant struggle to survive.</p> <p>”And Hollywood finally discovered what we as a family had known for so long – he was a star, (but) it had taken him so long.”</p> <p>Catherine and Michelle, the actor’s daughters, were at his side when he died.</p> <p>Choking back tears, Catherine told mourners, who were mainly family and friends, that their father brought smiles to their faces – right up to his final days.</p> <p>”He made me and Michelle laugh really hard every day, entertaining us with his one-liners, slapstick and monologues,” she said.</p> <p>”He used his walker, his wheelchair and his hats as props for his skits until the day before he died.”</p> <p>Pierre Sarrazin said while his brother once lived with actress Jacqueline Bisset and also with Margot Kidder, he was a private person.</p> <p>”For him, it was his work which was the most important,” he told a reporter.</p> <p>”He didn’t like the gossip columns, the tabloids. He resisted it with a passion.”</p> <p>The older Sarrazin came back to Montreal from California seven years ago to be with his daughters.</p> <p>”L.A. can be a very isolated place after your career has peaked,” said his brother, who is also a producer.</p> <p>”It’s better to be in a community in Montreal. He loved this city. .always proud to be a Quebecois, a Montrealer, a Canadian.”</p> <p>Born Jacques Michel Andre Sarrazin in Quebec City on May 22, 1940, he suffered a professional setback in 1969 when he had to give up the role of Joe Buck in “Midnight Cowboy.”</p> <p>He was on his way to Texas for a costume fitting when he found out his studio wouldn’t release him from his contract. Sarrazin had to turn down a part that eventually went to Jon Voight.</p> <p>But he played alongside Newman in “Sometimes a Great Notion,” Fonda in “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?” and Scott in “The Flim-Flam Man.”</p> <p>He also starred in “Joshua Then and Now” adapted from Mordecai Richler’s novel, and in the popular 1973 TV mini-series “Frankenstein: The True Story.”</p> <p>”It was a one-man show which I watched for 60 years (and) I had the best seat in the house,” the younger Sarrazin recalled.</p> <p>”He was a charming, charming, brilliant guy.”</p>