Although they came from a small town in northern Ontario, the Dionne quintuplets were among the first global celebrities and multimedia stars. But their story — they were the first known quintuplets to survive infancy — did not have happy endings like the three films based on their lives.
Annette Dionne, the last surviving sister, died at 91 on Dec. 24, bringing their story of unparalleled celebrity, and extraordinary exploitation, to a close. Her death followed that of her sister Cécile, who also died at 91, by about five months.
Jane Gross, a former reporter for The New York Times who died in 2022, wrote both of their obituaries.
[Read: Annette Dionne, Last of the Celebrated Quintuplets, Dies at 91]
[Read: Cécile Dionne, Who Found Fame and Despair as a Quintuplet, Dies at 91]
My mother, Helen Austen, was 7 when the quints were born. When I was growing up, she told me that the five girls from Corbeil, Ontario, provided an escape from her life in Dauphin, Manitoba, during the Great Depression. The youngest of seven daughters born to Ukrainian immigrants, she followed the lives of the Dionne sisters through newsreels, radio, newspapers and magazine articles.
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