“Doctor, you will always remain in our hearts. Thank you for everything,” singer, actress and television host Dorothée wrote soberly this Saturday on her Facebook account, accompanying her message with an image showing her in the arms of Michel Klein. The most popular vet on the small screen has passed away at the age of 103.
The man dedicated his life to sharing his passion for animals with as many people as possible through programs such as “Club Dorothée”, which made him known, “30 million friends”, “Télématin”, or even of “Earth beware danger”.
In the show “It begins today” on France 2, last January, Michel Klein remembered his beginnings with emotion. “It reminds me of great times because Dorothée was extraordinary. For more than ten years, I came on the show with animals of all species: elephants, tigers, lions. »
A life serving animals
Michel Klein, born in 1921 in Romania, studied at the veterinary school in Toulouse, the city in which he joined the resistance before fleeing to Spain. Returning after the war, he resumed his studies then made his television debut in the 1960s, before achieving great success in the late 1980s and early 1990s with Club Dorothée.
From the creation of the largest veterinary clinic in Paris to that of the Paris Guide Dog School, Michel Klein put his notoriety at the service of the animals he loved so much throughout his life. Vice-president of the SPA from 1960 to 1978, he was the one who proposed the identification of dogs by tattoo in 1970.
Tributes began pouring in after news of his death broke. “Michel Klein, an extraordinary man, a great gentleman, left us at 103. Great sadness. Thoughts of his wife and his entire family,” said producer Jean-Luc Azoulay on.
