[1] Born in Hull, Quebec, Patry began his career in the theatre as an actor and a playwright.

He joined the National Film Board of Canada in 1957 as a writer on the Panoramique series.

[1] He left the NFB in 1963 to co-found the film cooperative Coopératio with Roger Blais and Jean-Claude Lord.

[1] Unfortunately, the company shut down after five years because of systemic problems in the financing and distribution of feature films.

In 1981 he was a major player in the development of the French language educational television station Canal Savoir.