his last interview with Clarín, the emotional homage at the CCK and the farewell to Buenos Aires

The legendary Argentine actor Héctor Alterio died this Saturday in Madrid at the age of 96, but his voice, his looks and his work will be remembered forever. In April 2023 he returned to Argentina for the last time after a ten-year absence and gave an interview full of nostalgia on this return Clarion in which he reviewed his extensive career, reflected on the passage of time and reaffirmed the deep and unbreakable bond with Buenos Aires, the city that shaped his artistic life.

“It was undoubtedly difficult to adapt at first, but these are things that have already happened.”“Alterio, in his last report for this newspaper, recalled his first months in exile in Spain after the death threats he received from Triple A in 1974. This moment was a turning point in his life, but instead of breaking, it multiplied and over time he managed to build a bridge to work in both Argentina and Spain.

His return to the city of Buenos Aires had a special reason: Say goodbye to the stages of Buenos Aires with To Buenos Aires. During the first days of April 2023 and during twelve unique performances at the Teatro Astros, Alterio presented a tango and poetry show in which he recited poems by León Felipe, reviewed anecdotes and recalled tangos by Cátulo Castillo, Astor Piazzolla, Horacio Ferrer and Eladia Blázquez.

On this occasion, the legendary Argentine actor was also honored by the Ministry of Culture of the Nation at the then Kirchner Cultural Center (CCK). The meeting was full of emotions: among those present was Pepe Soriano, who waited for him in the front row and merged with the Alterio in an endless embrace, an image that brought tears to the eyes of all those gathered to celebrate the enormous career of the actor raised in Chacarita.

Pepe Soriano and Héctor Alterio had worked together The rebellious Patagonia, Héctor Olivera’s 1974 cult film won a prize at the Berlin Festival. Soriano played an important role in this film alongside Alterio, who played an authoritarian high-ranking military commander, Luis Brandoni, Federico Luppi and Osvaldo Terranova.

Before the hug, the entire audience stood up and tried to be part of this emotional and historic moment between two of Argentina’s greatest actors. “It’s like seeing the embrace between San Martín and Belgrano”Georgina Barbarossa told the journalist and theater director Alejandro Cruz at that moment.

Five months before Soriano’s death in September 2023, both actors also agreed on a much more intimate and closed tribute to the acting community, carried out by Sagai. “As part of his farewell to Argentine theaters, Alterio was celebrated with applause, laughter and tears,” the company said in a statement. It was said that Pepe Soriano took part as “honorary president”.

The recognition conducted by the CCK leadership also brought together a constellation of personalities from the national theater and cinema, including Ricardo Darin, Eduardo Blanco, Gerardo Romano, Victor Laplace, Eleonora Wexler And Alejandra Darintogether with many other colleagues who accompanied Alterio.

During his last visit to the country, the award-winning actor, who has lived in exile in Spain since the 1970s, shared some of his memories of that time Clarion And that’s what he said I missed “many things” about Buenos Aires, but he “adapted over time” because he had no alternative.

“At one point they forced me to leave, and when I was in Europe and wanted to return, they wouldn’t let me.” “Of course we give it a romantic touch because it was not pleasant at all,” said the protagonist of films The ceasefire, The official story, The bride’s son or as standard Winds of waterwhich made him famous and respected, although his beginnings were in the theater, a genre to which he returned several times in his life.

His first works in cinema date back to the 1960s, but only after that he was part of films such as: Quebracho And The rebellious Patagonia, in Argentina and Raise crows either The Cuenc crimea, in Spain. They would arrive later violent tango, wild horses, Ashes of paradise, The bride’s son and Kamchatkaamong many more.

In addition, she was part of the cast of four Argentine films nominated for an Oscar, such as The ceasefire (1974), Camilla (1984), The official story (1985) and The bride’s son (2001) he received an honorary Goya for his career in 2004, as well as two Martín Fierro awards, two Konex awards and the Silver Shell at the San Sebastián Festival for best actor.

In the theater he appeared in works by Anton Chekhov, August Strindberg, Bertolt Brecht, Luigi Pirandello, Máximo Gorki, Florencio Sánchez, Harold Pinter, William Shakespeare, Henrik Ibsen, Federico García Lorca and Eugene O’Neill, among others.

In 2023, on the occasion of his farewell to the people of Buenos Aires, Alterio once again offered his magic from a stage, but this time he did it not from a figure, but by embodying the man who honored his roots and his memories with a tango and poetry show.