Hector Alterio He was a beacon for many artists and acting students in Argentina. And for all Argentinian viewers: a reference, a guarantee that if he appeared in a film or a play, it was a guarantee of quality. and commitment.
He started with independent theater and as much as he was interested in cinema, he never gave it up and was one of the promoters of the independent theater movement, founding the Nuevo Teatro ensemble in 1950. And he never left the Argentine imagination. Not even when he had to go into exile in Spain in 1974, persecuted and threatened by the catastrophic Triple A. “Triple A condemned me to death in a statement,” he said years later.
Héctor was at the San Sebastián Festival, where he accompanied the screening The ceasefire When From Buenos Aires they warned him that it was better not to return. And there it stayed.
This year, 1974, would have a profound impact on Argentine cinema and life. Protagonist of three emblematic films released within a few months (The ceasefirelater Argentina’s first Oscar nominee; Rebellious Patagoniaawarded at the Berlin Festival; And Quebracho), the Argentine cinema worried Hollywood, which saw that its productions here were not having the expected commercial success… because national films filled all the major cinemas. And they didn’t come under the bill.
Alterio left the moment the consecration had come to him as never before. And paradoxically, his first role was given to him in exile by Carlos Saura. In Raise crows gives him a disturbing role: the corpse of a soldier. And Héctor believed that this was the ideal figure: “I jumped for joy because I didn’t have to pronounce Z or S. I had to close my eyes and stay still, dressed like a military man, in a coffin,” he remembers.
He directed many successful films that were made in Spain, many of which could not be released in Argentina due to the censorship of the rating agency, which allowed feature films to be banned or cut, although some independent distributors presented copies with cuts without Alterio appearing and then encouraged them to release them in full…
He would then return to Argentina to star in the second, third and fourth Argentine films nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film –Camillaby Maria Luisa Bemberg; The official storyby Luis Puenzo, the first Oscar winner; And The bride’s sonby Juan José Campanella-. And the younger people, already in the 90s, knew him violent tango.
He was often offered evil roles, such as the soldier Zavala Rebellious Patagoniathe husband who takes in a missing daughter The official storyCamila O’Gorman’s father, or as Lobo in violent tango. But somehow, Héctor inspired in us a strange compassion for these nefarious characters.
Héctor Benjamín Alterio Onorato was born on a spring day, September 21, 1929, not specifically in Chacarita, where he grew up and was a fan of Chacarita Jrs. was. Quite a peculiarity.
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