Lamarque, Libertad: 1908-2000: Actor, Singer

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Libertad Lamarque: 1908-2000: Actor, singer

Argentine actor and singer Libertad Lamarque was "the second biggest export from South America, the first being Carmen Miranda (and she was born in Portugal)," according to Austin Mutti-Mewse of the London Independent. She got her start singing popular Argentine tangos, began her film career in 1929, during the silent film era, and was popular for the next seven decades. Lamarque made more than 60 motion pictures and 2,000 recordings, and performed on stage and in television in her native Argentina, her adopted Mexico, and the United States, though she never learned to speak English. She turned down offers to appear in Hollywood films, and was forced to take her career to Mexico after being banned in Argentina by First Lady Eva Perón.

Lamarque was born Libertad Lamarque Bouza on November 24, 1908, in Rosario, Argentina. She was the youngest of ten children born to Gaudincio Lamarque, a Uruguayan tinsmith and contortionist, and Josefa Bouza, a seamstress and Spanish immigrant. Lamarque's father was a militant anarchist and was in prison when she was born for voicing his political beliefs. Upon hearing his daughter had been born, he sent his request from prison that she be named Libertad, the Spanish word for "liberty." Lamarque began performing in front of her family for flowers and coins as a young girl, and soon discovered she loved performing for an audience.

Debuted in Argentine Silents

Lamarque first took the stage at the age of eight. After moving with her family to Buenos Aires in 1922, she began working in the theater. She garnered notice and applause for her first official professional role as the heroine in a three-month run of Madre Tierra in 1923. The Madre Tierra stage manager introduced Lamarque to producer Emilio Romero to record an album of tangos with her. The album was a success and Lamarque married Romero in 1927, when she was just 18. She had her only child, a daughter named Mirtha, the following year. Before long, Lamarque's career took its toll on the marriage. Romero could not tolerate her long studio hours and was jealous of the actors she was seen with. Divorce was not legal in Argentina at the time and it took Lamarque 12 years to have the marriage officially dissolved. A string of stormy romances followed her split with Romero. One story recalls her, heartbroken, jumping out of a hotel window while on tour in Chile. She happened to land on a dentist who was walking by, and he became a Latin American hero.

At a Glance . . .

Born Libertad Lamarque Bouza on November 24, 1908, in Rosario, Argentina; died on December 12, 2000, in Mexico City, Mexico; daughter of Gaudincio Lamarque (a Uruguayan tinsmith and contortionist) and Josefa Bouza (a Spanish seamstress); married Emilio Romero, 1927 (divorced); married Alfredo Malerba (died 1994); children: Mirtha.

Career: Actress, 1916-00; singer, 1920s-00; made more than 60 films and 2,000 recordings.

Awards: Mexican Cinema Arts and Sciences, 2000; Hispanic Film Makers Board, Lifetime Achievement Award; Hispanic Film Festival of Miami, honoree, film retrospective; Santa Fe Film Festival, honoree.

Lamarque's music was a mix of soulful tangos, boleros, waltzes, milongas, and Mexican rancheras. She influenced such artists as Jennifer Lopez, Tom Jones, Paul McCartney, and Nat King Cole. Her home for most of her musical career was the RCA (later BMG) record label. She recorded her biggest hits,"Chilenito" and "Gaucho Sol" for the label in 1926. Her 1991 album, Nadie Se Va del Todo, was also immensely successful. "I believe Madonna played second fiddle in the music charts when it was released," she was quoted as saying in the Independent.

The young singer made her screen debut in the 1929 silent film Adios Argentina, directed by Luis Moglia Barth. When Barth was hired to direct Argentina's first sound film, Tango in 1933, he again chose Lamarque as his star. Lamarque would continue throughout her career as the leading lady in such films as Aydame a Vivir, Besos Brujos, La Ley que Olvidaron, Madreselva, and Puerta Cerrada.

Beckoned by Hollywood, Banned by Perón

Before long, Lamarque's success in Argentina became known, and Hollywood beckoned. Both Paramount and MGM studios offered her lengthy contracts in 1940, but she turned them down. Her Latin-American contemporaries, such as Lupita Tovar and Mona Maris, had found success in Hollywood, but were often type-cast as evil or wild women. Lamarque spoke no English and did not want to be taken advantage of in Hollywood, though she later would travel to perform there. "I have no regrets," she is quoted as saying in the Independent.

A petty catfight between Lamarque and costar Eva Duarte on the set of 1944's La Cabalgata del Circo, left Lamarque unable to find work in Argentina for a time. The two actors squabbled frequently over costumes and the script. The tension between them peaked when Duarte emerged from her dressing room wearing Lamarque's dress. Lamarque slapped her costar across the face. Duarte married Juan Perón the next year. When she became Argentina's influential first lady in 1946, Eva Perón made it virtually impossible for Lamarque to get work in Argentina. She forbade the nation's radio stations and film studios to play her music or hire her. Lamarque has denied the event ever took place, "but her career in Argentina clearly ended when Peron came to power," Myrna Oliver wrote in the Los Angeles Times.

The ban took its toll on Lamarque who, with her second husband, industrialist Alfredo Malerba, eventually moved to Mexico, where she found enormous success in films, records, and concerts. She broke box-office records there with such films as Gran Casino in 1947 and Escuela de Musica in 1957. She was part of Mexican cinema's Golden Age of the 1940s, along with such Mexican movie legends as Jorge Negrete, Dolores del Rio, Pedro Infante, Arturo de Cordoba, Jorge Rivero, and Julio Aleman. "Strangely, even with a strong Argentine accent that never quite went away, she became the darling of Mexican cinema," Carl Mora, an expert on Latin American film, told the New York Times. "Her magnetic presence made for quite a life trajectory." She performed in New York City's prestigious Carnegie Hall in 1947.

Returned Home to Career in Soaps

Lamarque's 1960 return to Argentina was heralded by her fans, who met her at the airport, bearing signs that read "Welcome Back" and "Long Live Libertad." Television beckoned when Lamarque returned to Argentina, and she answered the call. She was a favorite guest on talk shows, reflecting and telling anecdotes from her long film career. She joined Mexican entertainer Cantinflas and actor Dolores del Rio to make director Nancy Cardenas' 1977 documentary about Mexican film. Lamarque got her start in television soap operas in 1981 when Cardenas cast her in Soledad. In 1998 she joined the cast of La Usurpadora.

Lamarque died in Mexico City on December 12, 2000. Earlier that year, Lamarque was honored by the Mexican Academy of Cinema Arts and Sciences, which gave her the Mexican equivalent of an Oscar for her work. She also received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Hispanic Film Makers Board, and was honored at the Hispanic Film Festival of Miami, which featured a retrospective of her films. Two weeks before her death, she filmed the Christmas episode of Carita de Angel, the Mexican soap opera she had been working on. She was invited to receive an honor at the Santa Fe Film Festival as a pioneer of Latin-American film, but Lupita Tovar, Lamarque's contemporary who also was honored, accepted the award on her behalf. Just one month before her death, Lamarque was quoted as saying, "I'll work forever," according to Austin Mutti-Mewse in the Independent. "As long as I have a good pulse to put my make-up on, I'll keep working."