Libertad Lamarque(1908-2000)
- Actress
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Libertad Lamarque was born November 24, 1908 in Rosario, Argentina, the
youngest of ten children of Gaudencio Lamarque, an Uruguayan tinsmith
who was worked as a contortionist in her youth, and Josefa Bouza, a
Spanish immigrant. Since her childhood, Libertad Lamarque demonstrated
a great talent for the performance and also for the song. Her debut as
actress was at 7 years old and at 12 she was pro. In 1922 the family
Lamarque emigrated to Buenos Aires and she began to work in the
theater. At 18, she recorded her first LP of tangos (popular music of
Argentina), obtaining an immediate success and she married with Emilio
Romero (the father of Mirtha, her only daughter), then she played the
silent movie "Adios, Argentina" (1930) and "Tango" (1933), which was,
by the way, the first sound movie filmed in Argentina, and during the
next 65 years all her works were starring with her name. In 1945
Libertad Lamarque was already known as an excellent dramatic actress
and singer of tangos, boleros and folkloric songs of Latin America and
she was received the nickname of "La Novia de América" (The Bride of
the Americas) and also she even stood out as writer (she wrote the
script of "Ayúdame a vivir"). However, not everything was happiness:
her first husband died after their divorce and she lived an unpleasant
incident with the (in this time) actress Eva Duarte (known after as Eva
Perón, the famous Argentinean First Lady know nowadays simply as Evita)
while they filmed "La cabalgata del circo." So, Libertad Lamarque (like
other Argentinean artists of the time), suffered a non-official veto to
her movies and while she was in tour for Latin America, she and her
second (and last) husband, Alfredo Malerba settled in Mexico and there
continued her very successful career, although in 1960 she returned to
Argentina to make a movie. During her very extensive career, Libertad
Lamarque filmed 65 movies (21 in Argentina, 43 in Mexico and 1 in
Spain) and 6 soap operas, recorded more than 800 songs and many
musicals and made many theatrical pieces; however, she says: "I am very
lazy". When she is not acting or in shows, Lamarque lives between
Miami, Florida (where she resides since 1996 with her personal
assistant, Irene López) and Buenos Aires, Argentina where she visits
her family (daughter, son-in-law, 5 grandsons and 10
great-grandchildren). Libertad Lamarque assures that doesn't have
intentions of retiring of the show business: "I will continue working
while I have a good pulse to makeup myself" she said.
