Alvaro de Villa

Iconic Cuban writer of comedies for radio and television. Álvaro de Villa was born in Havana in 1915 as Rolando Teodoro Álvaro de Villa. To please his parents, he obtained a Doctorate in Law at the University of Havana but only practiced his profession for a short time. His true calling was writing and soon demonstrated his outstanding talent writing short comedies that became very popular, first on radio and later on television.

By the 1950s Álvaro was Cuba's most prolific as well as best payed scriptwriter, providing material to shows that obtained the highest ratings. Among his greatest achievements were "La Tremenda Corte", "Casino de la Alegría", y "El Cabaret Regalias" in addition to writing for stand-up comedians of great popular impact as "Pototo y Filomeno" and "Dick y Biondi". Álvaro's success was often credited to his ability to connect with the masses since the topics as a humorist were boundless. Without trespassing the limits of good taste, his satires and parodies on marriage, work, sex, religion, daily living, and even politics gained him a reputation not only as a good comedy writer but as a wit.

With the arrival of the Cuban Revolution in 1959 and the confiscation of all businesses, including the entertainment industry, Álvaro, like all Cubans, was now a government employee and his writings subject to censorship. Refusing to write communist propaganda, he fled his homeland and went into exile in Miami. In the mid 1960s, he was writing again for the markets served by Spanish language radio and television networks and for fellow exiled stand-up comedians. Álvaro also published several books which maintained his name and humor in the public eye and in 1977 he contributed to the ever popular PBS sitcom "¿Que pasa U.S.A.?" Shortly after he retired and died of cardiac arrest in Miami in 1985.