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Sergio Corrieri the Director of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Towns (ICAP) death.
After the film that was to become a classic of Cuban cinema, Corrieri continued to cement his stature as an actor with his portrayal of Alberto Delgado in Manuel Pérez El Hombre de Maisinicú, for which he won best male lead actor in the Moscow International Film Festival, and also in the Cuban television series En silencio ha tenido que ser and its sequel El regreso de David.

Sergio Corrieri was born March 2, 1939; he would have turned 69 on Sunday. In addition to being a successful actor, Corrieri also became a renowned theater director and founded the emblematic theater groups Grupo Teatro Estudio and Teatro Escambray. He would later heed the call of the Revolution becoming head of the Central Committees Culture Department, vice president of the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television (ICRT) and president of the Cuban Friendship Institute (ICAP), a position he held until his death.

"The Revolution asked me to do this and I decided to accept. I was born on the dark side of life. I was poor; it was the Revolution that opened all of this to me," Corrieri once said.

Sergio Corrieri Hernández liked to tell the story of how, as a child, he used to look at the city lights of Havana, which at the time seemed far way off from his coastal hometown of Jaimanitas.

As Corrieri told Juventud Rebelde in 2006 after winning the National Theater Award, he came to the world of acting by accident, while "chasing a skirt." "We were a group of kids, 15-year-olds, and I was hopelessly in love [...] those were the times of Batista and we decided to join the University Theater group. Somehow I passed; but she didnt. For my entrance exam I performed a monologue from Shakespeares Julius Caesar. I was going drop out, because I was only interested in getting closer to her, but I began to enjoy the classes and I decided to study theater and become an actor."

The young, aspiring actor was not bothered by the fact that his working-class father stopped talking to him for a good spell until his success in such works as Viaje de un largo día hacia la noche, Madre coraje y sus hijos, Contigo pan y cebolla and El perro del hortelano finally brought them back together. Although, tensions would rise again between the father and son, when Corrieri decided to run off to the Escambray Mountains in 1968 to create the historic and innovative Escambray theater group. This was the year of Memorias del subdesarrollo, which was followed by another film with director Manuel Pérez (Río Negro), and films by directors Enrique Pineda Barnet (Mella), Víctor Casaus (Como la vida misma) and José Massip (Baraguá), until accumulating some 14 movies under his belt.

Sergio Corrieri was well-known internationally for his work as an actor and director. But he also leaves a legacy in Cuba for his work as a teacher at several institutions, including the National School of Art Teachers (ENIA) and the Higher Institute of Art (ISA); and for his lasting mark on television viewers in En silencio..., with his much applauded adaptation of La emboscada, winner of the 1994 UNEAC Caracol prize; and with his anthological version of Yerma, where he shared leading roles with the unforgettable Consuelito Vidal.

Corrieri was bestowed with the Félix Varela and Alejo Carpentier Orders awarded by the Council of State and recently presided over the organizing committee of the Seventh Conference of the Union of Cuban Writers and Artists (UNEAC).

When JR asked in 1989 why he decided to leave the world of acting behind to take on other important tasks, Sergio Corrieri replied: "If you were to ask me what kind of work gives me the most satisfaction, I would say painting a wall; because you start to work and in two or three hours you have a dazzling wall, which is, at the moment, your work. My current work is more extensive and complex. It might be another wall that we artists can not.


(www.juventudrebelde.co.cu)



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