Ignacio López Tarso is one of the longest-lived and most important actors in Mexico. Throughout his long career of nearly 70 years, he has ventured into film, theater, radio and television and, according to him, his retirement is not yet contemplated in his life.
He was born on January 15, 1925 under the name of Ignacio López, surnames that would hardly allow him to venture into the artistic milieu and at the suggestion of his friend and mentor, Xavier Villaurrutia, he decided to change it to López Tarso. He began doing pininos in theater, but it was thanks to an advertisement in the newspaper that his life was fully approached to acting after attending a course at the National Institute of Fine Arts and made his professional debut in 1951.
He made his film debut three years later in a film that left a bitter taste in his mouth, but which allowed him to make himself known in the trade. One of the most important films of his career came at the end of the 50s and with “Macario” it knew the sweetness of success, especially at international festivals and became the first Mexican film to be nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.
With success under his arm, more projects came into his life and one of the most pleasant experiences was when he acted alongside María Félix in a scene where he had to kiss her. In an interview for a television program, López Tarso recalled the words of “La Doña”: “He gave me great confidence, he told me: ‘Kiss me tasty, hold me tight, squeeze me. Behave like a man, bastard.'”
But María was only one of the many actresses from the golden age with whom López Tarso worked, including Pina Pellicer, Lucha Villa, Rita Macedo, Marga López and Elsa Aguirre.
His most recent tape is from 2021 and was titled “Good morning, Ignacio”, while in theater, the last play where he acted was called “El Padre”. Despite this, he has come to comment that he feels a bit frustrated because they no longer call him to work: “They all know me very well, I don’t need to make calls or anything, you know. They don’t call me, it’s because none of them have been interested in me.”
However, his pleas were heard and this year he will be a guest actor in the television series “Como dice el dicho”, alongside Sergio Corona, with whom he has not only shared the stage (“Aeroplanos”) but also for a lifetime.
At 98 years old, Ignacio López Tarso has once again shown that he is a long way from retirement.
FS
Themes
Ignacio López Tarso Mexican Cinema
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