Lautaro Murúa

Biography

Lautaro Murúa’s first film as a director, “Shunko”, came out in 1960. It was based on a novel by Jorge W. Ábalos about a young teacher trying to open a school in the poor districts of Santiago del Estero; the screenplay was written by Augusto Roa Bastos. By then Murúa was already known as an actor.

He was born on 29 December 1926 in Tacna. The city was then under Chilean rule and is now part of Peru, which is why reference works call Murúa now a Chilean, now a Peruvian, now an Argentine. In Santiago he studied fine arts and, according to some accounts, architecture as well. He acted at the Experimental Theatre of the University of Chile, which was renewing the Chilean stage of the day. In 1954 he played the lead in a stage version of the novel “Martín Rivas”, directed by Germán Becker; the production became one of the notable theatrical events of the decade. Becker himself said that some time before the university and the theatre Murúa had briefly attended an aviation school. He moved to Argentina, by different accounts in the early or the middle 1950s, and most of his work was done there. His film debut was “The House of the Angel” (1957) by Leopoldo Torre Nilsson, shown at Cannes; after it Murúa became one of the most sought-after actors in the country. He went on working with Torre Nilsson, in “The Kidnapper” (1958) and “Traitors of San Angel” (1967). Among his acting awards is the Silver Condor of the Argentine Film Critics Association: in 1957 for “Graciela”, in 1960 for “Aquello que amamos” (“What We Love”) and in 1963 for “The Odd Number” (“La cifra impar”).

He turned to directing in the early 1960s and became part of the “Generation of the ’60s”, which, together with Rodolfo Kuhn, Manuel Antín and David José Kohon, renewed Argentine cinema. “Shunko” won the Silver Condor for best film of 1961 and the prize for best Spanish-language film at the Mar del Plata festival. His second film, “Alias Gardelito” (1961), with a screenplay written by Roa Bastos together with Bernardo Kordon from Kordon’s memories, showed the underside of Buenos Aires. In 1962 the film received the Silver Condor for best film, and Murúa the award for best director.

Later he directed “Un guapo del 900” (1971) and “La Raulito” (1975, by other accounts 1974), about the life of María Esther Duffau; in 1979 the film received an ACE Award. His last film as a director was “Cuarteles de invierno” (“Winter Barracks”, 1984), based on the novel by Osvaldo Soriano: the story of an ageing boxer and a tango singer under the Argentine military dictatorship.

After the coup of 1976 Murúa left for Spain and stayed there until 1983, then returned. He acted for other directors: in “Invasión” (1969), “Quebracho” (1974), “Girl with the Golden Panties” (1979), “Funny Dirty Little War” (1983), “Noches sin lunas ni soles” (1984) and “The Plague” (1992). One of his last roles was the bullfighter Juan Belmonte in the film “Belmonte” (1995).

Murúa died on 3 December 1995 in Madrid.