Argentine film and theater great Luis Brandoni dies at 86

Argentine cinema, theater and television legend Luis Brandoni has died at the age of 86, his friend and producer Carlos Rottemberg announced Monday on X.

Brandoni's body will be taken to the Buenos Aires legislature to lie in state on Monday afternoon. He was admitted to hospital on April 11 after a fall at home that caused a brain-bleed.

He starred in dozens of films over the course of a prolific career from 1966 to 2026 - including the historically-based "Rebellion in Patagonia" (1974), the Academy Award-nominated slice-of-life tale "The Truce" (1974), the tragic "Juan, Who Once Laughed" (1976), the medical drama "Realization" (1984), the family comedy "Waiting for the Hearse" (1985), the tale of exile "Made in Argentina" (1987), the political dramas "There Are Some Guys Downstairs" (1985) and "The Lost Steps" (2001), and the dark humor tale "The Weasel's Tale" (2019).

He also lit up the stage with hugely successful plays such as "Conversations with My Mother" and "Parque Lezama," and in the 2023 Hulu series "Nothing" with longtime friend Robert de Niro.

Political drama

Brandoni and his wife - fellow actor Marta Bianchi - were detained and tortured during the fascist last dictatorship in July 1976. They were, they later learned, freed only thanks to the intervention of Federal Police Chief Arturo Corbetta - who was a fan.

Long affiliated with the centrist UCR, Brandoni was elected to Congress for one term in 1997. He lurched steadily to the right in his later years however - to the point of resigning in 2017 from the Argentine Actors Association, which he joined in 1962 and led from 1974 until his 1976-83 exile, over political differences.

Brandoni, they alleged, "undid with his elbow what he had written with his hand," and "acts in a way that serves the principles and economic interests that gave rise to the dictatorship."

A staunch supporter of right-wing President Mauricio Macri during his disastrous 2015-19 tenure, Brandoni was widely rebuked in 2019 for denying that the fascist 1976 coup was, in fact, "a coup."

At: https://www.caledonianrecord.com/news/national/argentine-film-and-theater-great-luis-brandoni-dies-at-86/article_bcda64e6-3d4e-577b-8bac-5a1d1ede4f83.html

Veteran Argentine actor Luis Brandoni and the legendary Robert de Niro co-star in 2023 Disney+ series "Nothing."

Brandoni, one of Argentina's most acclaimed actors with over 100 film and tv acting credits in his 60-year career, ultimately alienated most of his colleagues with his vocal lurch to the right in later years.