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{{Short description|Cuban-born American writer and film director (1948–2023)}}
{{Multiple issues|{{BLP sources|date=July 2021}}
{{Multiple issues|{{sources|date=July 2021}}
{{Advert|date=July 2021}}
{{Advert|date=July 2021}}
{{Cleanup-rewrite|date=July 2021}}}}{{short description|Cuban American writer and film director (born 1948)}}{{Infobox person
{{Cleanup-rewrite|date=July 2021}}}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Leon Ichaso
| name = Leon Ichaso
| image = Publicity_Photo_of_Leon_Ichaso.jpg
⚫
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1948|08|03}}
| birth_place = Havana, Cuba
| caption = Publicity Photo of Leon Ichaso
⚫
| birth_date = {{birth date|1948|08|03}}
| birth_place = [[Havana]], [[Republic of Cuba (1902–1959)|Cuba]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|2023|05|21|1948|08|03}}
| death_place = [[Santa Monica, California]], U.S.
}}
}}

'''Leon Ichaso''' (born August 3, 1948) is a [[Cuban American|Cuban-American]] writer and film director. Some prominent works of his include [[El Super]], Bitter Sugar, and others.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/29/movies/29ojit.html The Scorsese of Salseros in New York.] New York Times 29 July 2007. Retrieved 10 July 2011.</ref> <ref>{{Cite web |title=Leon Ichaso - Rotten Tomatoes |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/leon_ichaso |access-date=2022-08-19 |website=www.rottentomatoes.com |language=en}}</ref>
'''Leon Ichaso''' (August 3, 1948 – May 21, 2023) was a Cuban-born American writer and film director. Some of his prominent works included ''[[El Super]]'', ''[[Crossover Dreams]]'', ''[[Azúcar Amarga|Bitter Sugar]],'' ''[[Piñero]]'', and ''[[El Cantante]]''.<ref name=Ojito>{{Cite news |last=Ojito |first=Mirta |date=2007-07-29 |title=The Scorsese of Salseros in New York |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/29/movies/29ojit.html |access-date=2011-07-10 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Leon Ichaso - Rotten Tomatoes |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/leon_ichaso |access-date=2022-08-19 |website=www.rottentomatoes.com |language=en}}</ref><ref name=Genzlinger>{{Cite news |last=Genzlinger |first=Neil |date=2023-05-24 |title=Leon Ichaso, Whose Films Explored Latino Identity, Dies at 74|language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/23/movies/leon-ichaso-dead.html |access-date=2023-05-24 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>Baugh, Scott L. "Ichaso, Leon (1948–)." ''Latino American Cinema: An Encyclopedia of Movies, Stars, Concepts, and Trends.'' Greenwood, 2012, pp. 134-135. {{isbn|0313380368}}</ref>


==Biography==
==Biography==
===Early life===
===Early life===
Leon Ichaso was born in [[Havana|Havana, Cuba]], on August 3, 1948.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Leon Ichaso|url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0406687/bio|access-date=2021-07-15|website=IMDb}}</ref> Ichaso migrated to [[Mexico]] at the age of 14 and then to the [[United States]] with his mother, Antonia Ichaso, and sister, Mari Rodriguez Ichaso. His father initially stayed behind in Cuba to support the [[Cuban Revolution]].{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}} Five years later, Ichaso's father joined his family in [[New York City|New York]].{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}}
Leon Ichaso was born in [[Havana|Havana, Cuba]] on August 3, 1948.<ref name=IMDb>{{Cite web|title=Leon Ichaso|url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0406687/bio|access-date=2021-07-15|website=IMDb}}</ref> Ichaso migrated to [[Mexico]] at the age of 14, then to the [[United States]] with his mother Antonia Ichaso and sister Mari Rodriguez Ichaso. His father, poet and journalist Justo Rodriguez Santos, who had affiliations with the ''Orígenes'' literary group, initially stayed behind in Cuba to support the [[Cuban Revolution]].<ref name=Ojito/><ref name=Genzlinger/><ref>Fernández de Cano, J. R. [https://www.mcnbiografias.com/app-bio/do/show?key=rodriguez-santos-justo "Rodríguez Santos, Justo (1915-1999)."] ''MCNBiografias.com.'' Retrieved 4 July 2023.</ref> Five years later, Ichaso's father joined his family in [[New York City]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ojito |first=Mirta |date=2007-07-30 |title=Leon Ichaso captures the poetry of Latin New York in new film |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/30/arts/30iht-salsa.1.6893095.html |access-date=2022-12-26 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>


===Career===
===Career===
As a director, Leon Ichaso's first movie was the Spanish-language feature ''[[El Super]]'' (1979), based on an [[Off-Broadway]] play about an immigrant building superintendent trying to make his way in New York City.{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}}
As a director, Leon Ichaso's first movie was the Spanish-language feature ''[[El Super]]'' (1979), based on an [[Off-Broadway]] play about an immigrant building superintendent trying to make his way in New York, which he co-directed with Orlando Jiménez Leal.<ref>{{Cite web |last=ctosadmin |date=1970-01-01 |title=Ichaso, Leon |url=https://cubansinamerica.us/prominent-cuban-americans/art-entertainment/leon-ichaso/ |access-date=2022-12-26 |website=Cubans in America |language=es}}</ref>


When entering the [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]] scene, Ichaso told stories of the big city slotted into action series' on TV (e.g., ''Miami Vice'', ''Crime Story'', ''The Equalizer'') and TV movies as ''[[The Fear Inside (film)|The Fear Inside]]'', ''The Take'', ''A Table at Ciro's'' and ''A Kiss to Die For''. Ichaso later directed Wesley Snipes's ''[[Sugar Hill (1994 film)|Sugar Hill]]'' (1994), a character study wedded to a violent crime drama of a New York drug empire.{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}}
When entering the [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]] scene, Ichaso told stories of the big city slotted into action series on TV (e.g., ''Miami Vice'', ''Crime Story'', ''The Equalizer'') and TV movies such as ''[[The Fear Inside (film)|The Fear Inside]]'', ''The Take'', ''A Table at Ciro's'' and ''A Kiss to Die For''. Ichaso later directed Wesley Snipes's ''[[Sugar Hill (1994 film)|Sugar Hill]]'' (1994), a character study wedded to a violent crime drama of a New York drug empire.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Leon Ichaso |url=http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/91689%7C0/Leon-Ichaso |access-date=2022-12-26 |website=www.tcm.com |language=en}}</ref>


Ichaso made ''[[Azúcar Amarga]]'' (''Bitter Sugar''), a Spanish language film about a disillusioned Cuban Communist, in the [[Dominican Republic]] and [[Cuba]] in 1996.<ref>Gonzalez, David. [https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/16/nyregion/as-a-movie-about-cuba-resurfaces-so-do-a-filmmakers-thoughts-of-his-homeland.html#:~:text=Thirty%20years%20ago%2C%20Leon%20Ichaso,as%20an%20ambitious%20salsa%20singer. "Filmmaker Won't Weep for the Cuba He Left Behind."] ''New York Times'', 16 Mar. 2015, p. A16(L). Retrieved 2023-07-04.</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1964-03-08 |title=Disillusioned And Defiant; Fidel Castro & Company, Inc.: Communist Tyranny in Cuba. By Manuel Urrutia Lléo. 217 pp. New York: Frederick A. Praeger. $5.95. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/03/08/archives/disillusioned-and-defiant-fidel-castro-company-inc-communist.html |access-date=2022-12-26 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> According to César A. Salgado, "the film registers the impact, at the human level, of neoliberal globalization on a Cuba made harrowingly vulnerable after losing the Soviet subsidies that had made its brand of socialism more or less sustainable for thirty years."<ref>Salgado, César A. [https://cubacounterpoints.com/archives/2091.html "Why We Should Watch Bitter Sugar Again Today."] ''Cuba Counterpoints'', 10 September 2015. Retrieved 2023-07-04.</ref>
In the [[Dominican Republic]] and [[Cuba]] in 1996, Ichaso made ''[[Azúcar Amarga]]'' (''Bitter Sugar''), a Spanish language film about a disillusioned Cuban Communist.{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}}


For the next several years, Ichaso worked on several TV movies, some of which were adaptations of plays. ''Zooman'' (Showtime, 1995) was an adaptation of an Off-Broadway play dealing with a family coping with the murder of child.{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}} ''Execution of Justice'' (Showtime, 1999) was also derived from a play, which detailed the events behind the murders of San Francisco mayor [[George Moscone]] and supervisor [[Harvey Milk]].{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}}
For the next several years, Ichaso worked on several TV movies, some of which were adaptations of plays. ''Zooman'' (Showtime, 1995) was an adaptation of an Off-Broadway play dealing with a family coping with the murder of a child.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Leon Ichaso |url=http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/91689%7C0/Leon-Ichaso |access-date=2022-12-26 |website=www.tcm.com |language=en}}</ref> ''Execution of Justice'' (Showtime, 1999) was also derived from a [[Execution of Justice|play]] of the same name by [[Emily Mann (director)|Emily Mann]] which detailed the events behind the murders of San Francisco mayor, George Moscone, and supervisor, [[Harvey Milk]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Henry |first=Carmel |title=A Brief History of Civil Rights in the United States |url=https://library.law.howard.edu/civilrightshistory/lgbtq/harveymilk |access-date=2022-12-26 |website=library.law.howard.edu |language=en}}</ref>


Ichaso next directed small screen biographies ''Ali: An American Hero'' (Fox, 2000) and ''Hendrix'' (Showtime, 2000). He later wrote and directed ''[[Piñero]]'' (2001), a biographical movie about the life of Puerto Rican author [[Miguel Piñero]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Leon Ichaso|url=https://www.imdb.com/filmosearch?role=nm0406687&job_type=director|access-date=2021-07-15|website=IMDb|language=en}}</ref>
Ichaso next directed small screen biographies ''[[Ali: An American Hero]]'' (Fox, 2000) and ''[[Hendrix (film)|Hendrix]]'' (Showtime, 2000). He later wrote and directed ''[[Piñero]]'' (2001), a biographical movie about the life of [[Nuyorican]] author [[Miguel Piñero]].<ref name=IMDb/>


After working again for Showtime (''[[Sleeper Cell (TV series)|Sleeper Cell]]'', 2005), ''Cane'', ''[[The Cleaner (American TV series)|The Cleaner]]'' (A&E), ''Persons Unknown'' (Fox/Televisa 2008 and 2009), developing his own future projects ("Monk"), and teaching movie directing in France, in 2004, Ichaso started working on the screenplay of salsa singer [[Héctor Lavoe]]'s biography, ''[[El Cantante]]''. This movie was shot in 2006 and stars [[Jennifer Lopez]] and [[Marc Anthony]].{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}}
After working for Showtime (''[[Sleeper Cell (TV series)|Sleeper Cell]]'', 2005), ''Cane'', ''[[The Cleaner (American TV series)|The Cleaner]]'' (A&E), ''Persons Unknown'' (Fox/Televisa 2008 and 2009), developing his own future projects ("Monk"), and teaching movie directing in France, Ichaso started working on the screenplay of salsa singer, [[Héctor Lavoe]]'s, biography, ''[[El Cantante]]'' in 2004. This movie was shot in 2006 and stars [[Jennifer Lopez]] and [[Marc Anthony]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-08-03 |title=Jennifer Lopez reveals what she really thinks of ex Marc Anthony amid Ben Affleck wedding |url=https://www.hellomagazine.com/celebrities/20220803147233/jennifer-lopez-really-thinks-ex-marc-anthony-ben-affleck-wedding/ |access-date=2022-12-26 |website=HELLO! |language=en}}</ref>


His last movie ''Paraiso'', filmed in Miami in 2008, opened during the 2009 Miami International Film Festival in March 2009.{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}}
His last movie ''Paraiso'', was filmed in Miami in 2008 and opened during the 2009 Miami International Film Festival in March 2009.<ref>{{Citation |last=Ichaso |first=Leon |title=Paraiso |date=2009-03-11 |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1351790/ |type=Thriller |publisher=Camino Verde Films |access-date=2023-02-17}}</ref>

===Death===
Ichaso died of a heart attack in Santa Monica, California, on May 21, 2023.<ref name=Genzlinger/> He had successfully beaten cancer two years prior.<ref>{{cite web | title=Muere el cineasta León Ichaso a los 74 años | website=People en Español | date=22 May 2023 | url=https://peopleenespanol.com/celebridades/muere-leon-ichaso-director-cubano/ | language=es | access-date=22 May 2023}}</ref>

== Filmography ==

León Ichaso directed numerous full-length films, including films made for television. This is a partial list.

{| class="wikitable"
|+Directed features
! Year
! Title
! Distributor
|-
| 1979
| ''[[El Super]]''
| (unknown)
|-
| 1985
| ''[[Crossover Dreams]]''
| [[New Yorker Films]]
|-
| 1992
| ''[[The Fear Inside (film)|The Fear Inside]]''
| [[Viacom Productions]]
|-
| 1994
| ''[[Sugar Hill (1994 film)|Sugar Hill]]''
| [[20th Century Fox]]
|-
| 1996
| ''[[Azúcar Amarga]]''
| (unknown)
|-
| 2000
| ''[[Ali: An American Hero]]''
| [[ Fox Television Studios]]
|-
| 2000
| ''[[Hendrix (film)|Hendrix]]''
| [[MGM Television]]
|-
| 2001
| ''[[Piñero]]''
| [[Miramax Films]]
|-
| 2006
| ''[[El Cantante]]''
| [[Picturehouse (company)|Picturehouse]]
|}


==References==
==References==
Line 34: Line 91:


{{Leon Ichaso}}
{{Leon Ichaso}}

{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ichaso, Leon}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ichaso, Leon}}
[[Category:1948 births]]
[[Category:1948 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:2023 deaths]]
[[Category:American film directors]]
[[Category:Film directors from California]]
[[Category:American television directors]]
[[Category:American television directors]]
[[Category:American people of Cuban descent]]
[[Category:American people of Cuban descent]]
[[Category:People from Havana]]
[[Category:People from Havana]]
[[Category: Cuban expatriates in Mexico]]
[[Category:Cuban expatriates in Mexico]]

Latest revision as of 01:48, 20 August 2024

Leon Ichaso
Publicity Photo of Leon Ichaso
Born(1948-08-03)August 3, 1948
Havana, Cuba
DiedMay 21, 2023(2023-05-21) (aged 74)
Santa Monica, California, U.S.

Leon Ichaso (August 3, 1948 – May 21, 2023) was a Cuban-born American writer and film director. Some of his prominent works included El Super, Crossover Dreams, Bitter Sugar, Piñero, and El Cantante.[1][2][3][4]

Biography

[edit]

Early life

[edit]

Leon Ichaso was born in Havana, Cuba on August 3, 1948.[5] Ichaso migrated to Mexico at the age of 14, then to the United States with his mother Antonia Ichaso and sister Mari Rodriguez Ichaso. His father, poet and journalist Justo Rodriguez Santos, who had affiliations with the Orígenes literary group, initially stayed behind in Cuba to support the Cuban Revolution.[1][3][6] Five years later, Ichaso's father joined his family in New York City.[7]

Career

[edit]

As a director, Leon Ichaso's first movie was the Spanish-language feature El Super (1979), based on an Off-Broadway play about an immigrant building superintendent trying to make his way in New York, which he co-directed with Orlando Jiménez Leal.[8]

When entering the Hollywood scene, Ichaso told stories of the big city slotted into action series on TV (e.g., Miami Vice, Crime Story, The Equalizer) and TV movies such as The Fear Inside, The Take, A Table at Ciro's and A Kiss to Die For. Ichaso later directed Wesley Snipes's Sugar Hill (1994), a character study wedded to a violent crime drama of a New York drug empire.[9]

Ichaso made Azúcar Amarga (Bitter Sugar), a Spanish language film about a disillusioned Cuban Communist, in the Dominican Republic and Cuba in 1996.[10][11] According to César A. Salgado, "the film registers the impact, at the human level, of neoliberal globalization on a Cuba made harrowingly vulnerable after losing the Soviet subsidies that had made its brand of socialism more or less sustainable for thirty years."[12]

For the next several years, Ichaso worked on several TV movies, some of which were adaptations of plays. Zooman (Showtime, 1995) was an adaptation of an Off-Broadway play dealing with a family coping with the murder of a child.[13] Execution of Justice (Showtime, 1999) was also derived from a play of the same name by Emily Mann which detailed the events behind the murders of San Francisco mayor, George Moscone, and supervisor, Harvey Milk.[14]

Ichaso next directed small screen biographies Ali: An American Hero (Fox, 2000) and Hendrix (Showtime, 2000). He later wrote and directed Piñero (2001), a biographical movie about the life of Nuyorican author Miguel Piñero.[5]

After working for Showtime (Sleeper Cell, 2005), Cane, The Cleaner (A&E), Persons Unknown (Fox/Televisa 2008 and 2009), developing his own future projects ("Monk"), and teaching movie directing in France, Ichaso started working on the screenplay of salsa singer, Héctor Lavoe's, biography, El Cantante in 2004. This movie was shot in 2006 and stars Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony.[15]

His last movie Paraiso, was filmed in Miami in 2008 and opened during the 2009 Miami International Film Festival in March 2009.[16]

Death

[edit]

Ichaso died of a heart attack in Santa Monica, California, on May 21, 2023.[3] He had successfully beaten cancer two years prior.[17]

Filmography

[edit]

León Ichaso directed numerous full-length films, including films made for television. This is a partial list.

Directed features
Year Title Distributor
1979 El Super (unknown)
1985 Crossover Dreams New Yorker Films
1992 The Fear Inside Viacom Productions
1994 Sugar Hill 20th Century Fox
1996 Azúcar Amarga (unknown)
2000 Ali: An American Hero Fox Television Studios
2000 Hendrix MGM Television
2001 Piñero Miramax Films
2006 El Cantante Picturehouse

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Ojito, Mirta (2007-07-29). "The Scorsese of Salseros in New York". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2011-07-10.
  2. ^ "Leon Ichaso - Rotten Tomatoes". www.rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved 2022-08-19.
  3. ^ a b c Genzlinger, Neil (2023-05-24). "Leon Ichaso, Whose Films Explored Latino Identity, Dies at 74". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-05-24.
  4. ^ Baugh, Scott L. "Ichaso, Leon (1948–)." Latino American Cinema: An Encyclopedia of Movies, Stars, Concepts, and Trends. Greenwood, 2012, pp. 134-135. ISBN 0313380368
  5. ^ a b "Leon Ichaso". IMDb. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
  6. ^ Fernández de Cano, J. R. "Rodríguez Santos, Justo (1915-1999)." MCNBiografias.com. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
  7. ^ Ojito, Mirta (2007-07-30). "Leon Ichaso captures the poetry of Latin New York in new film". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-12-26.
  8. ^ ctosadmin (1970-01-01). "Ichaso, Leon". Cubans in America (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-12-26.
  9. ^ "Leon Ichaso". www.tcm.com. Retrieved 2022-12-26.
  10. ^ Gonzalez, David. "Filmmaker Won't Weep for the Cuba He Left Behind." New York Times, 16 Mar. 2015, p. A16(L). Retrieved 2023-07-04.
  11. ^ "Disillusioned And Defiant; Fidel Castro & Company, Inc.: Communist Tyranny in Cuba. By Manuel Urrutia Lléo. 217 pp. New York: Frederick A. Praeger. $5.95". The New York Times. 1964-03-08. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-12-26.
  12. ^ Salgado, César A. "Why We Should Watch Bitter Sugar Again Today." Cuba Counterpoints, 10 September 2015. Retrieved 2023-07-04.
  13. ^ "Leon Ichaso". www.tcm.com. Retrieved 2022-12-26.
  14. ^ Henry, Carmel. "A Brief History of Civil Rights in the United States". library.law.howard.edu. Retrieved 2022-12-26.
  15. ^ "Jennifer Lopez reveals what she really thinks of ex Marc Anthony amid Ben Affleck wedding". HELLO!. 2022-08-03. Retrieved 2022-12-26.
  16. ^ Ichaso, Leon (2009-03-11), Paraiso (Thriller), Camino Verde Films, retrieved 2023-02-17
  17. ^ "Muere el cineasta León Ichaso a los 74 años". People en Español (in Spanish). 22 May 2023. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
[edit]
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