Mirtha Legrand
Mirtha Legrand | |
|---|---|
| File:MirtaLegrand1may1981.jpg | |
| Born | Rosa María Juana Martínez |
| Spouse | Daniel Tinayre (1946-1994) |
Rosa María Juana Martínez, better known by the stage name Mirtha Legrand (Born February 23, 1927 in Villa Cañás, Santa Fe Province) is an Argentine actress and television personality.
Biography
Early life
The future Mirtha Legrand was born in Villa Cañás, a town in the province of Santa Fe located some 200 km from the provincial capital, Rosario. Her parents were both Spanish immigrants, her father the owner of a bookstore and her mother a schoolteacher. In 1934 her parents separated. Her mother relocated to Rosario to ensure a better education for her three children, while her father remained in Villa Cañás.
In Rosario, Rosa María Juana and her twin sister María Aurelia took basic courses at the Municipal Theater. After the death of their father in 1936, the family relocated permanently to Buenos Aires, to the barrio of La Paternal. There they lived in poverty, mitigated by sporadic employment, until in 1939 the sisters were offered small roles in a film starring Niní Marshall which would be released in 1940 under the title Hay que educar a Niní.
The Martínez sisters' next film together was Novios para las muchachas in 1941. Mirtha's first leading role came later that year in Los martes, orquídeas. The same year her mother would be contacted by a well-known film industry figure, Ricardo Cerebello, who offered to represent the sisters. It was Cerebello who devised the stage names Mirtha and Silvia Legrand.
The success of Los martes, orquídeas led Lumiton Studios, one of the most important studios of the era, to sign Mirtha to a five-year contract. One of the films in which she took part during that time was Safo, historia de una pasión, the first Argentine film from which minors were banned. During the same period, Mirtha and Silvia hosted El club de la amistad for Radio Splendid.
Marriage
In 1945 Mirtha Legrand met the French-born filmmaker Daniel Tinayre. They were married on May 18, 1946, when Mirtha was nineteen years old and Tinayre thirty-six. The young actress, who saw her marriage as a means by which she could escape poverty, was already sufficiently famous that Radiolandia, a gossip magazine, secured exclusive rights to the details of her wedding. With Tinayre she had two children, Marcela Tinayre and Daniel Jr.
After her wedding came her greatest roles, most notably La vendedora de fantasías (1950), directed by her husband. In 1955 she appeared in El amor nunca muere alongside two other great actresses of the time, Tita Merello and Zully Moreno. In 1957 she made her first entry into theater, and made her television debut a year later with the programs M ama a M and Los enredos de Mariana, both on Canal 7. Between 1961 and 1962 she filmed Bajo un mismo rostro, in which she delivered what she considered her best performance. In 1965 she appeared in Con gusto a rabia, the last film in which she appeared.
Almorzando con Mirtha Legrand
Following the death of her mother Rosa, Legrand withdrew from public life for several months. In 1968, the director of Canal 9, Alejandro Romay, offered her her own show, Almorzando con las estrellas ("Lunching with the stars"). It was an immediate ratings success. Each show followed a similar format, in which Legrand would sit down for "lunch" with a table of celebrity guests, mostly of the sort featured by the gossip magazines. The name soon changed to Almorzando con Mirtha Legrand as the hostess gained renown. The guest list also began to include politicians as well as entertainers.
For many years the program was carried by Canal 7, but as of 2007 is broadcast by América TV. Its presence on air has not been uninterrupted, however. During the administration of Raúl Alfonsín, the program temporarily ceased production. Following the death on September 22, 1994 of Daniel Tinayre, who had been the show's producer, it was widely supposed that Legrand would end the program and, effectively, retire from public life. However, she chose to continue the program, with one of her husband's associates serving as producer. Following the death of her son years later, the program went on another brief hiatus.
In recent years the program has oriented itself more markedly towards politics, with respect to which Legrand claimed to be "beyond good and evil". She is known for making impudent remarks in interviews with politicians, as when in an interview with newly elected president Néstor Kirchner, she suggested that "Some say the lefties are making a comeback with you." As a result of her abrasive style, many politicians have chosen to avoid her show in recent years. She is controversial for her past support of military governments, such as that of Jorge Rafael Videla.
Legrand confirmed that she would retire from television in 2008, after completing the fortieth year of hosting the program. However, she said that she did not wish to "retire totally", but to move behind the cameras as a director or producer.