Javier Portales, born Miguel Ángel Álvarez (21 April 1937 in Tancacha, Córdoba,

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

– 14 October 2003 in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

), was an

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, ...

actor who worked in television, film and theater.

Biography

Portales started to work early in life in the theater, then moved to television on a program that dealt with the troubles a group of young people had in high-school in ''"Quinto Año Nacional"'' by

Abel Santa Cruz Abel Santa Cruz (1915 – February 4, 1995, in Buenos Aires) was an Argentine screenwriter who is credited for writing nearly 130 films spanning seven decades of Argentine cinema. Santa Cruz first wrote the script for a film, ''Un Señor mucamo ...

. it was in 1964 when his career took an important turn when he was hired for the hit comedy ''"Operación Ja-Já"'', where he joined several established comic actors such as Fidel Pintos,

Juan Carlos Altavista Juan Carlos Altavista (January 4, 1929 in Buenos Aires – July 20, 1989) was an Argentine actor and comedian. Life Juan Carlos Altavista began his career at Teatro Infantil Labarden,Labarden children's theatre in Buenos Aires. Afterwards he le ...

, Adolfo García Grau and

Jorge Porcel Jorge Raúl Porcel de Peralta (; 7 September 1936 – 16 May 2006), known as Jorge Porcel, was an Argentine comedy actor and television host. He was nicknamed ''El Gordo de América'' (''America's Fat Guy''). Porcel is considered, along with A ...

. It was in that program that he met his future television friend and colleague

Alberto Olmedo Alberto Olmedo (24 August 1933 – 5 March 1988) was an Argentine comedian and actor, popularly regarded as one of the most important comedians in the history of his country, for his outstanding work in television, cinema and theater. Olmedo ...

. He did some work in film, starring in 1962 in ''

Una Jaula no tiene secretos ''Una jaula no tiene secretos'' (''A Cage Has No Secrets'') is a 1962 Spanish-Argentine comedy film directed by Agustín Navarro. The script was written by Raúl Gurruchaga The movie premiered on October 3, 1962. The movie won the original scr ...

''. Portales and Olmedo, along with Porcel worked together in a series of successful projects for the movies and for the comedy theater and musicals, also in television, during the 1970s and 1980s. He achieve his highest success during the 1990s in the TV

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

s ''"Son de diez"'' and ''"Un hermano es un hermano"''. In his last years his health deteriorated and had to be in a wheelchair.

Theater work

Javier Portales wrote a play ''"La sartén por el mango"'', directed by

Manuel Antín Manuel Antín (born February 27, 1926) is an Argentine film director and screenwriter. Manuel Antín was born in Las Palmas, Chaco Province, in 1926. He first wrote for Argentine television in 1956 and made his directorial debut in 1962 with hi ...

. During the political turmoil of the military dictatorship in Argentina this play was banned by the authorities. The play became a movie, with Claudio García Satur in the principal role, and with other renowned actors as Alberto Argibay and

Víctor Laplace Víctor Laplace (born 30 May 1943) is an Argentine film actor. Laplace was born in Tandil, Buenos Aires. The son of a watchmaking jeweler and a housewife. When he was 14, he started working as a metallurgist in a factory, there he also recited S ...

References

External links

* Argentine male film actors Argentine male television actors Argentine male stage actors 1937 births 2003 deaths Burials at La Chacarita Cemetery 20th-century Argentine male actors {{Argentina-actor-stub