Amparo Baró

Born in Barcelona in 1937 to an Aragonese father and a Valencian mother, Amparo Baró San Martín began to study Philosophy and Letters. But she coincidentally sees the actress Asunción Sancho, one of the greats of the Spanish theater, performing “Six characters in search of an author”, by Luigi Pirandello . She is so fascinated that she decides that tables are her thing.

At the end of the 50s, he joined the company of the Windsor Theater in Barcelona, ​​participating in the plays that used to be starred by Adolfo Marsillach and his wife, Amparo Soler Leal . When they performed “Harvey” by Mary Chase , Soler Leal suffered an appendicitis attack, and Baró had her first great opportunity substituting her, dazzling those who saw her with her talent.

Another of his great successes was “La calumnia”, by Lillian Hellman , which he performed in Madrid under the orders of Cayetano Luca de Tena. She made her film debut with Rhapsody of Blood , by Antonio Isasi-Isasmendi , which recruits her again for Tierra de todos . In the 60s she lavished herself on the light films that were shot in Spain at that time, such as Margarita is called my love , The girl with the clover , I am 17 years old or Carola by day, Carola by night . On television she was one of the regular actresses of the prestigious program “Estudio 1”, which published well-known theatrical texts.

One day he was approached by a young man named Pedro Almodóvar , who offered him a role in Pepi, Luci, Bom y otras chicas del montón . But she found the film rude, and her character absurd, so she decided not to shoot the film. “I was shocked by the silliness and scatological tackiness it contained. I was an old woman,” recalls the actress. “If he came to me today with something similar, I wouldn’t have done it either, because I only do the scripts that I like.” Yes, she briefly participated in titles such as Cara de acelga , El bosque animado (1987) , Soldadito español , Las cosas del querer and Boca a boca .

After taking part in the series Farmacia de guardia , En plena forma and Juntas pero no revueltas , her role as Soledad Huete, better known as “Sole”, mother of Javier Cámara ‘s character , in 7 vidas , changed her life . A retired staunch communist, who went on to date Santiago Carrillo, and prone to stir up those around her, Sole became one of the most popular and long-lived characters in the series, and made Baró a celebrity.

Although the character for which she is best known is very much on the left, paradoxically in real life, Baró is one of the few celebrities on the Spanish screen who publicly defined herself as right-wing and supported the PP. For example, she was quite critical of the positive discrimination policy of the Zapatero government. “That they give me more than a man for doing the same thing is ridiculous, even offensive and absolutely indecent,” she came to say.

Her best film role was undoubtedly the wise old woman who asked “what is an old woman for?”, in Siete mesas de billar francés , by Gracia Querejeta , for which she received the Goya for Best Supporting Actress. She was also the governess of the center where the series El internado takes place . She also played Diego Peretti ‘s mother in the dramatic comedy Maktub , directed by former singer Paco Arango , which was her last feature film.