Amelia Bence
Amelia Bence was an Argentine film actress and one of the divas of the Golden Age of Argentine cinema during the 1930s and 1950s.
Born to Belarusian Jewish immigrants, Bence began her career at a young age, studying with Alfonsina Storni at the Lavardén Children's Theater and with Mecha Quintana at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música y Declamación. She made her film debut in 1933, in only the second sound film of Argentina, Dancing, by Luis Moglia Barth. Bence's acting in La guerra gaucha, one of the most important films in the history of Argentine cinema, gave her recognition and earned her leading role offers. She starred in films such as Los ojos más lindos del mundo, Todo un hombre, Camino del infierno, A sangre fría, La otra y yo and Danza del fuego, garnering the Best Actress award from the Argentine Academy of Cinematography Arts and Sciences for Todo un hombre, A sangre fría and Danza del fuego. Bence also won the Silver Condor Award for Best Actress for Lauracha, and her work was acknowledged with awards in Spain, Cuba, and the United States throughout the 1940s and 1950s.
Bence married Spanish actor Alberto Closas in 1950, and after their divorce in 1955 she was in a relationship with Osvaldo Cattone in the 1960s. From 1952 to 1954, Bence was contracted by Reforma Films to film two movies in Mexico and earned high praise for her starring role in Alfonsina, which was selected as the Argentine entry for the Berlin International Film Festival and won her an award from the Argentina Film Academy. She developed an extensive theater career in the 1960s, starring in works like "La dama del trébol", "Así es la vida", "Maribel y la extraña familia" and "El proceso de Mary Duggan".
From 1973 to 1976, she completed a long tour of Latin America and featured in "La valija" at the Gramercy Arts Theater in New York City, which earned her an Association of Latin Entertainment Critics Award for Best Foreign Actress. Bence's characterizations in "Doña Rosita, la soltera" and "La loba" in the United States and Peru were very successful.
During the last stage of her career, she acted in several television productions, including series such as Romina, Bianca and Las 24 horas.
In 1989, she received the Silver Condor for Lifetime Achievement Award, and later won awards in the same category at the Podesta Awards in 1992 and by the National Endowment for the Arts in 1997.
Between 1996 and 2010, she appeared in several theaters with her show "Alfonsina", which combined music and poetry. After a career spanning eight decades in entertainment, she retired in 2010.
Biography
Early life
María Amelia Batvinik was born on 13 November 1914 in Buenos Aires, the youngest of seven children to Belarusian Jewish immigrants, Jaime Batvinik from Minsk, and Ana Zaguer from Pinsk. From an early age, she was drawn to acting and began performing alongside other neighborhood children in the courtyards of their homes. That was how she met Paulina Singerman, a neighbor, who suggested to Bence's mother that the child be enrolled in the Lavardén Children's Theater, operating in the Teatro Colón. At the age of five, she officially debuted, encouraged by the sisters Paulina and Berta Singerman, in poet Alfonsina Storni's work, "Juanita".Bence recalled that the performance was not without mishap, as she accidentally swallowed a postage stamp she was to place on an envelope; she was distraught, but Storni praised the way she handled the situation. She completed her primary school studies at the Escuela General Roca, while simultaneously studying piano with her sister Esther at the Fontova Conservatory. From the age of ten, she worked as an elevator operator at Gath & Chaves. In her free time, she worked in an acting group led by Pedro Aleandro, the brother of Ben Molar, where she participated in the play Las campanas by Julio Sánchez Gardel.
Despite the opposition of her family to acting, Bence convinced her mother to let her continue studying. Due to no availability in the National Conservatory of Performing Arts, she decided to learn classical dance with Mecha Quintana at the National Conservatory of Music and Speech, where she briefly attended classes. Quintana assigned her a part in a ballet at the Opera Theatre of Musical Comedy "Wunder Bar", starring Armando and Enrique Discépolo. On one occasion, she filled-in for the star when the performer had an illness during the performance run.
Film and theater debuts
Bence's first film role was as an extra in a scene with Pedro Quartucci in Argentina's second sound film, Dancing, under the direction of Luis José Moglia Barth, who bestowed the stage name "Amelia Bence" on her. The film was a failure and did not have the same success as the first sound film ¡Tango!.The production had poor sound quality, audiences did not receive it well, and Bence was reluctant to include it in her filmography. She went back to the theater and began working under the direction of Enrique Susini in his company at the Odéon Theater, performing in such works as "Tu boca, Superficies", "Los malos tiempos" and "Baile en el Savoy", which were musical comedies and vaudeville shows. In "Baile en el Savoy", Bence replaced the star, Amanda Varela, who became ill and shared the stage with Florencio Parravicini.
The play was one of her first successes, having over 100 performances. When its run ended at the Odéon, it was transferred to the Cine Monumental and re-released for several more weeks. She and Parravicini also starred in "Ocho en línea" at the Corrientes Theater, but the reviews were scathing. El Mundo reported that "the show seemed unrehearsed" but praised Bence saying, "Newcomer ..., managing with grace and efficiency". In "Conde de Chantenay", which had a short run due to Parravicini's health, Bence was rated by the press as "demure, competent and pleasant" and in "De mí no se ríe nadie", which was directed by León Zárate, she appeared in 200 performances.
In 1937, Bence took a more serious role in Luis Saslavsky's drama La fuga, in which she supported Tita Merello and Santiago Arrieta. The performance earned Bence a contract with Olegario Ferrando at Pampa Film and three other film roles. After a long theatrical season with Luis Arata and inconsequential participation in El forastero, she filmed La vuelta al nido with José Gola. Bence defined the film as "one of the best of our cinema ... A simple and profound story ... very intimate, full of sensitive details ... it was not understood by critics or the public at the time".
File:Amelia-Arias.jpg|thumb|right|Bence with Pepe Arias in El haragán de la familia
In 1938, Leopoldo Torres Ríos gave Bence her first starring role in film in Adiós Buenos Aires, where she played a showgirl "Luisita" living a bohemian life. In November 1938, she attracted the attention of the public and press when she starred in the play Mujeres at the Smart Theatre, located on Avenida Corrientes. The play was written by American writer and actress Clare Boothe Luce and also starred Mecha Ortiz. In one of the scenes, Bence appeared bathing in a tub full of foam. She said: "I wore nylon mesh, it was very modest but, as was logical, it did not go unnoticed. I had a very big impact as a result of that scene ... so much so that, the Teatro Maipo ... made a parody of it". The work was described as "original, fresh, and modern", reaching 250 performances. It was revived at the Teatro Fénix de Flores.
Recognition and "The Gaucho War"
In the wake of her successful theatrical season, Bence filmed El matrero in Tucumán Province, in which she played "Pontezuela", a girl who falls in love with the character of Agustín Irusta, is accused of a crime and is rejected by her father. She won praise for her performance, and was hired to an exclusive three-year contract by Miguel Machinandiarena, who had just formed San Miguel Studios, which would soon become the largest studio in Argentina. Bence was hired to star opposite Tito Lusiardo in Antonio Momplet's Novios para las muchachas, a comedy adapted from the play "Las de Caín". That same year she starred in Carlos F. Borcosque's La casa de los cuervos, based on a novel by Hugo Wast, which won her the Premios Sur for Best Actress from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of Argentina.In early 1942, Bence filmed El tercer beso, directed by Luis César Amadori and co-starring Pedro López Lagar and Silvia Legrand. Though Bence was concerned about playing the mother of Legrand, who was only 13 years younger than she was, the film was a success and she won her the Silver Condor Award for Best Actress from the Argentine Film Critics Association for the performance. The recognition led to her appearance frequently on the covers of magazines, and to an offer to appear in what would become one of the most important films in the history of Argentine cinema, La guerra gaucha. The film starred Bence and Sebastián Chiola, Ángel Magaña, Enrique Muiño, and Francisco Petrone and is set at the turn of the nineteenth century in northern Argentina. It was shot on location in Salta Province and was based on the novel of the same name by writer Leopoldo Lugones. Scriptwriters Hómero Manzi and Ulises Petit de Murat, wove the disparate stories of the characters into an overview of the gauchos' revolt against Spanish rule. The film, unlike Hollywood Westerns, neither portrayed colonization as progress, nor focused the action on the indigenous people, instead focusing on the patriotic pride of the gauchos. The film won seven awards and Bence won an award as best actress of the year from the City of Buenos Aires. It also earned her an offer from Paramount Pictures to come to the US and work in Hollywood, but she declined the offer.