Acting

Carlos Baena

Carlos Baena was an extraordinary artist. Although he had had a part in a Mexican film when he was 22 years old, 1956 was a significant year: he had been studying drama in Madrid for five years, and he appeared in a big film production, Robert Rossen's "Alexander, the Great", first film version of the life of the ancient king of Macedon, filmed in Spain, and starring Richard Burton. By the time the film was released, he had returned to Mexico, where he became a prominent actor, starring in Alberto Gout's "Adán y Eva", also from 1956. Baena was also a theater director and a playwright. He directed big production of classics by Spanish writers, as Calderón de la Barca's tragedy "La vida es sueño" and Federico García Lorca's "La casa de Bernarda de Alba". Theater was his true love. He was a leading man in Mexican cinema, alternating with popular actors, such as Pedro Armendáriz, Ninón Sevilla, Marga López, Wolf Ruvinskis and Martha Mijares, but although he was in constant demand he left movies after completing 20 features, and relocated in the state of Nuevo León. Baena continued performing and directing theater, but he was also interested in art. He was a good friend of Miró, Tamayo and Dalí, and by the 70's he was a full-time artist and became a professor of Art at the Institute of Higher Technology of Monterrey, along with Giancarlo Von Nacher and Diamant Mihaloglou.