Alvarez Guedes

Alvarez Guedes - Topic

Guillermo Álvarez Guedes was a Cuban comedian, actor, writer & businessman. He was better known across Latin America as Álvarez Guedes.
Alvarez Guedes was born in Unión de Reyes, Matanzas, a town from where, according to a popular song, hails a legendary and probably fictional rumba king called Malanga. His showbiz career began in his hometown. There, since childhood, he would entertain crowds at parties and fairs by dancing and singing. It was natural that he would travel to Havana, not just the country's capital but a known entertainment center. In Havana, he worked in theaters and radio shows. But it was in the new medium of television, of which Cuba was the Latin American pioneer, where he made his mark. In a city known for its nightclub scene, Alvarez Guedes appeared in popular television shows that were set in bars and clubs in the role of el borracho, the drunkard, where he mixed linguistic humor with a physical comic style reminiscent of American silent movie stars like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. He worked in this medium, as well as the booming club world of 1950s Havana, where he shared billing with such stars as Beny Moré, Olga Guillot and Rita Montaner.