Argentine actor Lito Cruz died yesterday at the age of 76 years in Buenos Aires due to unknown the causes. He had a prolific and influential acting career, having performed in over 40 feature films, in addition to numerous television series, and theater plays.
Born Oscar Alberto Cruz on May 14, 1941, in Berisso, province of Buenos Aires, he started acting at the early age of 15. He moved to Buenos Aires to study Architecture, while working in independent theater groups. His film debut came in the late sixties with two films that ended up in the official competition for the Palm d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in two consecutive years: Invasión by Hugo del Carril in 1969, and Don Segundo Sombra by Manuel Antín the following year.
In the mid-seventies—as Argentina was struggling with its militar dictatorship—he received a scholarship from the U.S. Department of State to attend Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio in New York City, which was followed by a fellowship by the Gulbenkian Foundation to study drama at the University of Porto in Portugal.
He participated in 45 films total including Pino Solanas' Sur, the chronicle of the lives of a working-class neighborhood during Argentina's dictatorship which won the Best Director Award at the 1988 edition of the Cannes Film Festival; Adolfo Aristaráin's A Place in the World / Un lugar en el mundo, winner of the Golden Shell for Best Film at the 1992 San Sebastian Film Festival; Aníbal Di Salvo and José María Paolantonio's The Angry Toy / El juguete rabioso in 1998; and Fito Páez's Private Lives / Vidas privadas opposite Mexican actor Gael García Bernal in 2001.
His last on-screen credit was in Mauricio Brunetti's period horror film The Innocents / Los inocentes in 2016.
