Mario Almada (actor)

Mario Almada
Mario Almada in January 2014
Born	Mario Almada Otero (1922-01-07)January 7, 1922 Huatabampo, Sonora, Mexico
Died	October 4, 2016(2016-10-04) (aged 94) Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico
Nationality	Mexican
Occupation	Actor/Film producer
Years active	1935–2016

Mario Almada Otero (January 7, 1922 – October 4, 2016) was a Mexican actor with a career lasting over seven decades. He appeared in over 300 films. He was most known for his roles in urban westerns and action pictures. He was the brother of actor Fernando Almada.

Almada was born in Huatabampo, Sonora. Apart from acting he was also a director, writer and film producer. He began his artistic career in Mexico during the 1930s. He has appeared in over 200 films, with his first being Madre Querida in 1935. In this film he acted alongside his brother Fernando as children as an extra. He would not appear in another film again until a few decades later.

Almada moved from his home city of Huatabampo to Ciudad Obregón and to Guadalajara, Jalisco, where he lived for many years until he settled down in Mexico City. Almada was born to a family connected to the film industry, and was exposed to film shootings from an early age and, when he moved to Mexico City, he began working at a nightclub called Cabaret Master that was owned by his father.

When his brother Fernando decided to take up acting, Mario decided to become a film producer. He wrote his first film script in 1963. The Almada brothers had their own family-run production company that eventually dissolved due to financial troubles from lack of profit.

In 1965 Mario played the role of Bruno Rey in the film Los Jinetes de la Bruja, in which the Almada brothers produced and Fernando acted as protagonist. Rey was injured during the shooting and Mario agreed to take his place. At the end of the decade, Mario and Fernando were starting off as film protagonists in western films such as Emiliano Zapata. The following year (1969), Mario acted as protagonist alongside Julio Alemán. The film concerns a man (the Tunco Maclovio) who is haunted by the ghost of his friend Juan Mariscal, who died at the age of 15 from an accidental shooting by Tunco Maclovio. This film won him a Diosa de Plata as “Best Co-starring Actor”.

Almada then filmed Aquellos años, Por eso, Cazador de asesinos, El puerto maldito, La viuda negra, Divinas palabras, El valle de los miserables, among others. He returned with La viuda negra and was nominated for an Ariel for his performance Although according to the official website of the Ariel, this nomination was not made until 1984, although La Viuda Negra was released in 1977.