Armando Bó (3 May 1914 – 8 October 1981) was an Argentine film actor, director, producer, screenwriter and score composer of the classic era. He made drama and sexploitation films of the 1960s and 1970s starring his favorite actress and romantic partner, sex symbol Isabel Sarli. His works include Thunder Among the Leaves, which features the first scene with full nudity in an Argentine film.

Armando Bó
Armando Bó in the 1940s, photographed by Annemarie Heinrich
Born(1914-05-03)3 May 1914
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Died8 October 1981(1981-10-08) (aged 67)
Years active1939 – 1979
Spouse
Teresa Machinandiarena
(m. 1956)
PartnerIsabel Sarli (1956–1981, his death)
Children3, including Víctor Bó
RelativesArmando Bó (grandson)
Nicolás Giacobone (grandson)

Bó's son is the actor/producer Víctor Bó and his grandson is the screenwriter and director Armando Bó.

Biography

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Bó began acting for film in 1939 in Ambición and made some 50 film appearances as an actor, but by the late 1940s he had already taken up an interest in film production and began as a director, producer, actor, and screenwriter in the early 1950s. He was involved in almost 100 different films during his career.

In June 1956, he met Isabel Sarli on a television show. He later offered her the opportunity to star in El trueno entre las hojas (Thunder in the Leaves). Bo tricked Sarli to appear naked in a scene in which she bathed in a lake, though she had previously been told she would wear a flesh-colored body stocking. The film became the first to feature full frontal nudity in Argentine cinema. Bo and Sarli became lovers and he continued to exploit her in his films, many, in which she was asked to perform sex acts on film always starring him as her lover. She became the primary star of his films until his death in 1981. Upon his death Sarli was given no rights to any of the films they made together.

Their films were controversial at the time and most of them were banned, but this ban led them to be even more successful. Films like Fuego (1969) and Fiebre (1970) reached the American and European markets. The banning of Fuego led to them moving into exile.[1]

He was married to Teresa Machinandiarena, and had three children: María Inés, María Jesús, and Víctor. His son, Víctor Bó, was a prominent actor in Argentina during the 70s and 80s. His grandsons are Academy Award winners Nicolás Giacobone and Armando Bó Jr., credited as Armando Bó.

Filmography

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Bó and Isabel Sarli in Una mariposa en la noche, 1976.
Year Film Role Notes and Awards
1939 Ambition
Chimbela
...Y mañana serán hombres
1940 Un señor mucamo
Nosotros, los muchachos
Fragata Sarmiento
1941 Melodies of America
El más infeliz del pueblo
Mamá Gloria
La maestrita de los obreros
Si yo fuera rica
Joven, viuda y estanciera Invitado
Cándida millonaria
1942 Tú eres la paz
Story of a Poor Young Man
1944 The Abyss Opens
1945 Villa Rica del Espíritu Santo
The Circus Cavalcade
1946 The Three Musketeers D'Artagnan
1947 La caraba
Si mis campos hablaran Simon
1948 Su última pelea
Pelota de trapo
1949 Con el sudor de tu frente
1950 Fangio, el demonio de las pistas
Sacachispas
1951 My Divine Poverty
Honour Your Mother
En cuerpo y alma Antonio Núñez
1953 Muerte civil
El Hijo del crack Héctor 'Balazo' López
1955 Adiós, muchachos
1956 El trueno entre las hojas
1958 Sabaleros
1959 ...Y el demonio creó a los hombres
1962 Lujuria tropical
La Burrerita de Ypacaraí
1963 Pelota de cuero
La Diosa impura Reinoso
1964 La mujer del zapatero
La leona
1966 La tentación desnuda
1968 La mujer de mi padre Jose
1969 Éxtasis tropical
Fuego Carlos
1970 Fiebre Juan
1972 Intimidades de una cualquiera Jose Luis
1973 La diosa virgen
Furia infernal Barbara's husband
1974 El sexo y el amor
1976 Insaciable
1977 Una mariposa en la noche
1979 El último amor en Tierra del Fuego

Legacy

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Renowned filmmaker John Waters has claimed to be a big fan of Bó's filmography, and to have been influenced by it as well.[2][3] Waters presented Bó's 1969 cult film Fuego as his annual selection within the 2002 Maryland Film Festival, and it was also a featured film in episode three of the Here! network original series John Waters Presents Movies That Will Corrupt You.

References

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  1. ^ "Preem of 'Fuego' in N.Y. Another Bitter Pill For Argentine Film Industry". Variety. 15 October 1969. p. 19.
  2. ^ Kairuz, Mariano (20 August 2012). "Waters toma Coca" [Waters drinks Coca] (in Spanish). Pagina 12. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  3. ^ Kuschevatzky, Axel (24 January 2010). "Los juegos que juegan los hombres" [The games men play] (in Spanish). Pagina 12. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
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