2023-10-24 10:24:23
In times of car bombs, blackouts and ‘packages’ in Peru, an imposing woman, almost 1.80 cm. tall and with an innocent look, she lit up the most despondent hearts. In the 80s, in the golden age of café theaters, Amparo Brambilla was the brightest star. Four decades later, the former star continues to shine, now from the theater, as part of the cast of “Happy Birthday, Doña Zoila.”
In the comedy of entanglements, Brambilla plays Martha, the wife of Doña Zoila (Attilia Boschetti), an elderly woman who, during her birthday celebration, finds out that her daughter (Mónica Torres) plans to send her to an asylum and begins a series of strategies to avoid it.
“Martha is a woman who was widowed quite young. She has two children. She is a close friend of Zoila, and becomes her accomplice when she discovers the dark intentions of her daughter and grandson. “She is mischievous, innocent, a junkie, she believes a lot in God and saints,” says the actress.
In the screwball comedy, Brambilla plays Martha, the wife of Doña Zoila (Attilia Boschetti), an elderly woman who, during her birthday celebration, finds out that her daughter (Mónica Torres) plans to send her to an asylum. (Photo: Alessandro Currarino)
Light in the darkness
The story of Augusta Amparo Brambilla Coronado began to be written on August 22, 1961. After her parents separated, she lived much of her childhood in Lince, then in Spain.
“I grew up without my dad because my mom didn’t let me see him. He went to my school, secretly, to find out about me. But very close to turning 15, when I returned with my mother from Spain, God put it on my path again. We meet in a marble shop. It was a very nice reunion. We hug. Since then, we stayed together, until he passed away,” recalls the national artist.
With an overprotective and extremely controlling mother, Brambilla, as soon as she was old enough to work, sought to become independent. She wanted to be a flight hostess, but her destiny took her to more glamorous settings.
“My encounter with television was not planned. At a Village People concert, which I attended without my mother’s permission (laughs), a man from América TV told me to go to the channel because he wanted to offer me a job. The next day I looked for him in his office. I was with Tulio Loza. After doing some tests, they chose me, but the problem was getting my mother’s permission, since she was still a minor. Finally she accepted. That’s how I started as a secondary artist in ‘Tulio de América a Cholocolor,’” she says.
“It was a wonderful experience. There were Ricardo Fernández, Maricarmen Ureta… Iconic, famous actors of that time. I was lucky. I learned a lot from them. They always treated me with love and respect,” she emphasizes.
Shortly after, Amparo made the leap to café theaters. She started as a model and did not stop until she became the main star of La Gata Caliente, one of the fashionable domains of feathers and sequins at that time.
“When I started as a star, I was already a mother. My daughter was about two years old. I always thought about her before making any decision. It was my grounding cable, because although it was a nice work environment, there was no shortage of proposals of all kinds, and professional jealousy,” she points out.
Amparo Brambilla quickly became the most coveted and sought-after woman in the industry. She earned more than $7,000 per show.
“I even charged a little more than that because the show we took to the provinces was a complete musical revue. We had twelve dancers, singers, comedians. It wasn’t just me. It was a show of more than two hours. That is why the cost was high,” she clarifies.
Among her most intimate and lasting memories, the singer José Luis Rodríguez ‘El Puma’ occupies an important place, being the first man with whom she had her first sexual encounter.
“I felt special. It was clear to me that he would leave and that everything would end at that moment. But I didn’t care. During the day we went out to eat, at night to dance, I also accompanied him to his interviews. They were three unforgettable days for me,” he says.
Likewise, she rules out having had a romance with Demetrio Chávez Peñaherrera ‘Vaticano’, whom she met during a show she performed in the Uchiza jungle.
“He took care of me when I went to work there, from there the rumor of a romance that did not exist was born. I must admit that thanks to his people I returned home safely. It was a time of terrorism. It was a red zone, there were no police officers there. He put us up in his house because they had installed us in an unsafe hotel. He gave us his room and the side room. He went to the third floor. The next day, someone warned me that they were going to offer me a lot of money to do a supposedly family show. He told me not to accept because it was dangerous. I did not accept and we returned. And I must admit that, when he came to Lima, we left in a mess, with Andrés, his wife and other couples. And when they arrested him, the police asked me if I knew him. My heart broke because I remembered that he took care of us and protected us. I told them that I did not know the criminal, but rather a human being who protected us and saved our lives,” he recalls.
Be reborn
After eleven years of vedettism, comedy shows and big magazines, in 1993 Amparo hung up her tiny thongs forever. Her body was no longer the same as before (she weighed 124 kilos) when Osvaldo Cattone appeared in her life to give it a new meaning. She proposed that he do theater, resume acting and reconnect with her audience and her applause.
Brambilla was part of the cast of actors in national productions such as: “Al Fondo Hay Sitio”, “Gamarra”, “Pensión Soto”, “De Vuelta al Barrio”, among others. In the cinema she participated in “Once machos”, “The manual of the stepped”, “Mundo gordo”, and more.
“I left the stage because things began to change, the atmosphere was no longer the same and magazines were no longer made like before. Anyone put on a thong and was already a star. There was no professionalism or respect for the race. Furthermore, my physique began to change due to the law of gravity (laughs). So, I decided to step aside. I entered the Marsano theater, a stage that I always dreamed of stepping on. I overcame my overweight problem. Twelve years ago I had surgery for my health. I had a lot of migraines, vomiting and dizziness. And when I tried to stand up my knees wouldn’t let me. I returned to the stage. I lived again,” she emphasizes.
Amparo Brambilla is 62 years old. She enjoys the present, while she looks at the past with joy and longing. (Photo: Alessandro Currarino)
“Happy birthday, Mrs. Zoila.
Date: Goes until December 17
Place: Campo Abierto Cultural Association, in Miraflores.
Tickets are on sale at Joining.
1698143814
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