Cuban playwright Hector Quintero, author of classic Cuban plays, has died in Havana, reported the National Television News and evening news reports.

Quintero was born on October 1st, 1942; and was a prominent actor and narrator. Hector Quintero and actress Hilda Oates were granted the National Theatre Award 2004.

Renowned theater critic and investigator Rine Leal relates that he was the most popular Cuban playwrights, who since childhood began his artistic work on radio, television and theater.

As an actor, he worked in several Milanes theater groups such as the National Drama Theater Group Musical Theatre Studio as well as Theatre of Havana, who he led for several years, while setting a precedent of excellence in the Cuban artistic production.

Quintero was also the composer of music for all his shows, also wrote theater critics and as musical actor assumed everlasting plays.

His debut as a playwright began in 1962 with the play Contigo pan y cebolla, Mention of the Casa de las Americas Prize the following year and has continued since then in the national and international playbills, including in the United States, under the title Rice and beans.

Another classic play is El premio flaco, in 1964, which also deserved a mention the Casa de las Americas Prize.

For 12 years, he headed the Musical Theater of Havana, chaired the Performing Arts Section of the Cuban Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba and, he was member of the National Council.

Among the awards granted during his artistic career include the Distinction for National Culture, the Alejo Carpentier Medal, the Omar Valdés Award and the Replica of the Machete of Máximo Gomez.

He was granted with the My Life in the Theatre Medal, an award for the work of a lifetime, created by the International Theatre Institute in Mexico to honor the personalities in this country and Latin America in general.

The national critics consider that his work has been widely successful addressing current issues and conflicts of everyday life, with sight and far-reaching perspective.

Translated by Daysi Olano

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