| Rita Montero | |
| Birth Date: | 4 May 1928 |
| Birth Place: | Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| Death Place: | Argentina |
| Occupation: | singer |
| Years Active: | 1943–1955 |
Rita Lucía Montero (4 May 1928 - 28 June 2013) was an Argentine theatre, cinema and television actress and singer.
Montero was born into an Afro-Argentine family in the Palermo neighborhood of Buenos Aires in 1928. Her parents were Severo Miguel Montero and Zelmira Oturbé. Her paternal grandparents were Sergio Pantaleón Montero and Emilia Solari. Montero's family's oral history maintained that they were descended from enslaved Africans taken to Argentina by Guillermo Brown in the mid-19th century.[1] While still in primary school she worked with Argentina's first children's theatre company, Teatro Infantil de Angelina Pagan, appearing in the play La Venganza de Las Mariposas (The Revenge of the Butterflies). She made her film debut aged 15 when her uncle, film actor, who was also a booking agent for black actors and performers in Buenos Aires theatres and film industry, got her a part as an extra in the 1943 film Juvenilia.[2]
In 1946, when she starred in a major theatre role, the newspapers carried the headline "Una morena asoma en el teatro porteño", translated as "A black women peeks out in Buenos Aires theatre". This was particularly significant because the stars of "el teatro porteño" were almost exclusively white.[1]
Montero starred in several films in what is considered to be Argentine cinema's golden age, starring alongside important stars like George Rigaud, Silvana Roth, Olga Zubarry, José Ruzzo, Guillermo Battaglia, Alberto Barcel, Enrique Chaico, Pablo Cumo, Enrique Muiño, Amalia Sánchez Ariño, and Margarita Tops.[3]
Domestically, she performed in various locations, including: Buenos Aires, Chubut, Córdoba, Mendoza, Neuquén, Jumps, San Juan, Saint Faith and Tucumán. She also performed international, travelling to Montevideo (1957 and 1976), Santiago of Chile (1957, 1959, and 1963), Lima (1964), Porto Alegre and Saint Pablo (both in1973).
She studied singing with the Italian opera singer María Naftri. She interpreted tangos and jazz, performing in coffee houses, nightclubs and bars. She recorded three records, including an album for RCA Víctor in 1961 with the Carlos García Orchestra and Tangos de piel morena with Juan Pugliano in 2003. She was also the female vocalist for Barry Moral's orchestra and Tito Alberti's "Jazz Casino".
She also sang in the company of Katherine Dunham in the Theatre Casino.
In 2010, she received a prize for her outstanding work and for her contribution to African-Argentinian Culture.[6]