Isidro Barredo Paulín

Cuban actor who during his artistic career stood out in radio, television, theater, and cinema. He has the honor of having worked in two of the most followed works by radio listeners, Adventures of Tarzan and The Right to Be Born, where he played negative characters.

He was born in Consolación del Sur, Pinar del Río. His real name was Isidro Barredo Paulín, adopting the name Carlos Paulín when beginning his acting career in admiration of Argentine singer Carlos Gardel, which had greater acceptance in the acting world.

He began his radio performances as an amateur artist in 1937, entering as a professional actor in 1940 in the CMQ Circuit. In this medium he had the honor of working in the two most listened to adventures on Cuban radio, Adventures of Tarzan and The Right to Be Born.

He also acted in the Popular Theater directed by Paco Alfonso, as well as original works by novelist Alejo Carpentier: The Dramas of War, Great Novels, and Guan Búster.

Another medium in which he achieved excellent performances was television, participating in the first television version of the novel The Right to Be Born, in Doña Bárbara written by Félix Pita Rodríguez for CMQ, and in the humorous program San Nicolás del Peladero.

In 1934 the family moved to Havana when he was still an adolescent. From an early age he had artistic interests and began inserting himself into radio stations in search of the opportunity to act and express himself through them.

In 1937 he began his artistic career as an amateur at Radio Coco and the Cadena Roja station, as the protagonist of The Black Cowboy, about the life of Carlos Gardel, acting as narrator, with Tony Álvarez, who sang tangos at that time, Elvira Cervera, and Zulema Casals.

Upon beginning professional activity, he was one of the exclusive artists of the CMQ Circuit. When there were offers from other stations or firms, he was sold by CMQ, returning later. He worked in all the novels by Iris Dávila sponsored by the Sabatés firm, and also with Crusellas.

In 1948 he participated in the series by Félix B. Caignet, The Right to Be Born, regarding this matter, he expressed in an interview conducted by Josefa Bracero:

"I'm going to bring you the Album (and he brought it to me). I was Alfredo Martínez, the father of Albertico Limonta, the protagonist, whom Carlos Badías portrayed—he was the leading man of the time. I was very young but the role they gave me was a good one. A great cast worked there. María Valero was the female lead, Isabel Cristina, and when she suffered the accident and died, she was replaced by another formidable actress, Minín Bujones. But this novel was made with great actors and actresses, among them besides those mentioned, Enrique Santiesteban, Xiomara Fernández, Martha Casañas, Lupe Suárez, Pilar Mata, the Spaniard José Goula. The narrator was Luis López Puentes. And Félix B. Caignet placed scripts in his hands for him to shine. Really the narrator, in addition to carrying the entire plot, was another actor in this novel, thanks to the scripts of Félix V., as we affectionately called him, and the quality of López Puentes."

On December 18, 1950, he was one of the founders of CMQ Television, working in novels, adventures, theater, stories, police series, and humorous programs. He worked in Adventures of Tarzan, one of the first performances alongside Enrique Santiesteban, Marta Jiménez Oropesa, as the female lead, Miguel Llao, Bernardito Menéndez, Alejandro Lugo, who played the monkey Chita, and it is in this series where the situation with negative characters begins.

He was also an exclusive artist for the Gavi firm alongside Consuelito Vidal, working in all the stations where this brand had advertising. He acted in the program Blue Cross, written by Onelio Jorge Cardoso, where he was the protagonist, with Pedro Segarra and José de San Antón as his counterparts.

Among his preferred directors, Emilio Medrano is cited for radio—The Right to Be Born—and Roberto Garriga for television. Among the artists he highlighted Gina Cabrera, Minín Bujones, Aurora Pita, Consuelito Vidal, Rosita Fornés, Ada Béjar, Maritza Rosales, Alejandro Lugo, Marta Falcón, and Raquel Revuelta. He also highlighted Marcelo Agudo and Guillermo de Mancha.

At the beginning of the 1960s, he directed novels by Félix B. Caignet and José Ángel Buesa, among other authors, including Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and Kazán the Hunter.

He worked in the Popular Theater (1943) directed by Paco Alfonso, notable are the works in scenes of Underground Life, Rearguard, The Drought, Our People, The Red Beggar, Martian Sketch—portraying Martí—Mariana Pineda, Don Juan Tenorio, and Sabanimar, where he acted as the leading man.

Other performances include the works Tembladera, Beside the River Sancho Panza in the Island of Barataria, by Casona (1944); Invasion (1944); Barranca Below (1945); The Widow and the Bear (1954); and Where is the Light (1956).

He participated in several memorable spaces of Cuban television, marking an entire era through the characters he portrayed, among which San Nicolás del Peladero stands out, where he played Panchón Majagua. Other performances in this medium were in the programs Theater ICRT, The Story, and in telenovelas and adventures.

In July 1957, at the CMQ Circuit, he participated in another successful serial, Poor Youth, written by Félix B. Caignet, where he shared performances with Ramón Veloz, Antonia Valdés, and Jorge Socías.

He participated in the television version of William Shakespeare's Othello—first live broadcast—in the dramatic space Grand Theater of Saturday, directed by Antonio Emilio Vázquez Gallo (National Television Prize-2003).

In the work, televised in November 1955, he acted alongside Enrique Santiesteban, Gina Cabrera, José Antonio Insua, José Antonio Rivero, Antonio Palacios, Ángel Espasande, Homero Gutierrez, Jorge Félix, Jose Rovira, Pedro Martín Planas, Juan Lado, Carlos Bermúdez, José A. Piña, and Emilio del Mármol.

He participated in the humorous program San Nicolás del Peladero, interpreting a character opposed to the mayor, Panchón Majagua, with the classic cigar, hoarse voice, and seasoned with colloquialisms, sharing the power on stage with Plutarco Tuero, the mayor, his wife, Doña Remigia; with Eufrates del Valle, journalist for El Imparcial; and with Cheo Malanga, the thug, and Ñico Rutina, the con man.

Other programs included The Smoke of Memory, Human Conflicts, the television series Story of Three Sisters; in the spaces Horizons; Sunday Comedy; the novel Where the Sky is Bluer, The Peaceful Lord (1966). He also participated in the novel Next Year, directed by Héctor Quintero in 1994.

In 1973 he participated in the Mexican film The Holy Office, directed by Arturo Ripstein, acting alongside Jorge Luke, Diana Bracho, Claudio Brook, Ana Mérida, Silvia Mariscal, Juan José Martínez Casado, Farnesio de Bernal, Martín Lasalle, Carlos Nieto, Mario Castillón Bracho, María Barber, and others.

In 1976 he participated in the film Patty-Candela, directed by Rogelio París, and in Another Woman (1986) by Daniel Díaz Torres.

In 2002 he performed in the Cuban films The Breakdown, alongside Omar Alí, Rogelio Blaín, Carlos Padrón, Raúl Eguren, and Elvira Cruz, as well as in A Millionaire and the Suitcases, directed by Raúl Villareal, where he shared performances with Mery Díaz, Marta del Río, Edith Massola, Dania Splinter, Ketty Rodríguez, Manolín Álvarez, Abel Rodríguez, and Rigoberto Ferrera.

He died in Havana in 2005, victim of a heart attack.

Recognition
Throughout his artistic career, he was awarded the following distinctions:
Alejo Carpentier Medal
Distinction for National Culture
Merit Artist of Cuban Radio and Television
Raúl Gómez García Distinction
Medal Worker Laureate of Culture
Medal of Honor for Merit of Popular Theater 1941-1943
Microphone for the LXX Anniversary of Cuban Radio
Commemorative Coin for the LXXX Anniversary of Cuban Radio
National Television Prize 2003
Stamp 50th Anniversary of Cuban Television