Actor Enrique Molina Dies from COVID

September 3, 2021

Enrique Molina, one of the artists who, through his iconic characters in the Cuban scene, won not only the National Television Prize 2020, but what is most important for a creator, the applause of the public that admires and respects him, has died in the early morning hours of this Friday due to complications derived from COVID-19.

With deep consternation, the Ministry of Culture, the National Council of the Performing Arts and the Artistic Agency of Performing Arts ACTUAR regret the death in Havana, Cuba of leading actor Enrique Molina, National Television Prize 2020, ACTUAR Prize for Lifetime Achievement 2018 and Honorary Title in the 1st edition of the Enrique Almirante Prize in 2015.

His death was caused by complications derived from Covid-19 and after remaining hospitalized under the care of a multidisciplinary team of medical personnel who fought until the last hours to save his life. At the time of his death he was 77 years old.

Molina was a recognized actor with performances in television, film, theater and radio, with a long and consolidated artistic and professional career. Of humble origins he was born on October 31, 1943 in the municipality of Bauta in the former province of Havana, now Artemisa, and later moved with his family at a young age to Santiago de Cuba.

In this eastern province he began taking his first steps in acting within the movement of amateur artists in the 1960s.

Later in Havana he managed to consolidate his career to become one of the most outstanding actors alongside great artists and experienced directors, placing himself in the preference and taste of the public.

In the popular imagination his masterful performances still survive in dramatized spaces for television such as the character of Silvestre Cañiso alongside Alina Rodríguez in the soap opera Tierra Brava, Bajo el Mismo Sol, La Otra Esquina and the remembered serial En Silencio ha tenido que ser, among other productions.

On stage he stood out for his role as the legendary figure of Vladimir Ilich Lenin in El Carrillón del Kremlin and later in the miniseries Relatos sobre Lenin, undergoing surgery on this occasion to change his physical appearance and successfully immerse himself in the skin of the character.

Likewise, cinema will be eternally grateful to him for the extensive cinematographic work he produced, among which stand out El hombre de Maisinicú, Caravana, Un Paraíso bajo las Estrellas, Barrio Cuba, El cuerno de la abundancia, Contigo Pan y Cebolla and Esther en alguna parte, among others.

Throughout his career as an actor he also received the Best Foreign Actor Prize at the Golden Rooster Festival and the Hundred Flowers of China in 2014 and 2016, as well as Artist of Merit from the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television (ICRT).

Until the time of his deterioration he was in the preparations to film a new soap opera.

Undoubtedly his death has caused a profound void in the usual media where his presence was a mainstay of acting, this loss has been a strong impact on the cultural landscape of the nation.

For its part, the Ministry of Culture, the National Council of the Performing Arts and the ACTUAR Agency offer their most heartfelt condolences to his family, friends and colleagues in the profession for the irreparable loss.

There are no words to describe the pain felt when a people's artist says goodbye forever. Cuban Culture in mourning.