Màrius Cabré i Esteve released the first wandering on Kings Day, 1916, at number 71 on Aribau street in Barcelona. Apparently his childhood fulfilled all the protocols of the poor children: he barely received the basic instruction and spent countless hours on the street waiting for a stroke of luck. From time to time, he helped in his parents' business, with the peculiarity that these were humble comedians. So since childhood, Cabré imitated the chameleon's skills.

His love for poetry was also premature. At eight years old, he writes the first verses in Catalan, which serve to alleviate the crush of childhood: " Vaig trobar-me / an ocellet / that was sun / tot sun, sun./ Amb wins and sense bressol / what a sun ".

On one of those witching afternoons, he sees other children playing bulls in Medinaceli Square. He thought that it was more profitable to step on the pool than the boards and he directed his will along that path, hidden from his parents. He debuted in the arena in 1934 with the nickname of Cabrerito and already in the first decades of Franco's practice he acted as a Catalan bullfighter. "Sóc torero and català, which is equivalent to being dues vegades bullfighter," he said once.

Now, a single life was not enough for Mario Cabré , so despite the certain prestige acquired - he was known as "the bullfighter of the supreme elegance" - decides to return to the stage. Spend already beauties of galán to which the exoticism of the suit of lights adds. Exploit that arsenal of seduction in more than twenty films.

However, the filming that changed his life forever was Pandora's and the wandering Dutchman , recorded on the Costa Brava in 1950 and starring Ava Gardner. She always denied a brief but intense romance, which Cabré boasted until the end of her days. In his memoirs, Gardner dispatched him like this: "Mario was handsome and virile, but also presumptuous. He wrote me the most idiotic love poems you can imagine ." Although he had other sounded loves, Cabré fed the rest of his days with that memory. " I will create the future / about the past hours ," he writes in one of his poems.

After making the Americas, Mario Cabré founded his own theater company in Barcelona, ​​where he acts as an actor and director. Bet on the classic Catalan repertoire and premieres Mar i cel and Terra baixa , by Àngel Guimerà; The mystic and Ocells de pas , by Santiago Rusiñol. He finances these productions with other more commercial titles, such as Paris pintat , in which he also dares to sing with a strangely shy and small voice for that big man. His favorite role was always Don Juan Tenorio , who represented with the scenography of Salvador Dalí and reciting the verses as by veronica. His nephew, actor and director Mario Gas , tells me about the emotional flight of his interpretations and his intelligence. He also shows me the medium-length film No conteu amb els dits (1967), directed by Pere Portabella and written by Joan Brossa.

Already in a well-matured maturity triumphs on television with shows like Reina for a day , an unprecedented success. Never stop writing poetry. In 1972, he won the City of Barcelona prize with the poems Maramor .

Life breaks down forever the night of May 8, 1976. During a tribute in the halls of the Hotel Oriente in Barcelona, ​​he suffers a stroke that leaves him half-paralyzed. Spend the last years in Benicàssim, treating the sequels in a specialized clinic. Learn to write with your left hand so you can continue with your strongest vocation, that of a poet. Despite the loneliness and forgetfulness of many, he does not lose his smile. He claims that illness has connected him with the truth of life. Write haikus , in an attempt to sort the melancholy. Some friends visit him with former admirers , which he thanks with an air of premature ghost.

Until the end of his days, he will live on a scarce pension and the memories of an existence that was a crazy marasmus, a dance of identities. " I was a poet by divine inspiration, an actor by atavism and a bullfighter by destiny , who is the one who makes us go on unexpected paths, whether we like it or not," he said.

He died on July 1, 1990, in his hometown, after 14 years of illness. On their coffin they deposited a montera and one of his books of poems , dedicated to Barcelona. For many reasons, Mario Cabré is today an important figure. In one of the last records that are preserved, from the wheelchair and with a thread of voice says goodbye: "My soul in payment of your generosity. And forever, dear friends."

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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