Beba Bidart (1924–1994): actress, dancer and tango icon of Buenos Aires

Beba Bidart, around 1960
Photo: unknown author, around 1960, public domain (Wikimedia Commons)

Beba Bidart (born Eliane René Schianni Bidart; Buenos Aires, 3 April 1924 – Buenos Aires, 27 August 1994) was an Argentine actress, dancer and singer. For several decades she was one of the best-known faces of Buenos Aires tango on stage, in film and on television.

Early career

Bidart started as a child actress and trained as a dancer at the Teatro Casino, where she joined the chorus as a teenager. On stage she worked with Tato Bores and Olga Zubarry, among others, in the play Madame Trece. She also sang with the orchestra of Francisco Canaro.

Film

At 24 she starred opposite Carlos Thompson in Los pulpos (Carlos Hugo Christensen, 1948). Other films include:

YearFilmDirector
1948Los pulposCarlos Hugo Christensen
1950La vendedora de fantasíasDaniel Tinayre
1952El túnelLeón Klimovsky
1953La casa grandeLeo Fleider

In 1981 she was part of the cast of Buenos Aires Tango, a film by Julio Saraceni that was never released commercially (see Tango films that were never released).

Television and nickname

Her biggest television success was the series Rolando Rivas, taxista with Claudio García Satur. She was nicknamed “el gorrión de Buenos Aires” (the sparrow of Buenos Aires), a nod to Édith Piaf.

Tango dance

Bidart was known above all as a dancer. Mariano Mores dedicated his milonga Taquito militar to her, and she danced it for several Argentine presidents. Later in life she ran her own tango venue, Taconeando.

Academia Porteña del Lunfardo

On 2 November 1991 the Academia Porteña del Lunfardo elected her a member unanimously. Her candidacy was signed by the composer Sebastián Piana and the lexicographer José Gobello. She took the seat named after Juan Francisco Palermo, previously held by Nyda Cuniberti. At a session marking the first anniversary of her death, the academician Eduardo Rubén Bernal described her dancing as her way of writing poetry.

Private life

Bidart was with the entertainer Jorge Fontana for more than twelve years. After they separated she adopted a son, Paulo, who took her surname. At her request, her ashes were scattered in Buenos Aires.

Based on a tribute by Ricardo Espinosa Belén originally published on El Portal del Tango, revised and expanded.