Between the 70s and 80s, when historical miniseries were framed under the name of Great stories, the name of Manuel Tejada became an international face of TVE and was part of the co-production El conde de Montecristo, international version of 1981 that was part of those programming stuffed with literary versions.
Tejada had become by then the Spanish actor most loved by the public because he led two memorable hits on the public network (then the only one) in two different audience universes. On one side in gray hair and mud, on the nights of 1978, as the long-suffering Tono, a boatman who turns his farm into a rice paddy, (son of Alfredo Mayo in fiction and father of the ill-fated actor Luis Suarez, the evil Tonet), a role that earned him at that time quoted TP de Oro.
And on the other in Verano azul, in the Sunday after-dinner conversations of 1982, as Agustin, the father of Tito (Miguel Joven) and Bea (Pilar Torres), husband in the fiction of Elisa Montes, father with a conciliatory air and representative of Spain willing to evolve. Back then everything that appeared on the home screen was memorable and Tejada’s kind face is linked to the good television memories of several generations.
This actor born in the Jaen town of Puente de Genave died this Wednesday in Benidorm at the age of 79.
His later career focused on the theater, extending his work until about eight years ago, and it was in the works of Estudio 1 where he increased his popularity.
In the cinema he lavished less, making his debut with Cancion de Juventud in 1962, in that same film where the youthful Rocio Durcal was launched to stardom.
With his actor’s aura recognizable to some veteran viewers, Alex de la Iglesia had him for the films La Comunidad (2000) or Sad Trumpet Ballad (2010).
Among the two series that remind him the most are interventions held in Estudio 1 such as La dama boba, in 1980; or Los ladrones somos gente honesta, in 1979. For Ibanez Serrador’s review of his Historias para no sueño, in color in 1982, he starred in two of the four installments, Freddy and The End That Started Yesterday, which endorsed that excellent media moment.
With the vitola in memory of her, while maintaining an intense work in the theater, he participated in costumbrista series of the 80s such as Tio Willy (with Pajares) or A lollipop for her (with Juanjo Puigcorbe). Tejada was forged on stage but the love of the Catholic public never left him.
