Rafael Briceño dedicated more than 60 years of his life to acting. Although his great passion was theater, he knew how to distribute his time and talent to remain active in film and television.
On the small screen, precisely, he reached the peak of popularity, by playing a character who, ironically, clashed with his own history and convictions: General Juan Vicente Gómez.
His father, an anti-Gómez colonel, died of neglect after being shot and left for dead, without any possibility of receiving help. He himself was imprisoned during the Pérez Jiménez era, and his house was visited by agents of the Digepol (the precursor to the Disip) after the fall of the second Venezuelan dictatorship of the last century.
Despite all this, he set aside his prejudices when José Ignacio Cabrujas chose him as his counterpart in a fictional interview that shaped the program Trial of Gomez, broadcast on September 2, 1975, by Bárcenas' channel.
The brilliance with which he portrayed the leader led him to head the casts of two miniseries based on the life of the man who called himself Benefactor. Gomez y Gomez II, which aired in 1980 and 1981, earned him public applause and critical acclaim, placing him in a privileged position within the history of Venezuelan drama.
Puesta in escena
Rafael Briceño's first acting experience was in his hometown of Ejido, where he played an angel when he was six years old. His family wanted him to be a lawyer or a soldier. To change their minds, he faked a suicide attempt. He painted on a wound and fired a shot at a shop window, causing his grandmother to faint and his seamstress mother to become distraught. On stage, he declared, "Next time I won't miss."
Having received approval, he began training, first as a singer and then as a classical Spanish dancer with Luana Alcañiz. However, he wasn't satisfied and tried acting, under the tutelage of Eugenia Súffoli.
She made her stage debut on January 21, 1944, in the play The last message, by Guillermo Feo Calcaño and, with the Baus-Calero Company, spent the next four years touring Latin America.
On November 16, 1953, he shared leading credits with Luis Salazar, in Roy Martin's Police Adventures, one day after the inauguration of Radio Caracas Televisión.
In 1955, he supported Cabrujas, Román Chalbaud, and Isaac Chocrón in the founding of El Nuevo Grupo. Almost three decades later, he was also a great promoter of the nascent National Theater Company.
Severe
Rafael Briceño was born on July 18, 1921, in Ejido, Mérida. His television career includes such important titles as: The Right to Be Born, The Tyrant, Doña Bárbara; Boves, the Capercaillie; The Lord's Lemon Tree, Juana Crespo's Daughter, Estefanía, Natalia from 8 to 9, Elizabeth, The Owner y God's servant.
However, he was very critical of the media, as evidenced in the interviews he often gave at his country house, Martha, in Las Delicias, where he lived with his son, daughter-in-law, grandchildren, and two dachshunds. There he also reminisced about his friendship with Rafael Guinand, Juana Sujo, and Horacio Peterson.
He died on June 22, 2001, when a heart attack struck him in the bathroom of the Ateneo de Caracas, where he was about to watch a performance of The monologues of the vagina.
