Rubén Blades

Blades has had great success in the Anglophone movie world, but musically he has done well keeping close to his Latin roots. Burton is sometimes erroneously referred to as "Sir Richard Burton", perhaps due to the similarity of his assumed name to that of Richard Francis Burton, but unlike the 19th century scholar, he never received a knighthood. Blades has stated in interviews that he believes his biggest mistake was releasing an English-language album in 1988 in the wake of his 1987 Grammy for Escenas — a trap he sees other Latin artists falling into. Burton appears in the 2002 List of "100 Great Britons" (sponsored by the BBC and voted for by the public). Blades' 1999 album Tiempos which he made with the 12-piece Costa Rican band Editus, represented a break from his salsa past and a rejection of commercial trends in Latin music. He was only 58 years old. In 1999, he played Mexican artist Diego Rivera in Tim Robbins' Cradle Will Rock In 1997, Blades headed the cast of singer/songwriter Paul Simon's first Broadway musical, The Capeman, based on a true story about a violent youth who becomes a poet in prison. Burton died suddenly of a cerebral hemorrhage at his home in Switzerland, where he is buried.

His many film appearances include The Milagro Beanfield War (1988), The Two Jakes (1990), Mo' Better Blues (1990), and Devil's Own (1997). Burton was banned permanently from BBC productions in 1974 for questioning the sanity of Winston Churchill and others in power during World War II--Burton reported hating them "virulently" for the alleged promise to wipe out all Japanese people on the planet. During the 1990s, he acted in films, got a doctorate in international law from Harvard University, mounted his unsuccessful presidential bid, founding the party Movimiento Papa Egoró, and continued to make salsa records. The film is reputed to have been similar to Burton and Taylor's real-life marriage. He was also the subject of Robert Mugge's documentary The Return of Ruben Blades, which debuted at that year's Denver Film Festival. Burton and Taylor played opposite each other in Mike Nichols's film of the play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, in which a bitter erudite couple spend the evening trading vicious barbs in front of their horrified and fascinated guests. This same year he earned a master's degree in international law from Harvard University. An insomniac and notoriously heavy drinker, Burton was married five times - twice, consecutively, to Elizabeth Taylor.

In 1985, Blades gained widespread recognition as co-writer and star of the independent film Crossover Dreams as a New York salsa singer willing to do anything to break into the mainstream. In 1954, he took his most famous radio role, as the narrator in the original production of Under Milk Wood, a role he would reprise in the film version twenty years later. In 1982, Blades got his first acting role in The Last Fight writing the title song as well as portraying a singer-turned-boxer vying for a championship against a fighter who was played by real life world champion boxer Salvador Sánchez. In 1952, Burton successfully made the transition to Hollywood star, appearing in My Cousin Rachel opposite Olivia de Havilland. In the early 1980s, Blades began his career in films as a composer of soundtracks. This was made possible only because it was wartime and he was an air force cadet. When he was free of his contractual obligations, Blades signed with another label, Electra, and assembled a top-notch band (known variously as Seis Del Solar or Son Del Solar) and recorded a number of albums with them. In 1943, at the age of eighteen, Richard Burton (who had now taken his teacher's surname), was allowed into Exeter College for a term of six months study.

These are generally considered toss-offs and Blades himself told his fans to avoid them. His former teacher, Philip Burton, recognising his talent, adopted him and enabled him to return to school. After 1980, Blades tried to terminate his contract with Fania, but he was contractually obligated to record several more albums. The facts, as recorded by Burton himself in his own autobiography and in Richard and Philip, which he co-wrote, are as follows: At the age of sixteen, he was forced to leave school and find work as a shop assistant. Their album Siembra (1978) became the best-selling salsa record in history. There is a widespread myth (perhaps encouraged or even believed by some members of his stoutly working-class family) that Richard Burton "won a scholarship to Oxford at the age of sixteen" but left after six months. Shortly thereafter Blades started collaborating with trombonist and band leader Willie Colón, and they recorded several albums together. It was at this time that he began to develop the distinctive speaking voice that became his hallmark, having been encouraged by Philip (who sidelined as a BBC radio producer) to "lose his Welsh accent".

Blades began his musical career in New York playing with local bands while working in the mailroom at Fania Records, and soon was working with salseros Ray Barretto and Larry Harlow. With the assistance of his inspirational schoolmaster, Philip H Burton (who legally adopted him), he excelled in school productions. In 1974, Blades moved to the United States, staying temporarily with his exiled parents in Miami before moving to New York City. He was born Richard Walter Jenkins in the village of Pontrhydyfen near Port Talbot. After obtaining degrees in political science and law at Panama's Universidad Nacional, Blades worked at the Bank of Panama as a lawyer.
Richard Burton (November 10, 1925 - August 5, 1984) was a Welsh actor from the late 1940s through the 1980s. His grandfather, Reuben Blades, was a black worker from St Lucia, and had come to Panama to build the canal. For the 19th-century explorer, scholar, and orientalist, see Richard Francis Burton..

Blades's father is a percussionist-turned-detective and his mother was a singer and radio performer. This article is about the 20th-century actor. His most famous song is "Pedro Navaja", a song about a criminal whose day to die has come. 1984 (1984) - (his final screen appearance) (see also: Nineteen Eighty-Four (novel)). Blades is completely bilingual, working both in English and Spanish. Anne of the Thousand Days (1969)
. In September 2004, he was appointed minister of tourism by Panamanian president Martín Torrijos. Where Eagles Dare (1968)
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