Ada Falcón

Ada Falcón (August 17, 1905 - January 4, 2002) was an Argentine tango dancer, singer and film actress of the 1920s and 1930s. She starred in the film Idolos de la radio in 1934. She was famous for her tango work and made over 200 recordings in the 1920s and 1930s. She shared a long relationship with orchestra leader Francisco Canaro. She mysteriously disappeared from the limelight in 1942 and lived as a recluse until she died in 2002 at age 96. Falcón was born in Buenos Aires in 1905 where she started to act in theater as a little girl (11 years old), known as "la joyita Argentina" (the little Argentinian jewel). At age 13 she took part in her first movie El festin de los Caranchos in 1918. She worked in numerous musical shows and also as an actress in theater and movies. In 1925 she made her first tango recordings as a soloist with the orchestra of Osvaldo Fresedo for Victor Records. Falcón was a mezzo-soprano, an unusual register for tango singers at the time, who generally were sopranos. She became famous singing with the orchestra of Francisco Canaro. Between 1930 and 1942 she was at the high point of her artistic life, when she made more than 200 recordings and became very wealthy. After she became wealthy, Falcón enjoyed luxury, furs, expensive jewelry and fame. She lived in a beautiful three story house in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Palermo. She had a turbulent romantic relationship with Canaro. In 1942 Falcón suddenly withdrew from public life and remained isolated in her house, avoiding contact with the outside world. She occasionally left the house to go to mass dressed entirely in black, her face covered by a net or by sunglasses, wearing a white turban and white gloves. The cause of this withdrawal is a mystery; she never talked about it. Speculation that love disappointments with Canaro could have been an important element was never confirmed. After a while she became a "tertiary nun" and entered an isolated convent in the hills of Córdoba Province. There she lived as a pauper by her own choice, in a small cell with little furniture and frugal meals, until she was transferred at an advanced age to a retirement home due to failing health. She died in 2002 and is buried in the mausoleum dedicated to famous artists in Chacarita Cemetery in Buenos Aires. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.