Spanish director-cum-screenwriter Mercero dies

Director and screenwriter Antonio Mercero, the only Spaniard to win an Emmy, as he did for his film ‘La Cabina’, and the creator of popular television series, died in Madrid after a long battle against Alzheimer’s disease, the Spanish Film Academy announced. He was 82.

“Our summers will be less blue and we will continue to be trapped in these ‘cabins’ that are our mobile devices. R.I.P. Antonio Mercero, so much a part of our remembrances and our audiovisual culture,” actor Antonio Banderas tweeted after hearing the news, laht.com wrote.

Mercero, born in the Basque town of Lasarte in 1936, suffered from the illness since 2009, the year he received at home the Honorary Goya Award from then-president of the Academy, Spanish director Alex de la Iglesia, who spoke of his ‘insuperable cinematographic career’.

Two months later, at the February 2010 awards gala, it was two of his sons, Antonio and Ignacio Mercero Santos, both filmmakers, who expressed their thanks for their father’s prize.

His wide-ranging career began in Madrid as assistant director for Jorge Grau and Herald Reinl until his solo debut with the short film ‘Leccion de Arte’ (1962), which won the Concha de Oro award at the San Sebastian Film Festival.

After a time dedicated to scriptwriting and advertising, he shot short films like ‘La Balada de los Cuatro Jinetes’ (1969), which took gold at the Valladolid Festival, then began working in Spanish television, first on documentaries and then on his famous series.

During his career he was chosen for the Ondas Award for television (1992), the Gold Medal for Fine Arts (1997), the 2002 Lifetime Prize from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and the Comedy Writer award at the Tarragona Film Festival (2004).