Edward Gallardo was a Puerto Rican actor and playwright. He was born in the Bronx, New York, and graduated from City College of New York with a degree in playwriting. Gallardo began his career as an actor, appearing in television series including Charlie’s Angels, The Equalizer, and M.A.S.H. He transitioned into playwriting in the 1960s with a series of plays produced off-Broadway and internationally. His most popular play, Simpson Street, about a Puerto Rican family in the Bronx attempting to escape a dead-end life, premiered in 1979. It was produced throughout the United States as well as Latin America. Gallardo also wrote the libretto for the musical The Petrified Prince.
Gallardo’s work was heavily influenced by his own experiences, often focusing on the lives of working-class Puerto-Ricans. He received the Roberto Clemente Humanitarian Award and won the New York Shakespeare Festival’s National Contest for Latino Plays in 1985. He died in 2019 at the age of 70.
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