Cacho Fontana

Jorge "Cacho" Fontana (born Norberto Palese Filgueiras; 23 April 1932 – 5 July 2022) was an Argentine radio and television personality.

Life and work Born Norberto Palese in the Barracas section of Buenos Aires, he was the only child of Nieves Filgueiras and Antonio Palese. He began his career in show business at age sixteen, when Jorge Loguarro, a friend and coworker who moonlighted as a stage presenter, invited him to do likewise at the Salón Argentino on Corrientes Avenue. The company hired Palese as a presenter for their traveling show, and the young man adopted his stage name: Jorge "Cacho" Fontana.

He debuted on the radio in Argentina in 1950 when a chance encounter with radio host Roberto González Rivero ("Riverito") at the Huracán Stadium resulted in his being hired as an announcer on Riverito's Peña de tango, on Radio del Pueblo. He then worked with radio theater host Julio César Barton, and as a sportscaster for Chacarita Juniors. He replaced Carlos Carella, who began a career in film, at the popular El Chantecler revue and became acquainted with Argentine comedy greats Tita Merello and Luis Sandrini as a stand-in for host Jaime Font Saravia in El Relámpago ("The Thunderbolt"), where Merello and Sandrini starred under the direction of Miguel Coronatto Paz. Coronatto Paz later hired Fontana on a permanent basis.

Fontana hosted a morning show, beginning in 1955, with María Esther Vignola and Rina Morán on Radio El Mundo. The "Fontana Show" was a success, and the show attracted prestigious producers such as Alberto Migré, Hugo Moser, Abel Santa Cruz, and Relámpago producer Miguel Coronatto Paz. He premiered on Argentine television in 1956, hosting the quiz show Odol Pregunta on Channel 7, and a talk show, La Campana de Cristal. His producer on Channel 7, Guillermo Brizuela Méndez, would become a friend and mentor to the young star. The marathon 24-hour event, which raised US$1.5 million as well as sundries and valuables, would become a serious setback to his career, however. Following the Argentine defeat five weeks later, revelations surfaced that the donations, as well as the Islas Malvinas Patriotic Fund these were deposited into (totaling US$54 million), were largely misappropriated by the Galtieri regime.

His marriage to Liliana Caldini ended acrimoniously after twelve years.