Cuban actress, Hilda Oates, died in Havana at the age of 89. 2004 National Theater Award Laureate, Oates had an intense work life in different Cuban theater companies and the island’s film industry.

Hilda Oates was born in Guanabacoa, Havana, on March 29, 1925, and studied at the Florencio de La Colina y Aranguren Drama School. She also worked as an actress at the National Drama Ensemble as well as the Ocuje, Popular Latin American, Bertolt Brecht Political, Studio and Irrumpe theater companies.

She acted in important plays by renowned Cuban playwrights and theater directors, such as Vicente and Raquel Revuelta, Berta Martínez, Roberto Blanco, Nelson Dorr, Héctor Quintero, José Antonio Rodríguez and Armando Suárez del Villar. Her repertoire included Cuban and foreign plays, including Macbeth, Blood Weddings, Yerma,  María Antonia, Electra Garrigó, Santa Camila de la Habana Vieja, Dos viejos pánicos, Réquiem por Yarini and La casa de Bernarda Alba.