Manuel Puig

Acclaimed Latin American novelist whose works were self-consciously infused with references to Hollywood. Puig's first novel (published in the USA in 1971) was entitled "Betrayed by Rita Hayworth," about movie-going in the Argentine provinces. He wrote the first of his several screenplays for fellow Argentine Leopoldo Torre-Nilsson's "Painted Lips" (1974), from his second novel "Heartbreak Tango: A Serial," and is probably best known the world-over for "Kiss of the Spider Woman" (1979) which was made into an award-winning film by Hector Babenco in 1985.