Peruvian puppeteer. Amedeo (born Manuel Feliciano) de la Torre, the fourth of eight children, studied at the Seminario de San Antonio de Cuzco and at the Colegio Nacional de Ciencias, where his interest in art became evident, and later at the Universidad Nacional del Cuzco where he began law school but decided instead to pursue his vocation, painting and sculpture. Moving to Lima, he studied at the Escuela de Bellas Artes (School of Fine Arts). Student of the sculptor Manuel Piqueras Cotolí, he became famous for his art, especially the bust of the poet José Santos Chocano (1875-1934).

It was in 1933 in Lima that, for the first time, Amadeo de la Torre presented his “Teatro de Títeres” (puppet theatre). In his play, titled Caricaturas en tercera dimensión (Caricatures in Third Dimension), appear characters such as María Barriendo, Don Lunes and El Negro Betún, El Hombre de la Calle (The Man in the Street), El Borracho número 1 (The Drunkard Number 1), El Cholo Timoteo (Timothy the Hick), among others.

During those years, Teatro dei Piccoli, the famous Italian puppet company of Vittorio Podrecca, on one of its many international tours performed in Lima, and there wanted to hire Amadeo de la Torre as a member of the cast. But he chose to remain in Peru. For twenty years, without official support of any kind, he toured his country with his characters and his Teatro de Títeres.

Hospitalized for long periods of time (with his puppets) to treat his alcohol addiction, he died in Lima on July 15, 1953.

(See Peru.)