Lorena Velázquez, the queen of fantasy and fiction cinema in Mexico, dies

This Thursday afternoon, the first Mexican actress María de la Concepción Lorena Villar Dondé, better known as Lorena Velázquez, died at the age of 86 and after presenting complications in her health. Velázquez belongs to a generation of actors and actresses who were part of the so-called Golden Age of Mexican cinema, but above all, she was known as the queen of the fantasy and science fiction genre, with films that have remained engraved in the collective memory. of Mexicans like Young and rebellious (1961), Saint against vampire women (1962) or The wolves of the ring (1965). She was also a participant in several of the most watched television productions in the country such as Woman real life cases, The rose of Guadalupe either Killer women.

Lorena Velázquez (Mexico City, 1937) participated in more than 180 national cinema films, more than 46 plays and several dozen soap operas. During the 1960s and 1970s she occupied spaces on screens that gave her a privileged place in Mexican popular culture. Her performance as Thorina, the vampire queen, alongside the iconic professional wrestler and Mexican actor Rodolfo Guzmán, The Sainthe silver masked, It is perhaps one of his most famous and highest-grossing films. That production, from 1962, was followed by four others with the same fighter.

The so-called Sovereign of fantastic cinema, studied ballet from the age of five, along with her sister, the actress Tere Velázquez. At the age of 13 she began her journey through the theater, and at the age of 20, she began her appearance on the big screen, in which she debuted in 1956. On television her first role was that of Cathy, in Wuthering Heights (1964). He shared the screens with colleagues who are part of a long and privileged list of legends of Mexican cinema such as Germán Valdés, Tintan; Adalberto Martínez, Springs; Mauricio Garcés or Ignacio López Tarso. She also participated at the age of 16 in the beauty contest to take the place of Miss Mexico, in which she won second place.

The main film and cultural institutions in Mexico have lamented and remembered Velázquez’s 60-year career. The UNAM Film Archive has recalled films as The Abduction of the Sabine Women and The monster ship: “A sad morning due to the absence of Lorena Velázquez. “The queen of vampire women leaves a great legacy in national cinema.” The Mexican Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences also thanked the “many hours in front of the screen, enjoying their fight against evil.”

The last film production in which he participated was the film The devil knows more because he is oldfrom 2018. And on television, her role as Rose Somers in The Mexican and the güeroalong with Itatí Cantoral and Juan Soler, in 2020.

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