Actress Concha Velasco passed away at the age of 84

in the summer of 2021 the artist’s health deteriorated greatly and her children decided to move her to another home in March 2022. In December of the same year, he had to be hospitalized due to digestive system, liver and arthritis problems. In 2014, he suffered from lymphoma, which kept him away from the stage for months, and he eventually retired from the stage at the age of 81.

Velasco is one of the best examples of the intelligent transition that some actors and actresses made from the cinema that they had to do in the first period of their careers, to the cinema that emerged in Spain after the end of the dictatorship. Like José SacristanAlfredo Landa and José Luis López VázquezIt shows this transition from the stale comedies of the 50s and 60s, which are worthy of sociological studies today but are weak in terms of cinema, to the cinema of writers like. Carlos Saura, Jaime de Armiñán or Pedro Olea.

Just with the second one, it started to appear like this: The mature actress is ideal for characters subject to the inflexible laws of melodrama. Olea directed him in ‘Tormento’ (1974) and it was one of Velasco’s best works, or at least an important film in his career. ‘Bang, bang, bang… fire!’ (1975), in which she played a post-war Spanish showgirl who becomes the lover of a black marketeer and falls in love with a member of the maquis.

flamenco dancer

Previously Velasco she was a dancer: flamenco with Manolo Caracol, dance at the La Coruña Opera and chorus girl in Celia Gámez’s revues. He made his film debut in 1955, with a small role in the Álvarez Quintero brothers’ play ‘La Reina Mora’, set in Seville in the middle of the April Fair. Three years later she achieved fame and stardom. ‘Red Cross Daughters’ comedy of manners With the intention of being modern and ‘sparkling’, which is very typical of Pedro Masó’s productions.

happened Velasco’s first encounter with Tony Leblanc, The actor with whom she would be paired in the films ‘Day of Love’ (1959), ‘Los Tramposos’ (1959), ‘Amor Below Zero’ (1960) and ‘They Knew Too Much’ (1962). Undeniable success at the ticket office. Velasco was worth it The traditional Madrid of ‘La mine de la Paloma’ (1963) and also The vaudeville of ‘Almost a Gentleman’ (1964) or ‘earthcraft’ An example of the double feature films ‘The Art of Not Getting Married’ and ‘The Art of Getting Married’, both from 1966. He appeared in ‘Historias de la Television’ (1965), another of the characteristic ensemble films of the time. The “star system” is the usual Spanish comedy: Leblanc, Velasco, Landa, López Vázquez, Gracita Morales, Rafaela Aparicio and Antonio Ozores. Not only did it achieve success in cinemas: Velasco sang the song ‘Chica ye-ye’ in the film that defined him and an entire generation. A pop modernity that could not come.

Manolo Escobar’s ‘But… which country do we live in?’ He was his partner in the movie. (1967), a film that exploited the excitement of television competitions, and on the same television he starred – in the classic ‘Estudio 1’ – in a version of ‘Don Juan Tenorio’ (1966). ‘Those Who Have to Serve’ (1967), in which she played an Extremaduran maid in the house of some wealthy Americans, was another of her hits. He may or may not have been more comfortable in these roles, but the truth is, looking at his performances today, we see that he more than fulfills the role of non-reductive characters, but rather the following. Let’s add it to the list with almost psychotropic recommendations Again, as in Leblanc, ‘It doesn’t hurt to be a hippie once a year’ (1969), a film released the same year as ‘Easy Rider’ and the murder of Sharon Tate. By the Manson clan.

José Luis Sáenz de Heredia, Pedro Lazaga, José María Forqué, Mariano Ozores and Javier Aguirre were the usual directors. After the meeting with Olea came a cinema that was either more determined or even riskier, formally and narratively, as in the case of Antonio Artero’s ‘I believe that…’ (1975). ‘The Wedding of Blanca’ (1975), by the always abrasive Francisco Regueiro ‘My Wife Is As Good As It Can Be’ was another successful attempt to break ties with characters of the past, with director Antonio Drove attempting to invert the rock-style comedy.

Then another actor appeared, more complete and more confident: ‘The Long Holidays of ’36’ (1976), ‘The Beehive’ (1982), Her role as Teresa de Jesús in the homonymous series directed by Josefina Molina in 1984‘Night Night Hour’ (1985), ‘Beyond the Garden’ (1996) – his reunion with Olea – or ‘Paris-Timbuktu’ (1999), his first and last collaboration with Luis García Berlanga.

His last assignment was in the horror film ‘Malasaña 2’ (2020). He has been featured extensively on television in the last decade with the following series: ‘The Golden Girls’, ‘Central Hospital’, ‘Velvet’ and ‘Cable Girls’. He was awarded the Goya Honor Award in 2012 and has won several Max and Fotogramas de Plata awards for cinema, theater and musical performances; for example, the version of ‘Hello Dolly’ that premiered at the Teatro Calderon in Madrid in 2001.