MEXICO CITY (AP) — The first Mexican actress Silvia Pinal, diva of the Cine de Oro and who shared credits with Cantinflas, Tin Tan and Pedro Infante, and starred in Luis Buñuel’s film “Viridiana” that won a prize at Cannes, died on Thursday. He was 93 years old.
The National Association of Interpreters and the Secretary of Culture of Mexico, Claudia Curiel de Icaza, mourned his death in their X accounts.
“His legacy as an artist and his contribution to our culture are unforgettable. Rest in peace,” the secretary wrote.
Days before, her relatives reported that she was hospitalized but stable due to a urinary tract infection. In his later years he also suffered from COVID-19, pneumonia and sores on his back. In 2020 he had to undergo hip surgery after suffering a fall.
Pinal had a career spanning more than six decades in which he appeared in more than 60 films produced in Mexico, Argentina, Spain and even the United States. Beginning in the 1960s, he began his equally prolific television career, with programs such as “Mujer cases de la vida real” and “Silvia y Enrique” and the soap operas “El Privilege de Amar” and “Soy tu dueña.”
Along with her role as an actress, Pinal stood out as a theater producer, ventured into politics and was leader of the National Association of Actors between 2010 and 2014.
She established an entire dynasty of women dedicated to art. His daughters Sylvia Pasquel and Alejandra Guzmán launched successful careers in theater and music, respectively. Likewise, she was the grandmother of the singer and actress Stephanie Salas, of the model and businesswoman Frida Sofía, and great-grandmother of the model Michelle Salas (Luis Miguel’s first-born daughter).
In 2022, the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature of Mexico paid tribute to him with film, musical theater and a show worthy of a television gala.
“Oh mamacita!” said Pinal, causing laughter from the audience when she was on stage. “I feel so excited right now, I feel full of things.”
Pinal danced excitedly in her wheelchair when she received recognition for her artistic work as a distinguished graduate of the National School of Theater Art. During the gala she was accompanied by her daughters Sylvia, Alejandra, her granddaughter Stephanie and her great-granddaughter Michelle, among other family and friends such as the actresses Diana Bracho, María Rojo, Angélica Aragón, Fela Domínguez and Bianca Marroquín.
“I want to thank you, mother,” Guzmán said at the tribute. “All the things that you have shown us that any woman can do, because you have done more than that, you have achieved your dreams… Thank you for giving us talent, giving us your blood, giving us your caste and always giving us that smile.”
Pinal was born in Guaymas, in the northern Mexican state of Sonora, on September 12, 1931. Her family moved to Mexico City when she was still small. She began her acting career at a very young age in theater and radio. At the age of 17 he got his first role in the film “Bamba” (1948) by Miguel Contreras Torres.
Her husky voice and attractive physique quickly established her as a star despite her young age. The following year he was already acting with Cantinflas in “Puerta, Joven” and with Tin Tan in “El rey del barrio.”
In those early years he also shared credits with Marga López, in “Orange blossoms for your wedding” by Julián Soler, and with Pedro Infante in “The woman that I lost”, by Roberto Rodríguez.
Love didn’t take long to come into his life either. She married producer Rafael Banquells at the age of 17, with whom she had Sylvia a year later. But the marriage did not last long; They divorced in 1952, when Pinal won her first Ariel Award (the Mexican equivalent of the Oscar) for best co-acting for “A Corner Near Heaven,” in which she again coincided with Infante.
Her role in “A Stranger on the Stairs” (1954) alongside Arturo de Córdova made her one of the public’s favorites in the 1950s, when she received two more Ariels for her work in “Locura pasional” (1955). and “The Sweet Enemy” (1956).
With the Argentine director Tulio Demicheli, her career took an even more sensual turn and she established herself as a femme fatale, with titles such as “Lend me your body”, “Una golfa” and “Desnúdate Lucrecia”, all released in 1958. Their collaboration was so successful. , that Pinal and Demicheli decided to move to Spain to expand their careers. This is how the actress filmed “Goodbye, Mimí Pompón” and “Maribel and the strange family” in the Iberian Peninsula.
In 1961 she married businessman Gustavo Alatriste, with whom she had her second daughter, Viridiana, before divorcing in 1967. Alatriste also produced, along with Juan Antonio Bardem, Buñuel’s key film: “Viridiana.”
The film marked the director’s return to his native Spain. Buñuel moved from his country in 1937 and became a Mexican national in the years after the civil war. Although the director obtained authorization to film in Spanish territory, Franco’s censorship made him modify the ending of the film.
It is considered one of the best films in Spanish cinema and for years it was the only one from that country to win the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. But at the time, a negative review by The Vatican led to “Viridiana,” which portrays a novice (Pinal) whose uncle (Fernando Rey) is attracted to her and tries to possess her after doping her, being banned in Spain and persecution of the director.
Pinal said that he smuggled the only copy of “Viridiana” that was rescued, since the Franco authorities had ordered its destruction.
Pinal’s work with Buñuel continued in the conceptual film “The Exterminating Angel” (1962) and the comedy “Simon of the Desert” (1965). Throughout that decade, Pinal also made comedies, musical recordings and various television programs.
In 1967 she married Guzmán, a singer and actor who was 12 years younger than her. Despite the age difference, the couple had two children, Enrique and Alejandra, who would become one of the most prominent pop-rock singers in Mexico over the years.
With Guzmán he filmed the popular “How there are scoundrels!” (1971) by René Cardona Jr.
Years later, Pinal would reveal in her autobiography “This is me” that her relationship with Guzmán was abusive, a situation that was also portrayed in her biographical series “Silvia Pinal, in front of you” in 2019, starring Itatí Cantoral and broadcast on the channel The Stars of Televisa.
Pinal’s life was not free of other misfortunes. The death of her daughter Viridiana at age 19 in a car accident marked her in 1982. She distanced herself for years from her eldest daughter, Pasquel, because she had a romantic relationship with a man with whom Pinal had also been involved. In 2000, he had to leave Mexico to avoid prison while he resolved his alleged tax debts. And in her final years, Frida Sofía accused her grandfather and Pinal’s ex-husband, the actor and singer Enrique Guzmán, of sexual abuse that she said occurred when she was a child.
Frida Sofía also accused her mother of corruption of minors and family violence. Pinal initially offered help to Frida Sofía, although she later said in an interview that she did not want to get involved in the case because she had her doubts.
Six years after her divorce from Guzmán, in 1982, Pinal married for the fourth time with the then governor of the state of Tlaxcala, Tulio Hernández, with whom she remained until 1987. The actress moved to the state capital with her children in 1982. , and on October 25 of that year his daughter Viridiana died in a car accident.
After the difficult period of mourning, Pinal had a relevant year in her career in 1985, when she became a theater producer with the Silvia Pinal and Diego Rivera theaters and began broadcasting her famous television program “Woman, real life cases.” , which lasted more than 20 years on the air and was successfully broadcast in Latin America and the United States.
The following decade was marked by his foray into politics. Pinal was a deputy, senator and assembly member of the Federal District for the Institutional Revolutionary Party. She was also general secretary of the National Association of Interpreters for a time.
But in 2000 she had problems with the treasury, which accused her of not having paid taxes for the broadcast of “Mujer” for years. This led the actress to leave the country and live in the United States for a while while her situation was resolved.
The following years he appeared in other soap operas, including “Carita de Ángel”, “Amarte es mi sin” and “Una familia de ten”.
In 2006 she was awarded the order of Isabel La Católica and two years later she received the Golden Ariel for her cinematographic career.
He is survived by his daughters Sylvia and Alejandra, his son Enrique, his granddaughters Stephanie and Frida Sofía, and his great-granddaughter Michelle.
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