She is Loles León, a great geese, a 71-year-old from Barcelona, a permanent outburst, a vedette and an actress valued by filmmakers in the category of Almodóvar, Vicente Aranda and Fernando Trueba, and “goose that lays the golden eggs” for her acclaimed comedic interventions in television series His work in ‘La que se avecina’ (Telecinco), and in comedies that sweep the box office such as ‘Padre no hay más que uno 2’, by Santiago Segura, serve as a hilarious example. The third installment is already underway. Now she has returned to musical theater, led by Juan Luis Iborra, with ‘Una noche con ella’, a musical show written for her with which she will tour the entire country offering entertainment. Theirs is pure theater. English, no idea.
– What can you tell me about love?
– Oh, so soon! [Ríe] That when you fall into his clutches, he will do with you what he wants. The head you can control, but the heart is impossible to control; when he sets off, he takes you adrift, as Bambino sang.
– What do you have no doubts about?
– Regarding the mission that I have in the world, I have none. I have come to this world to please the public, to entertain and to bring happiness. And since I work with that very well and with great affection, people thank me for making them happy and cheering up their day for a while, which we need. I never forget that I work for people, not to receive awards, or to go down in history, you see how important that is to me; I do not believe in Eternal Life, but in that you die and end.
– What are you not even though you seem so?
– I give the impression that I’m going to eat the world and I’m not going to leave a trace of it, but then I can’t see anyone having a bad time.
– What are you not ready for?
– To put aside the sense of humor; that comes with me everywhere. In my case, the sense of humor is what often keeps me going in this world. They don’t give me anything, darling, they’ve never given me anything at all. I have worked non-stop all my life. And I continue.
– Patient?
– I try to be so with the inexperience and insecurity of others, because it is true that that inexperience and that insecurity sometimes lead us to do things that go against ourselves. In addition, I am very clear that it takes a lot to mature. In fact, it has cost me a lot to mature; even, I recognize that I am not mature at all. [Risas] I still do everything…, and I say to myself: ‘Oh, but why do I let myself get carried away here?’ Well, because I don’t know much because I’m not fully mature! In life we have to stumble, to get up and say: ‘Oh, look, this is not going to happen to me anymore because I’ve already learned my lesson!’ Although well, that’s what you think, that you’ve learned your lesson; ok, ok, we’ll see what happens next time, honey.
– Then what?
– And what do I know, because it is better that we are clueless and that we have no memory for bad things!
– What do you like about the women who inhabit the works of García Lorca, an author who loves to recite?
– The resistance to conventions, the desire for freedom…; Bernarda always gives you [Alba] to repress you, but you always have an Adela there too [la hija menor de Bernarda Alba] to refuse to be oppressed, although in the case of Adela it takes it to the extreme by killing herself. They are women who dare to challenge the established norms, as happens to the bride in ‘Bodas de sangre’, who ends up guided by the impulses of her heart, no matter what happens. I would love to play them all, from the first to the last.
– Have you felt overwhelmed by popularity?
– No, popularity doesn’t bother me at all, but nothing at all, quite the opposite. I leave the theater and attend to all those correct and polite people who are waiting for me to take a picture or ask for an autograph or tell me something. I understand it, because the same thing happened to me when I was young and saw my idols. I even like giving hugs to the public, although now I hold back because we are not in the season of hugs. And, well, if I’m in a restaurant eating a steak and they tell me someone wants to say hello to me, then what I do is finish eating it first so it doesn’t get cold. I have chased a dream and made it come true, so I enjoy it and I think it’s foolish not to share it with the public, who ultimately is the one to whom you owe everything.
“They give me a lot of shame”
– How special is it considered?
– Let’s see, I’ve never considered myself a very special person; these things of believing oneself to be a star and special and wonderful and such make me very embarrassed. It does not enter my heart or my head to think that I am better than anyone, or more important, or the queen of the seas. I already told you that my thing is to entertain, and with that I think I help others and I also help myself to fulfill myself. Fortunately, I have had a family and couples who have never let me get out of the pot, which is not that I have tried very hard because I am a realist. Let’s see, I have managed to go to Hollywood, be at the top, experience the Oscars in person with Almodóvar, meet a number of very important people. [con Jeremy Irons a punto estuvo de vivir una noche loca]…; then I went back there for other assignments and shot some things, but I always saw it as just another job. Further, but one more. And, above all, since I don’t know English, well, he told me, the truth; ‘Oh, let’s see if I finish this soon, you have to be here with signs all the time and I look like an Indian!’.
– Did you already have this impetus of yours as a child?
– Yes Yes. She was very moved and very porculera; I’ve always been very moved, very heavy, I’ve always caused problems. My mother told me: ‘Come on, go with your father and don’t bother me anymore!’ She was always screwing around with one thing or another. And, it was, as my mother used to say [risas], ready for whatever I wanted, because I went to school to entertain, more than to learn. I was an imitator of all the teachers, and as soon as they walked out the door I would imitate them and all my classmates would die of laughter.
– What did you always want to do?
– Travel, see the world, meet people. I lived in Barceloneta, but before the port was fixed and the luxury yachts arrived and all that, which arrived when I was already in Madrid. And thank goodness! If as a child I happen to have those yachts nearby, they find me on the high seas as a stowaway.
– Who did you want to look like?
– To the models of that time, like Twiggy [Leslie Lawson] , who was also an actress and singer. I painted my eyes and I cut my hair like her, what happens is that I was short and fat, and she was tall and thin. She wanted to look like the best models and she dreamed of our artists like Marisol, Rocío Dúrcal, Sara Montiel, that she told me one day that she had very nice and well-positioned breasts, which is true [risas].
– And that life is not easy, when did you learn it?
– From a very young age. My family had a churrería and in my house you had to work hard, leisure did not exist there. From a very young age I have known that you have to work hard in life, that you have to make an effort, and that it has an A side, a B side and so on up to the Zeta. When I was seven or eight years old I was already very smart.
– And your beginnings as an artist?
– My beginnings were very difficult because I wanted to be a serious actress like Nuria Espert. I started with poems by Miguel Hernández, and then with independent theater, which was very hard…; then the thing was more rounded, but the beginnings were quite soulless. Then came the cabaret, and the music-hall, and the musical comedy, and since I’m a ‘sex symbol’, in my own way but a ‘sex symbol’, the public loved it. and taste still [risas].
– Have you felt free?
– I have always been free, and that is why I have had conflicts, for defending my freedom. They have tried to tie me down everywhere, like everyone else, but I have always rebelled and fought for my freedom and for my ideas. It has its price, but I like to pay. I have always followed my path, without caring what the neighbors thought or what I was doing seemed good or bad to others.
– What do you owe to Pedro Almodóvar, Vicente Aranda and Fernando Trueba?
– Almodóvar, Aranda and Trueba have been very important pillars in my life. Almodóvar gave me the opportunity to enter the cinema through the front door, and then Aranda and Trueba gave me the opportunity to play roles that I wanted to play. They have always been very generous with me. Aranda even sent me the script and told me: ‘Read it and tell me what role you want.’ He gave me a choice. And Trueba is another wonderful human being and a director who really values what you say to him.
– ‘Loles León is missing here’, I heard a couple say at the cinema watching one of Almodóvar’s last films.
– [Risas] Yes, yes, I also say the same. But, look, everything they give me seems wonderful to me and I appreciate it. And if I haven’t made a movie for a while, well, I reinvent myself and nothing happens. I am also very happy with the series, and now I am having a great time with the theater. Look, doing cabaret and music-hall and everything now that I’ve become, thanks to Santiago Segura, the most popular grandmother in Spain. I’m going all the way
– You told Juan Luis Iborra to remove profanity from the show, why?
– You see, there are things that I still love to do, that are a joy and the joy of life, but that I don’t like to name the rough in public like that. fine, which is a [risas].
“Like a gift”
– And also nostalgic?
– No no no. Now that I’m older I don’t have any homesickness. What I do is live everything that is happening to me as a gift.
– Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem, two Spanish actors nominated for Oscars.
– I’m so happy for them! They are two great actors and two wonderful people. We all have to feel very proud of them.
– There are those who attack them mercilessly.
– I can’t with envy, nor with baseness. Attacking Penelope and Javier seems to me something so low and so sad. Better not pay attention to them.
– And the men?
– What happens to them now?
– Of everything. How does she get along with them?
– Me ? I’ve always gotten along very well with them, is there anything more entertaining for a woman than a man? No! I laugh a lot with them, I like them a lot and I will continue to like them. And I’m going to say something to all these women who don’t like men. Many of the achievements and rights that all these young women enjoy today have been achieved by the men and women of the 60s and 70s fighting together; I repeat, men and women together.