She dedicated a good part of her career to the theater, although she was known for her roles in ‘Juncal’, TVE’s ‘Estudio 1’ or in the film ‘En Septiembre’
The San Sebastian actress Carmen de la Maza died yesterday at the age of 83 in a Madrid hospital after a long illness. As reported by Aisge (Performing Artists, Management Company), the mortal remains of De la Maza (San Sebastián, 1938) will be veiled at the Madrid funeral home on the M-30 starting at 12:00 today.
Known for her roles in TVE’s ‘Estudio 1’, ‘Juncal’ or in the film ‘En Septiembre’ by Jaime de Armiñán, De la Maza was the daughter of the renowned guitarist Regino Sainz de la Maza and the granddaughter of the writer Concha Espina. The actress had three children —Agustín, Regina and Pablo— as a result of her marriage to the film director Agustín Navarro (1926-2001). Later she was a partner of the actor José Luis López Vázquez, so this year she was going to participate in the celebrations of the centenary of the birth of the protagonist of ‘The Cabin’ (March 11, 1922).
After studying Dramatic Art in Madrid, he began his career in the theater participating in plays such as ‘Las Señoras Primero’, ‘Don Juan Tenorio’, ‘Tartufo’, ‘Mariana Pineda’ or ‘Cena para dos’. He later achieved great popularity after participating in the aforementioned ‘Estudio 1’ on TVE or in the dramatic space ‘Novela’, also broadcast on the public channel in the 1960s.
In television fiction, he was in the cast of ‘Room 508’, a series written and starring Adolfo Marsillach in 1966, and in ‘Juncal’ (1989), by Jaime de Armiñán and in which he shared the cast with Francisco Rabal, Rafael Álvarez ‘El Brujo’ or Emma Penella, among other performers. He also participated in other fictions such as ‘Hospital Central’ or ‘El Comisario’, on Telecinco.
On the big screen, Carmen de la Maza took part in films such as ‘Canción de Juventud’, starring Rocío Dúrcal, ‘Más tú del Jardín’, directed by Pedro Olea, whose story is based on the novel by Antonio Gala, or in ‘ The Birds of Baden-Baden’, by Mario Camus. He was also part of the cast of ‘Airbag’ by Juanma Bajo Ulloa.
Character actress, she liked difficult characters. «During the years that I had my own company I went a bit against the current, I started with Arnold Wesker, I continued with Romero Esteo, I got involved with Lope de Vega, with Lorca, I premiered Torrente Ballester. It is not the theater of making yourself pretty and going out to say how well I am, ”she explained a few years ago to this newspaper.
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