Carmen Salinas, Mexican TV and film actress, dies at age 82

By: Michael Goldman

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Carmen Salinas disguised herself to receive the Covid-19 vaccine

Mexican actress, producer and politician Carmen Salinas, star of films such as “Danzón”, “Man on Fire” and “Bellas de Noche” as well as soap operas and series such as “María la del Barrio” and “Killer women” passed away on Thursday. He was 82 years old.

Relatives of the actress communicated her death through the Salinas Twitter account.

“It is with deep pain that we inform you that the first actress Carmen Salinas has passed away today, December 9,” says the message published along with a black and white photograph of the star. “We appreciate all the messages of support and expressions of respect towards our family. As well as the expressions of affection and prayers that they offered to our beloved Carmelita “.

The actress was in a coma after suffering a stroke in November. Family members had said that he appeared to be on the mend, but he was unable to recover.

Details about his funeral services will be released later, relatives said.

Speaking jocular and rude, but with an affable tone that over the years became typical of a grandmother who gives blessings to her relatives, Salinas used to go without problem from comedy to drama.

The actress, whose full name was Carmen Salinas Lozano, was born in Torreón, in the northern state of Coahuila, on October 5, 1939. From a humble family, with a single mother, she only studied elementary school and began her career as a child in the 1950s following in the footsteps of her sister Finita.

Salinas sang and did imitations on the radio, when she was older she participated in beauty and talent contests. Soon he began to have presentations in theaters in Coahuila and Mexico City such as the famous El Patio nightclub and at that time he said that he liked to party with the actress Evita Muñoz “Chachita” and Pedro Infante.

By the 1960s she was already a television actress under the direction of Ernesto Alonso in soap operas such as “Casa de barrio”, “Frontera” and “Sublime redención”. He also shared credit in programs by Pedro Vargas, Paco Malgesto, Héctor Lechuga Viruta and Capulina.

In cinema he made his debut in the 1970 film “La vida inutil de Pito Pérez” by Roberto Gavaldón. “The crime of Cácaro Gumaro”, “The same moon”, “All power”, “Danzón”, “Letters to Elena”, “Pancho has dinner tonight”, “Long live Tepito!” and “Bellas de noche” are other of his film credits.

Other soap operas in which he acted are “Until money separates us”, “The burning torch”, “María la del Barrio”, “María Mercedes”, “The devil’s smile” and “My fortune is loving you”, this one from 2021. In series he acted in “The P. Luche family”, “Murderous women” and “Woman, real life cases”.

In theater she acted in plays such as “Each one his life”, “I came, I saw and I left better” and “Learning to be a lady”.

His credits include “Man on Fire” (“Man on Fire”) with Denzel Washington, a thriller filmed in Mexico City and Puebla.

Salinas was recognized in 2016 with the Extraordinary ACE Award from the Association of Show Croners of New York and a Silver Goddess from the Periodistas Cinematográfica de México, AC (PECIME) organization for her painting roles in “La misma luna” and in “Letters to Elena.”

In theater she was the producer of the musical “Aventurera” for which she recruited actresses such as Edith González, Itatí Cantoral, Niurka Marcos, Ninel Conde and Maribel Guardia in the main role.

Salinas was a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, for which she was elected plurinominal federal deputy in 2015, a position she held until 2018. She came to be criticized for falling asleep in a session of the radio and television commission and she herself told the media that she preferred the money she earned as an actress than as a legislator.

In 1956 she married the pianist Pedro Plascencia, from whom she separated in the 1960s. With Plascencia she had children María Eugenia and Pedro, who was also a musician and whose death from cancer in 1994 marked Salinas to the point of temporarily interrupting his career. Salinas also spoke openly of the pain that caused her to suffer several abortions throughout her life and the death of a newborn son whom Jesus gave her.

She is survived by her daughter María Eugenia and her grandchildren.