Actress Gemma Cuervo, grande dame of television comedy, dies

BarcelonaGemma Cuervo passed away this Saturday at the age of 91, as confirmed by sources close to the family. The Barcelona-born actress began her career at the Spanish University Theatre of Barcelona and made her professional debut with Adolfo Marsillach in Harveyby Mary Chase. Later, José Tamayo Rivas brought her into the Lope de Vega Company. In 1969, she formed her own company with her husband, Fernando Guillén, and they performed plays in various Spanish cities and abroad.

The theater was Cuervo's first great love, and she performed in nearly a hundred plays throughout her career, alternating more popular works with classics by Pirandello, Lope de Vega, and Molière. But fame among the general public came with television, first through the character of Consuelo in Family doctor and, above all, with Vicenta de Nobody lives hereIn this series set in a neighborhood community, the actress formed an iconic trio with Mariví Bilbao (Marisa) and Emma Penella (Concha). "We had a lovely trio... each one more different and beautiful," she told Socialite in 2023.

When Nobody lives here It ended and mutated into The one that's comingThe three actresses were cast in the series to play Mari Tere (Cuervo), Izaskun (Bilbao), and Charo (Penella), but the latter's death in 2007 brought an end to this celebrated trio. Cuervo continued working on the series for a few more years, but finally retired in 2010, after the fourth season. Coinciding with the actress's 90th birthday, there were rumors of a one-off return for Cuervo to the series, which ultimately did not materialize.

The actress of a cursed classic

Cuervo also made a good number of films, but his career in cinema is more low-key. However, he did participate in one of the cursed classics of Spanish cinema from the 1960s: The world goes onThe social drama directed by Fernando Fernán Gómez in 1965, which had a limited theatrical release, has become a cult classic and is acclaimed as one of the harshest portrayals of Francoist Spain. Cuervo played Luisita, who becomes the mistress of wealthy men to escape poverty.

"She embodied what was then considered the worst social ill because she prostitutes herself freely," Cuervo explained to el ARA in 2015, when the film was re-released in theaters. The actress emphasized the authenticity of the portrayal that The world goes on She addressed the sexism of the time: "That's how it was. They looked at you with contempt, and if you wore trousers, they'd spit on you." In 1965, the film's theatrical distribution was so poor that it wasn't even shown in Madrid or Barcelona. When it was finally screened in Madrid 50 years later, the actress was able to attend. "It was the most important day of my career," she affirmed.