María Elena Velasco Fragoso (17 December 1940 – 1 May 2015) was a Mexican actress, comedian, singer-songwriter and dancer. She is best known for creating and portraying La India María, a comical character based on

indigenous Mexican women Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

Early life

Velasco was born in Puebla, to Tomás Velasco Saavedra, a railway mechanic, and María Elena Fragoso Peón."La India María", ''La historia detras del mito''. Azteca; accessed 4 May 2015. She had three siblings, Gloria, Tomás and Susana. After the death of Tomás Velasco, the family moved to

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

, where she worked as a dancer at the Teatro Tívoli. Later, she became one of the showgirls of the Teatro Blanquita, where she also participated in sketches starring comedians such as José "El Ojón" Jasso and Óscar Ortiz de Pinedo, among others.

Career

In 1962, her popularity at the Teatro Blanquita attracted the attention of producer

Miguel Morayta Miguel Morayta (15 August 1907 – 19 June 2013) was a Spanish film director and screenwriter. He directed 74 films between 1944 and 1978. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, Morayta was a Spanish artillery officer, who joined the Republ ...

, who cast her in her first film role in the drama ''Los derechos de los hijos'' (1963), starring

Elvira Quintana Elvira Catalina Quintana Molina (7 November 1935 – 8 August 1968) was a Spanish-Mexican actress and singer. Early life and career Born in Montijo, Spain, Quintana and her family migrated to Mexico when she was 5 years old. She began her ca ...

and Carlos Agostí. Juan Bustillo Oro gave her the small part of Petra, a maid, in ''México de mis recuerdos'' (1963). In 1964, she began to include comedic material to her appearances in sketches and, in the meantime, played servants in television programs. She soon developed a comedy character named Elena María, a rural Mexican woman. Her breakthrough came when director

Fernando Cortés Fernando "Papi" Cortés (October 4, 1909 – 1979) was a Puerto Rican film actor, writer and director. He was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, but he spent most of his adult life in Mexico City, where he died. On 1932, while in New York City, Fe ...

recommended her to portray an indigenous woman named "María" in one of Mantequilla's sketches. The character was dressed in traditional garb consisting of traditionally braided and ribboned hair and colorful native-type blouses and skirts. In an effort to make her portrayal more authentic, she observed the gestures and mannerisms of indigenous women; her own mother made dresses for the character. She later appeared in the western ''El bastardo'' (1968), where she was credited for the first time as "María Elena Velasco 'La India María'". In 1969, Velasco appeared as La India María in a comic segment of the weekly program ''

Siempre en domingo ''Siempre en Domingo'' (translated ''Always on Sunday'') is a Mexican variety show created and hosted by Raúl Velasco. The show aired on Televisa from December 14, 1969 until April 19, 1998 when Velasco retired. ''Siempre en Domingo'' became one ...

'', hosted by

Raúl Velasco Raúl Velasco Ramírez (April 24, 1933 – November 26, 2006) was a Mexican host/ producer of the TV show ''Siempre en Domingo'' (''Always on Sunday'') which is his hallmark contribution to the Latin American world and eventually to other parts ...

(who is unrelated to María Elena). The segment quickly became a hit and she starred in other successful television programs. Her first La India María film, ''

Tonta, tonta, pero no tanto ''Tonta, tonta, pero no tanto'' (English: ''Foolish, Foolish, But Not So Much'') is a 1972 Mexican comedy film directed by Fernando Cortés and starring María Elena Velasco as La India María. Plot In San Jose de Los Burros, María Nicolasa Cruz ...

'' (1972), was directed by Fernando Cortés; in total, Cortés directed eight La India María films until his death in 1979. The enormous success of the film spawned a series of low-budget comedies that became a mainstay in Mexican movie theaters. Velasco won a Silver Goddess Award for Best Comedic Performance for ''¡El que no corre... vuela!'' (1982). She made her directorial debut in '' El coyote emplumado'' (1983). She also starred the television series '' Ay María, qué puntería'' (1998).

Personal life

In the early 1960s, Velasco met Russian-born Mexican film actor and choreographer

Julián de Meriche Julián de Meriche (born Vladimir Lipkies Chazan; 10 october 1910 – 27 July 1974) was a Russian Empire-born Mexican film actor and choreographer. De Meriche worked as a dancer in European music halls, then moved to Argentina where he worked ...

(born Vladimir Lipkies Chazan)Julián de Meriche profile
''Biographical Dictionary of Mexican Film Performers'' terpconnect.umd.edu; accessed 4 May 2015. at the Teatro Blanquita. They married and had two children, producer-director Iván Lipkies and actress, screenwriter and producer Ivette Eugenia Lipkies, also known as Goretti Lipkies. She later said: "My husband was worth gold, I will not lie and say he was the perfect man, but he was the love of my life." She also had a daughter with Raul Velasco named Marina Velasco who was given up and kept a secret , In 2020 a new scandal surfaced after two women, Mirna Velasco and Denisse Guerrero, singer of the Mexican pop band

Belanova Belanova was a Mexican pop band that formed in the city of Guadalajara, Jalisco, in 2000. The group consisted of Denisse Guerrero (lead vocals), Edgar Huerta (keyboards, programming) and Ricardo "Richie" Arreola (bass, guitar). Although these ar ...

, affirmed to be daughters of Velasco with Mexican host

Death

Her death was announced over

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

by the Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografía on 1 May 2015; the cause of death was not made public, but it was known that she had been suffering from stomach cancer.

Performances

Film

Television

Stage

Discography

* ''La mejor cantante de todas las grabadoras'' (1971) * ''De chile, de dulce y de manteca'' (1982)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Velasco, Maria Elena 1940 births 2015 deaths 20th-century Mexican actresses 21st-century Mexican actresses Actresses from Puebla Best Adapted Screenplay Ariel Award winners Deaths from stomach cancer Deaths from cancer in Mexico Golden Age of Mexican cinema Mexican film actresses Mexican screenwriters Mexican women singer-songwriters Mexican singer-songwriters Mexican stage actresses Mexican television actresses Mexican women comedians Mexican women film directors Mexican women film producers Musart Records artists People from Puebla (city) Mexican people of Basque descent CategorY:Mexican people of Spanish descent Mexican people of Italian descent Mexican people of indigenous peoples descent