María Elena Velasco

María Elena Velasco Fragoso (17 December 1940 – 1 May 2015) was a Mexican actress, comedian, singer-songwriter, dancer, screenwriter, film producer, and one of Mexico's few major female film directors.[1][2]

This article uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Velasco and the second or maternal family name is Fragoso.

María Elena Velasco Fragoso
Birth name	María Elena Velasco Fragoso
Born	(1940-12-17)17 December 1940 Puebla, Puebla, Mexico
Died	1 May 2015(2015-05-01) (aged 74) Mexico City, Mexico
Medium	Film, television, music, theatre
Nationality	Mexican
Years active	1962–2015
Genres	Character comedy, slapstick
Subject(s)	Indigenous Mexican women
Spouse	Julián de Meriche ​ ( m. 1965; died 1974)
Children	3

She is best known for creating and portraying La India María, a comical character based on indigenous Mexican women, in films and television programs.

Early life

Velasco was born in Puebla, to Tomás Velasco, a railway mechanic, and María Elena Fragoso.[3] She had three siblings, Gloria, Tomás and Susana.[3]

After the death of Tomás Velasco, the family moved to Mexico City, where she worked as a dancer at the Teatro Tívoli.[3][4] 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.[3]

Career

In 1962, her popularity at the Teatro Blanquita attracted the attention of producer Miguel Morayta, who cast her in her first film role in the drama Los derechos de los hijos (1963), starring Elvira Quintana and Carlos Agostí. Juan Bustillo Oro gave her the small part of Petra, a maid, in México de mis recuerdos (1963).[3] In 1964, she began to include comedic material to her appearances in sketches and, in the meantime, played servants in television programs.[3] She soon developed a comedy character named Elena María, a rural Mexican woman.[3] Her breakthrough came when director Fernando Cortés recommended her to portray an indigenous woman named "María" in one of Mantequilla's sketches.[3] The character was dressed in traditional garb consisting of traditionally braided and ribboned hair and colorful native-type blouses and skirts.[3] 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'".[3]

In 1969, Velasco appeared as La India María in a comic segment of the weekly program Siempre en domingo, hosted by Raúl Velasco (who is unrelated to María Elena). The segment quickly became a hit and she starred in other successful television programs.[3] Her first La India María vehicle, Tonta, tonta, pero no tanto (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).[4] She made her directorial debut in El coyote emplumado (1983). She also starred the television series Ay María, qué puntería (1998).[5]

Personal life

In the early 1960s, Velasco met Russian-born Mexican film actor and choreographer[6] Julián de Meriche (born Vladimir Lipkies Chazan) at the Teatro Blanquita.[3] They married and had three children, producer-director Iván Lipkies, writer-actress Goretti Lipkies, and writer-producer Ivette Lipkies.[7] 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."[7]

Death

Her death was announced over Twitter 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.[8]

Filmography

Velasco has starred in approximately 23 films in Mexico, and 3 television series. She received an Ariel Award in 2004 for Best Adapted Screenplay for the film Huapango (a film not of the India María series).[9]

La India María series

Year	Title	Role
1972	Tonta, tonta, pero no tanto	María Nicolasa Cruz
1973	¡Pobre, pero honrada!	María Nicolasa Cruz
1974	Algo es algo, dijo el diablo	María Nicolasa Cruz
1974	La madrecita	Sor María Nicolasa Cruz
1975	La presidenta municipal	María Nicolasa Cruz
1976	El miedo no anda en burro	María Nicolasa Cruz
1977	Sor Tequila	María Nicolasa del Sagrado Corazón/Sor Tequila
1978	Duro pero seguro	María Nicolasa Cruz
1978	La comadrita	María Nicolasa Cruz
1981	Okey, Mister Pancho	María Nicolasa Cruz
1982	¡El que no corre... vuela!	María Nicolasa Cruz
1983	El coyote emplumado	María
1984	Ni Chana, ni Juana	María Juana Cruz/Emilia Falcón (Luciana “Chana” Cruz)
1988	Ni de aqui, ni de alla	María
1993	Se equivocó la cigueña	María
1999	Las delicias del poder	María/Lorena Barriga
2014	La hija de Moctezuma	María Nicolasa Cruz [10]

Other films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2004	Huapángo	Dance instructor

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1972	Revista musical Nescafe	La India María
1988	Papá soltero	La India María
1998–2004	¡Ay María qué puntería!	La India María
2003	La hora pico	La India María
2003	Mujer, Casos de la Vida Real	María	1 episode – Amor Incondicional
2004	La familia P. Luche	La India María	Season 1 episode 38 – Nos vamos de viaje
2013	Corazón indomable	María Nicolasa Cruz de Olivares

References

1. Biographical Dictionary of Mexican Film Performers: "U-Z". umd.edu
2. Google books, Women filmmakers in Mexico: the country of which we dream, Elissa Rashkin, 2001, p. 76.
3. "La India María", La historia detras del mito. Azteca; accessed 4 May 2015.
4. "VELASCO, María Elena". Escritores del cine. Retrieved 27 October 2014.
5. "Mañana da inicio "Ay María, que puntería"". El Siglo de Torreón. 5 January 1998. Retrieved 27 October 2014.
6. Julián de Meriche profile, Biographical Dictionary of Mexican Film Performers terpconnect.umd.edu; accessed 4 May 2015.
7. Mora, Angélica (21 October 2014). "María Elena Velasco, 'La India María' nos revela porqué ¡no se volvió a casar!". TVNotas. Retrieved 27 October 2014.
8. "Fallece María Elena Velasco, 'La India María'". Excelsior. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
9. "Famous Mexican Actors and Actresses". Buzzle. Archived from the original on 14 April 2016. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
10. Graban película de “La India María” – Diario Eyipantla Milenio. Diarioeyipantla.com, 24 May 2011; retrieved 14 July 2012.

External links

• María Elena Velasco on IMDb
• María Elena Velasco at the TCM Movie Database