Susana Estrada

Ángela Susana Pereda Estrada (born 18 June 1950), known professionally as Susana Estrada, is a Spanish actress, vedette, and singer.[1][2] She is considered one of the most uninhibited and provocative sex symbols from the era of the Spanish transition to democracy, and one of the most prominent actresses of "uncovered cinema".[3]

Susana Estrada
Born	Ángela Susana Pereda Estrada (1950-06-18) 18 June 1950 Gijón, Spain
Occupation	Actress, vedette, singer
Years active	1973–present

Biography

From a mining family, Susana Estrada resided in Gijón, where she worked as a librarian at the Ateneo Jovellanos.[4] In the early 1970s she decided to move to Madrid to start her artistic career, beginning with modest incursions into café-théâtre. After a short time she had small roles in films by directors such as José Luis Merino (El Zorro de Monterrey, 1971),[5] Benito Alazraki (Las tres perfectas casadas, 1973), Tomás Aznar (El libro de buen amor, alongside her cousin Blanca Estrada), Jorge Grau (La trastienda, 1975), and Amando de Ossorio (Night of the Seagulls, 1975).

Rise to fame

In 1976, only a few months after the death of Francisco Franco – and with it the end of his regime's censorship – Estrada presented "the most daring show in Madrid", Historias de "Strip-Tease", at the Videoset Theater at No. 5 Calle de la Princesa.[6] In it, alluding to the film Gilda in which Rita Hayworth sensually removes a single glove, Estrada removed everything except that garment. This made her the first Spanish actress to perform completely nude onstage (María José Goyanes and Victoria Vera had previously shown their breasts, in Equus and ¿Por qué corres, Ulises? respectively),[7] marking a transgressive sexual milestone of the time.[8]

The same year, she began editing a sexology advice column in Play Lady magazine. Her opinions were considered so immoral that she was prosecuted 14 times for creating a public scandal[9] and sanctioned with a fine, withdrawal of her passport, disqualification from public office, and loss of the right to vote until 1988,[10] "to the point of being forced to have four bodyguards".[11]

But, far from being intimidated, the actress continued to appear nude in numerous magazines, such as Interviú (in "desnuda en familia", August 1976), Lib, Climax, Papillon, and Solo para hombres. The erotic fotonovela El sexo de Susana was published in the latter in 1979, with episodes titled Entre mis jóvenes muslos (II), Dulce sexo de Lesbos (III), La magia del deseo (VII), and Placeres crueles (VIII). In her public statements, she made it clear that she does not take off her clothes because of "demands of the script", but because she feels like it and, above all, because she considers that the equality of women must begin with total disinhibition when it comes to showing their bodies in public and sexual activity without prohibitions.[11]

From 1977 to 1981, she starred in a series of films of high erotic content, such as El jovencito Drácula (Carlos Benpar, 1977), Sexy… amor y fantasía (Juan Xiol, 1977, with Ágata Lys), and Pepito piscinas (Luis María Delgado, 1978, with Fernando Esteso). She became known for appearing in films which were rated "S", indicating sexual content that went beyond the simple exposure of a nipple.[12] At the same time she released some singles, such as "¡Gózame ya!",[13] "Hagámoslo juntos", "¡Quítate el sostén!", "Tócame", "Voy desnuda, Mi chico favorito", and "Qué calor!", the last two of which were rated "S" for their pornographic content.

On 29 May 1978, the actress, who had already become a symbol of the incipient sexual revolution in the country with her frequent nude scenes and her irreverent language, published a story in Can Can magazine, alongside established authors such as Francisco Ibáñez, Raf, and Roberto Segura.[14]

Also in 1978, the book Susana Estrada húmedo sexo was published by her representative Carlos de las Heras, in which the author describes the artist's sex life in detail, and for which he was sentenced in August 1984 to a month and a day of major arrest, disqualification, and a fine of 40,000 pesetas.[15]

"Don't catch cold"

The image that triggered Estrada's greatest media notoriety was taken on 14 February 1978 during an awards ceremony promoted by the defunct newspaper Pueblo, in which the actress is seen collecting one of the awards from the then leader of the People's Socialist Party, Enrique Tierno Galván, at the moment when one of her breasts "came out without thinking." She later claimed, "the jacket was opened and I just let the photographers do their work."[10] The future mayor of Madrid warned her, "don't catch cold."[16][17][18]

Other scandals

In early 1979, the musical show Muñecas was staged at the Muñoz Seca Theater in Madrid, under the direction of Andrés Magdaleno, and in which Estrada's partner was a libidinous "robot" with which she simulated sex in different positions.[19]

In April 1981, the musical Machos, rated "S", with choreography by Giorgio Aresu, premiered "in the nature of an event" at the Pirandello-2 theater.[20] On 13 July, Estrada was the subject of a new controversy as a result of her conversation about sex with the priest and writer José Luis Martín Vigil on the La 1 program Mano a mano.[13] This gave rise to a campaign by reactionary elements to force the resignation of the then general director of the public entity, Fernando Castedo.[21][22]

Six years later, she presented the supershow Machos 87 at the Pasapoga music hall. This time, a kind of gigantic phallus was placed between her legs that she inserted into the anus of one of the dancers. The show reaches its climax when the actress is "crucified".[9]

Later career

Susana Estrada divides her time between Madrid and Benidorm, where she has a music and comedy show.[23][24] In October 2008 she appeared briefly in Los años desnudos, a film set in the uncovered cinema era, playing a feminist journalist who is avowedly against such forms of expression.[25]

In addition to her singles from the 1970s and early 1980s, she released the album The Sexadelic Disco Funk Sound of… Susana Estrada in 2017.[24]

Works

Selected television appearances

Year	Title	Channel	Date(s)
1980	Aplauso	TVE	17 May
2005	La Granja 2	Antena 3	28 March, 5, 12, and 17 April
	Pasapalabra	Telecinco	26, 27, and 30 May
	Crónicas marcianas	Telecinco
2006	La imagen de tu vida (1.6)	TVE	19 October
2007	La tele de tu vida (1.23)	TVE	15 June
	Memòries de la tele (2.2)	TVE	22 September
2008	Yo estuve allí	TVE	5 April
2017	Viva la vida (1.19)	Telecinco	30 July

Filmography

Year	Title	Character	Director(s)
1973	Las tres perfectas casadas		Benito Alazraki
	Lo verde empieza en los Pirineos		Vicente Escrivá
1975	El libro de buen amor	First girlfriend	Tomás Aznar
	La noche de las gaviotas	Girl sacrificed at the beginning	Amando de Ossorio
	La trastienda	Paz	Jorge Grau
1976	Lucecita		José Luis Madrid
	El jovencito Drácula	Mina Harker	Carlos Benpar
1977	Sexy… amor y fantasía	Adela	Juan Xiol
1978	El maravilloso mundo del sexo	Verónica	Mariano V. García
	Pepito piscinas	Charo	Luis María Delgado
1982	Pasión prohibida	Teresa	Amando de Ossorio
1992	Comamos y bebamos todos de Él (short)		José Antonio Quirós
2000	Aquellos extraños momentos (short)		Fernando Sánchez
2000	Los años desnudos (Clasificada S) (special appearance)		Dunia Ayaso, Félix Sabroso
2011	Carne cruda		Tirso Calero

Selected discography

Year	Album	Tracks
1981	Amor y Libertad	"Mi chico favorito" "¡Ven!" "Lograremos volar" "¡Gózame ya!" "¡Qué calor!" "Arena y mar" "¡Quítate el sostén!" "Un sitio bajo el sol" "Hagámoslo juntos" "Voy desnuda"
1981	Historias inconfesables	"Mi chico favorito" (song) "Mi chico favorito" (erotic story) "¡Qué calor!" (song) "¡Qué calor!" (erotic story)
2017	The Sexadelic Disco Funk Sound of… Susana Estrada	"Hagámoslo juntos" "Voy desnuda" "Machos" "Lograremos volar" "Acaríciame" "¡Gózame ya!" "¡Quítate el sostén!" "Espacial" "Hagamos el amor" "¡Qué calor!" "Mi chico favorito" "Un sitio bajo el sol" "Tócame"

References

1. Gómez García, Manuel (2 January 1998). Diccionario Akal de Teatro (in Spanish). Ediciones Akal. p. 295. ISBN 9788446008279. Retrieved 27 May 2019 – via Google Books.
2. "Cumplen Años" [Birthdays]. ABC (in Spanish). 18 June 2003. p. 43. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
3. Sáez, Sara (18 February 2014). "Las reinas del destape español" [The Spanish Uncovered Queens]. El Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 May 2019.
4. García Santa Cecilia, Carlos (2 March 2015). "Bibliotecarios malvados/ 8". Fronterad (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 May 2019.
5. de Luna, Joaquín (18 May 1995). "El Zorro de Monterrey". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 May 2019.
6. "Videoset". ABC (in Spanish). 10 December 1976. p. 76. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
7. "Gala, pateado en el estreno de '¿Por qué corres, Ulises?'" [Gala, Kicked Off at the Premiere of '¿Por qué corres, Ulises?']. Blanco y Negro (in Spanish). 25 October 1975. p. 58. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
8. Vegas, Valeria (28 September 2015). "Hitos sexuales de la pantalla que hicieron a este país más libre...y erótico" [Sexual Landmarks of the Screen That Made This Country More Free...and More Erotic]. Vanity Fair Spain (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 May 2019.
9. Cantalapiedra, Ricardo (29 May 1987). "Las cosas de Susana" [Susana's Things]. El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 May 2019.
10. Villacorta, Azahara (27 December 2015). "Ya no hiperventilo por nadie" [No More Hyperventilating By Anyone]. El Comercio (in Spanish). Gijón. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
11. Cruz, Nando (28 May 2017). "Susana Estrada: 'Yo debí de ser la primera española con guardaespaldas'" [Susana Estrada: 'I Must Have Been the First Spanish Woman with Bodyguards']. El Periódico de Catalunya (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 May 2019.
12. Rull, C. (23 October 2008). "Cuando el cine se escribía con 'S'" [When Cinema was Written with 'S']. 20 minutos (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 May 2019.
13. Barba, David (2009). "Musas de la Transición" [Muses of the Transition]. 100 españoles y el sexo [100 Spaniards and Sex] (in Spanish). Plaza & Janés Editores. p. 323. ISBN 9788401379895. Retrieved 27 May 2019 – via Google Books.
14. "Can Can". Tebeosfera (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 May 2019.
15. "El Correo hace 25 años" [El Correo 25 Years Ago]. El Correo Gallego (in Spanish). 8 August 2009. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
16. Fraguas, Rafael (17 May 2007). "Destape ante el Viejo Profesor" [Uncovered Before the Old Professor]. El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 May 2019.
17. Aguilar, José (17 January 2014). "Susana Estrada: 'Volvía loco a Tierno Galván'" ['Susana Estrada: 'I Was Driving Tierno Galván Crazy']. El Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 May 2019.
18. Campmany, Jaime (24 December 1995). "Los orígenes" [The Origins]. ABC (in Spanish). p. 21. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
19. "Espectáculo musical en el Teatro Muñoz Seca" [Musical Show at the Muñoz Seca Theater]. ABC (in Spanish). 2 February 1979. p. 91. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
20. "Espectaculos" [Shows]. ABC (in Spanish). 3 June 1981. p. 83. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
21. Lerma Usero, Miguel Angel (29 July 1981). "Martín Vigil 'versus' Susana Estrada". El País (in Spanish). Madrid. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
22. "El 'show' Estrada". ABC (in Spanish). 15 July 1981. p. 85. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
23. Barrio, Carlos (7 July 2011). "Susana Estrada". Interviú (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 May 2019.
24. Linés, Esteban (14 May 2017). "Susana Estrada: La voz de las canciones del destape" [Susana Estrada: The Voice of Uncovered Songs]. La Vanguardia (in Spanish). Barcelona. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
25. "Auge y declive del despelote". Fotogramas (in Spanish). 1 October 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2019.

External links

• Susana Estrada on IMDb
• Susana Estrada discography at Discogs