On Thursday, Carmen Salinas died in Cuauhtémoc, Mexico City, at the age of 82. The family of the legendary Mexican actress announced her passing in a statement posted on social media.
In the post, the family shared gratitude for everyone showing love and the respects paid during this time. They also announced that funeral details would be revealed soon. “We appreciate all the messages of support and gestures of respect towards our family. As well as the tokens of affection and prayers being offered to our beloved Carmelita Salinas,” read the message in Spanish. “Details about funeral services will be provided at a later time.”
This November, Salinas was hospitalized after suffering a stroke, and she was in intensive care in a Mexico City hospital. She reportedly had been in the middle of filming the telenovela “Mi fortuna es amarte,” in which she was playing “Doña Margarita Domínguez,” when she fell ill.
One of the most iconic actresses of the low-brow ficheras era in Mexican cinema with over six decades of experience in Mexico’s television and film, Salinas transitioned to telenovelas in the early 1980s and even had a small role in Tony Scott’s Man on Fire. She starred in over a hundred telenovelas. She followed up her turn in Televisa’s 2014 Mi Corazón Es Tuyo by becoming a congresswoman in 2015 for Mexico’s ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).
Some stars have already spoken out to pay homage to the legendary actress, including Mexican actor and comedian Eugenio Derbez. “Today, we say goodbye with deep sadness to a woman who made history on television and film in Mexico,” he wrote on Twitter. “Her charisma filled anywhere she was with light and that is how I will remember her.” Poet Yesika Salgado also spoke on her influence, tweeting: “Rest In Peace Carmen Salinas. you were everyone’s mom in telenovelas & a comforting figure in my adolescence.”
Here are some more reactions: