• Cinema Concha Velasco, an actress of 'guts', dies
  • Album La vida de Concha Velasco, Doña Concha... Velasco

The great actress, the ye-ye girl, our Saint Teresa, but also the great showman who never disowned television, is gone. There was only one mistake in her career in television, the only one that she herself admitted to having made a mistake: having rejected the leading role in Farmacia de Guardia. A mistake in more than 60 years of career that demonstrates the love and passion that Concha Velasco not only showed for theater and cinema but also for the small screen.

Concha Velasco leaves behind an impressive trajectory in the world of show business, seven decades during which she went from Concepción Velasco Varona to Conchita Velasco to Concha Velasco until she arrived at Doña Concha, one of the most popular, prolific and beloved faces of the stage, film and television in its entire history.

Obituary

Cinema.

Concha Velasco, an actress of 'guts', dies

  • Written by: LUIS MARTÍNEZ Madrid

Concha Velasco, an actress of 'guts', dies

The life of Concha Velasco, Doña Concha... Velasco

  • Written by: EL MUNDO Madrid

The life of Concha Velasco, Doña Concha... Velasco

On television she made her debut in 1960 with TVE's Estudio 1, where she left her mark in La dama del alba, La alondra, Don Juan Tenorio, Una muchachita de Valladolid and Las brujas de Salem.

His first major television series was Teresa de Jesús, which premiered in 1984. A television adaptation of the saint's life that earned her the Golden Antenna, the Fotogramas de Plata and the TP de Oro for best actress for her performance. Directed by Josefina Molina, Teresa de Jesús was one of her most brilliant works.

After that series, Concha Velasco became one of the great television presenters. The little fiction returned to her life with other series such as Yo, una mujer, an Antena 3 series from the 90s that did not have the success that Concha Velasco's interpretation deserved. Then came The Golden Girls, Grand Hotel and Heirs. On television, although he said yes to many highly successful projects, he also had to say no or decided to say no to others. Of all those refusals for different reasons, the one she herself acknowledged

In the book that was published about the series in the early 90s, Antonio Mercero himself, creator of Farmacia de Guardia, explained that he proposed the role to Concha Cuetos, who was finally the protagonist, but also to Carmen Maura, Concha Velasco and Esperanza Roy, and all three of them said no. When the director died, Concha Velasco stated in an interview with Diez Minutos how she regretted her decision at the time: "My only mistake was not working at Farmacia de Guardia, with Antonio Mercero, because I had a contract at Antena 3. I knew very well what I had to do at all times and now I know it too."

According to her, the reason she turned down the role was more a matter of looks and gallantry than anything else, as she didn't think it was a good idea to be on camera all the time dressed in a white coat and constantly behind the pharmacy counter.

The woman who turned what she touched into success, the artist who broke the mold at every step, was first a dancer and singer before becoming a film, theater and television actress, facets to which she also added those of a presenter and stage producer.

In 1998, Antena 3 premiered Compañeros, a family series set in the Azcona School that became one of the great fictions of television. Concha Velasco played Charo, the literature teacher and wife of Tomás (Manolo Zarzo), director of the Azcona. Despite being an ensemble series with many plots and many characters in the first season, Charo and Tomás' marriage carried a lot of weight. Concha herself decided not to continue in the series in the second season, and that also caused the departure of Zarzo and Antonio Zabálburu, her son in the fiction.

He presented on television Viva the show, ¡Sorpresa, Sorpresa! or Cine de barrio, which he hosted between 2011 and 2020. Her great work as a presenter came in 1999, when she took the baton from Isabel Gemio at the helm of ¡Sorpresa, Sorpresa! In fact, it was with her as presenter that one of the great hoaxes of television was experienced: the dog, the jam and Ricky Martín. Everyone said that they had seen some images of a young woman in her room, with her dog and a jar of jam while the singer was hiding in the closet to give him a surprise. Everyone claims that they had been broadcast on the Antena 3 program, which is completely false. Even so, Concha Velasco had to play her heart out and appear on screen denying that great hoax.

"We have been victims of a hoax. We have been attacked in a kind of collective madness. An attack in which they talked about something that never happened and protagonists who have never existed. It's all a lie," Concha said live.

In 2011 he took charge of Cine de Barrio, the legendary program of La 1. He took the baton from Carmen Sevilla and gave it, in 2020, to Alaska. It was one of his great successes because it united two of his great passions, television and cinema.

It was her great stage ability, which she did not hesitate to demonstrate, that made her one of the most beloved faces of television by the public. She presented, but she interpreted, she sang, she danced, whatever it took to keep the show of television entertainment in place. The same closeness with which he tied the audience in a play or a film he used in television connected in an impressive way with the viewers.

Concha did everything on television, and almost everything well, even though there were programs and series in which the audience data did not accompany her. They were the least important, because everything Concha Velasco did on television turned into gold.

  • Concha Velasco