QEPD / RIP Miriam Colón

A legend, a pioneer and pillar of both Latino theater and off-Broadway in general has passed away. We are saddened to report the transition of actress, producer, director and founder of the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater Miriam Colón. Born in Puerto Rico, she began her career there while still a teenager when she acted in the feature film Peloteros (Baseball Players), opposite Ramón (Diplo) Rivero.

In the early 1950s, Colón moved to New York City, where she was accepted by Actors Studio co-founder Elia Kazan after a single audition, thus becoming The Studio's first Puerto Rican member. In New York, she worked in theater and later landed a role on the soap opera "Guiding Light". On one occasion she attended a performance of René Marqués' play La Carreta (The Oxcart). That presentation motivated her to form the first Hispanic theater group, with the help of La Carreta's producer, Roberto Rodríguez, called El Circuito Dramático, which eventually would lead to the founding of the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater in 1967.

The Puerto Rican Traveling Theater (PRTT) performed in both English and Spanish, traveling around the boroughs of New York City with the focus of bringing theater to those who desperately needed it. Supported by a joint sponsorship from then NYC Mayor John Lindsay's Summer Task Force Program and the Parks Department, she began by touring a production of The Oxcart through various neighborhoods, often to audiences who had never seen theater before. The summer tours were immensely popular, continuing for years after their start, providing free, bilingual theater to different neighborhoods in New York City. The PRTT found an old firehouse in the theater district of midtown Manhattan and made it is home during the winter, spring and fall months. The company later merged with another theater company, Pregones Theater.

Between 1954 and 1974, Colón made guest appearances in television shows such as Peter Gunn" and "Alfred Hitchcock Presents". She appeared mostly in westerns such as "Gunsmoke", "Bonanza", "The High Chaparral" and "Have Gun, Will Travel".  She appeared in numerous films and gained cult status in 1983, where she played the mother of Tony Montana (played by Al Pacino) in Scarface.

Her Broadway credits include roles in Jane and Paul Bowles' In The Summer House (directed by José Quintero), Theodore Apstein's The Innkeepers (also directed by José Quintero), and Leonard Spielglass' The Wrong Way Light Bulb (directed by Stephen Porter).

She have received numerous awards including an Obie Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theater in 1993, the HOLA Raúl Juliá Founders Award from the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors (HOLA) in 2000, the Imagen Award for Best actress in a Feature Film for her work in Bless Me, Última in 2013 and the National Media of Arts in 2015, which she received from President Barack H. Obama. 

Services will take place on Monday, March 6, 2017 from 12-4pm and 6-9pm (with a service at 7pm) at Campbell Funeral Home, located at 1076 Madison Avenue (at East 81st Street) in Manhattan, New York City.

QEPD / RIP Miriam Colón

QEPD/RIP Max Ferrá

Director and founder of INTAR Theater, Max Ferrá, passed away on Saturday, February 4, 2017 in Miami, Florida. Born in Camagüey, Cuba, he emigrated to the United States in 1960 where he worked first in a recording studio and then for an airline so he could travel. In 1963, he, along with Elsa Ortiz, Frank Robles, Gladys Ortiz, Oscar García, Antonio Gonzales-Jaén, and Benjamín López, founded ADAL (Agrupación de Arte Latinoamericano) which eventually became INTAR Hispanic American Arts Center in 1966.

As artistic director of INTAR, he commissioned and produced more than 150 plays in English written by young Latino and Latin American playwrights. He directed more than 70 plays in INTAR and other theaters in the United States and in Latin America. INTAR Theater, with its varied programs, including a MainStage Season and the NewWorks Lab, has played a major role in identifying, supporting, nurturing, developing and producing unique theatrical Latino voices that have made a significant impact in American dramatic writing.

It was his vision to bring to INTAR the Hispanic Playwrights in Residence Laboratory (HPRL), created and run by María Irene Fornés from 1981 until 1992. This lab fostered and trained many of the most prominent Latino playwrights in the American theatre, including Migdalia Cruz, Nilo Cruz, Lorraine Llamas, Eduardo Machado, Octavio Solis, Caridad Svich, and Carmelita Tropicana, among many others. When he retired from INTAR in 2004, he moved to Miami where he ran Actors Arena Group in Miami-Dade College–North Campus. He died surrounded by his Miami actors and theater friends in the city, his sister, and his partner for many years, Winston González.

MAX FERRÁ

Que en paz descanse / Rest in peace

QEPD/RIP Sonia Suárez Schwartz

Longtime HOLA member Sonia Suárez Schwartz passed away on Saturday, January 28, 2017, at the Schuyler Ridge Residential Facility in Clifton Park, New York, after a monthlong illness. A classical and jazz pianist originally from Cuba and trained at the National Conservatory in Havana, Cuba, she had been a Spanish teacher in Lawrence High School in Cedarhurst, New York for 30 years until her retirement.

She worked in Spanish-language voice overs, then as an actress, and ultimately became a prolific playwright, having nine of her plays developed and produced by the not-for-profit production company Danisarte, which then took flight and were produced by other companies throughout the United States.

She also made use of her musical skills as a member of Showstoppers, playing for various institutions. Her energy, vivaciousness and good humor will be sorely missed by her family and all who knew her.

SONIA SUÁREZ SCHWARTZ

Que en paz descanse / Rest in peace

QEPD/RIP Osvaldo Pradere

On March 14, 2016, the Cuban-born theater artist Osvaldo Pradere, who spent many years living in Madrid, Spain, before relocating in New York City, passed away.

A loving person that went out of his way to help others, he was very universal in his thinking and joined a multitude of friends from many different cultures. He never hesitated to help family, friends or those in need of support. One of the most active founding members of the Cuban Cultural Center of New York, he was also founder and president of the Don Quijote Experimental Children’s Theater, later called the New York Children’s Theater.

All his life he used theater to educate children. He was a director, producer, puppeteer and playwright. He produced plays like Take Back Our Planet, written by Susana Tubert and Gloria Zelaya, that dealt with issues of the environment; The Golden Cacao Bean, written by Manuel Martín, about the cultures of Central America and the Mayas; Abe Lincoln and the Cook Kid, written by Ed Portnoy; and Columbus, written by Pradere, about the life of Christopher Columbus; among others.

He leaves behind his siblings Orestes, Mario, José and Bárbara Pradere; his nieces and nephews, some of whom include Mayra Pradere Grille, Richard Pradere and Stefanie Grille. 

QEPD / RIP 

Osvaldo Pradere

QEPD / RIP Shawn Elliott

The Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors (HOLA) is sad to report the passing of actor-singer Shawn Elliott. A former HOLA member and a Friend of HOLA, he leaves His survivors include his wife of 26 years, actress Donna Murphy; brother Roland Elliott; three daughters Ivy Kaller, Justine McLaughlin, and Darmia Hope Murphy Elliott; and his grandchildren Christopher Kaller, Susan McLaughlin, Kaitlyn McLaughlin, Ava McLaughlin, and Lily McLaughlin, and great-granddaughter Cadence Kaller.

Born Eliezer Santiago Solís in Santurce, Puerto Rico, he grew up in East Harlem in Manhattan. He later attended Columbia University and the Berklee School of Music. He started his show business career as a singer, where he had a hit in Europe with a cover of Sir Lancelot's "Shame and Scandal in the Family" in 1965. Peter Tosh and the Wailers copied the arrangement Elliot used in preparing their own later cover of the song.


 

After some success as a singer in the late 1960s and early 1970s, he turned to acting. A veteran of stage and screen, he is best known for playing Eduardo Fernández on the hit children's show "Ghostwriter", Detective Uribe in "The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd", and Judge Joseph Rivera on several episodes of "Law & Order". Other film and television credits include Short Eyes, Beat Street, Crossover Dreams, The Dead Pool, Do The Right Thing, Arbitrage; "The Cosby Show", "Hunter", "Miami Vice", "A Man Called Hawk", "100 Centre Street", "CSI: Miami", "Hack", among many other credits. His theater credits include being an original cast member of the off-Broadway musical Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, as well as the Broadway musicals City of Angels and Marie Christine. In 2000, he was honored with the Rita Moreno Award for Excellence by the Hispanic Organization of Latin Artists (HOLA).

A Memorial/Celebration of Life for Shawn Elliott will take place on 11am on Saturday, March 19, 2016 at Judson Memorial Church, 55 Washington Square South (between Sullivan and Thompson streets) in New York City.

Que en paz descanse / Rest in peace
Shawn Elliott

Report on the 2015 HOLAfestival: Homage to Oscar A. Colón

On Monday, December 14, 2015, the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors (HOLA) hosted its 2015 HOLAfestival, a showcase for HOLA members who were also writers. This year, the HOLAfestival was a special edition, an homage to the late actor-writer Oscar A. Colón (who passed away on November 1, 2015). Colón was featured in the 2011 edition of the HOLAfestival, and was one of the first two recipients (the other being Pablo García Gámez) of the HOLA Award for playwriting.

HOLA presented Colón's first play Siempre en Mi Corazón (Always in My Heart), which was directed by his widow, actress and HOLA founding member Miriam Cruz. The reading was held at Teatro LATEA at the Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural and Educational Center (home to HOLA) in Manhattan's Loísaida neighborhood.

The actors reading the play were Denia Brache, Alicia Kaplan, Irma-Estel LaGuerre, A.B. Lugo, Feiga Martínez, Frank Robles, Adriana Sananes, and Bersaida Vega. The reading was well received, with an HOLA member remarking that "it was magic... not a weak actor on that stage." Immediately after the reading, there was a toast to the life and work and Colón, led by Cruz.

HOLA would like to thank Teatro LATEA, Nelson Landrieu, Marta García, Anthony Ruiz, Pablo Zinger, Oscar de la Fe Colón, Miriam Carnase, Miriam Cruz, the actors who performed at the reading, and all those in attendance. 

In the words of the poet-actor-singer (and HOLA member) Caridad de la Luz (also known as La Bruja), "you never died, because I carry you all inside".

[Photos in this blog by Pablo Zinger. To see more photographs, click here.]

RIP / QEPD Oscar A. Colón

Siempre estarás en nuestros corazones

QEPD / RIP Anita Vélez-Mitchell

Anita Vélez-Mitchell at the 2012 HOLA Awards.

We are sad to announce the passing of HOLA awardee and legendary performer, writer and poet, Anita Vélez-Mitchell (February 21, 1916 - July 10, 2015). Born in Vieques, Puerto Rico, she came to New York City when she was twelve. She had a seven-decade career as an artist, and her luminary list of friends and colleagues includes José Ferrer, Salvador Dalí, Ed Sullivan, Tito Puente, Xavier Cugat, Fred Kelly, George Abbott, and Leonard Bernstein, among others. Her lifelong performing career includes "The Ed Sullivan Show", Carnegie Hall, international tours as a solo artist, the 1963 production of West Side Story as Anita and culminated in a video performance as Abuela in April 2015 in the MultiStages production of Comida de P*ta by Desi Moreno-Penson, directed by her granddaughter Lorca Peress. 

She was featured in the two-character award-winning short film Voice of an Angel by Josh Marston (writer-director of María Full of Grace), among numerous TV shows and films. Her poetry is published in Woven Voices: 3 Generations of Puerto Rican Women (2012, Scapegoat Press, Latino Book Award Nominee) and she has received numerous writing awards and is a member of the PEN American Center. She is the subject of the multiple award-winning documentary Anita Vélez: Dancing Through Life, by daughter and TV journalist Jane Vélez-Mitchell, and an upcoming documentary Light Years by Claire Panke.

In 2012, her musical Temple of the Souls (a forbidden love story between two teenagers– a young Spaniard girl and a young Taíno boy– set in colonial Puerto Rico) was honored with three HOLA Awards including Outstanding Production, Design, and Special Recognition for its music. Temple of the Souls is a musical collaboration between her, her granddaughters Lorca Peress (book writer, producer, director) and Anika Paris (book writer and co-composer), and co-composer Dean Landon. In 2013, she received the ACE Extraordinary Award for Distinction and Merit, the top honor given by the Association of Latin Entertainment Critics of New York; and in 2012 she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the League of Puerto Rican Women. She received the Proclamation from the City of New York in 2006, and has addressed the United Nations General Assembly numerous times to protest the bombing crisis in Vieques, Puerto Rico.

She is survived by her daughters Gloria Vando Hickok and Jane Vélez-Mitchell; grandchildren Lorca Peress, Paul Peress, Anika Paris; and great-granddaughter Nicole Elizabeth Peress. Her children and their families will hold a private cremation ceremony this week, but a date for a public memorial to honor Anita in September will be announced soon. Anita loved life, beauty, the mambo, and all the arts. She was a vegetarian and lover of animals. To learn more about Anita Vélez-Mitchell and her legacy, visit the Temple of the Souls website.

QEPD / RIP 

Taino-ti, Anita Vélez-Mitchell

QEPD / RIP María Elena Velasco "La India María"

María Elena Velasco Fragoso (born December 17, 1940 in Puebla, Puebla, Mexico and died May 1, 2015 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico) was a Mexican actress, comedienne, singer-songwriter, dancer, screenwriter, film producer, and one of Mexico's few major female film directors. She is best known for creating and portraying La India María (also known as María Nicolasa Cruz), a comical character based on indigenous Mexican women, in films and television programs.

Velasco was born in Puebla, Puebla, Mexico. Upon the death of her father, she and her family moved to Mexico City, 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 Fernando Soto "Mantequilla", Pompín Iglesias, José Jasso "El Ojón", and Óscar Ortiz de Pinedo.

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). 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 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.

In 1969, Velasco appeared as La India María in a comic segment of the weekly program "Siempre en domingo", hosted by Raúl Velasco. The segment quickly became a hit and she starred in other successful television programs. 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). She made her directorial debut in El coyote emplumado (1983). She also starred the television series "Ay María, qué puntería" (1998).

In the early 1960s, Velasco met Russian actor and choreographer Julián de Meriche (stage name of Vladimir Lipkies Chazan) at the Teatro Blanquita. They married and had three children, Goretti, Iván, and Ivette. Her death was announced over Twitter by the Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografía on May 1, 2015. The cause of death was not made public, but it was known that she had been suffering from stomach cancer.

Velasco starred in approximately 23 films and three television series in Mexico. In addition, she has written and directed numerous films in her career. As a screenwriter, she received an Ariel Award in 2004 for Best Adapted Screenplay for the film Huapango (a film not of the India María series).

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QEPD / RIP  María Elena Velasco

"World's Oldest Filmmaker", Manoel de Oliveira Dies at 106 / "O cineasta mais velho do mundo", Manoel de Oliveira morre aos 106

Manolo Cândido Pinto de Oliveira, better known as Manoel de Oliveira, has passed away at the age of 106. Born in 1908 in Cedofeito, Oporto, Portugal, he directed his first film in 1931 and continued making films until 1942, whereupon he stopped making films until 1955, after which he worked nonstop, up until his last film, O Velho do Restelo (The Old Man of Belem), which was released in 2014 (when de Oliveria was just shy of 105 years old).

In all, he directed 62 documentaries, features and short films (of which he wrote or co-wrote 52 of them), most of which after 1990 (when he was 82 years old). In addition, he edited 34 of his films, and acted as cinematographer in 10 of them.

De Olivera is the only filmmaker whose active career spans from the silent age to the digital age. The New York Times declared him "almost as old as cinema itself". Since 2001, he has been considered the oldest movie director in activity. Among his numerous awards were two career Golden Lions from the Venice Film Festival, a Golden Palm from the Cannes Film Festival, and the French Legion of Honor. He passed away in Oporto on Thursday, April 2, 2015 due to congestive heart failure. He leaves behind his wife Maria Isabel Brandão de Meneses de Almeida Carvalhais, four children, five grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

Manolo Cândido Pinto de Oliveira, mais conhecido como Manoel de Oliveira, faleceu com a idade de 106. Nascido em 1908 em Cedofeito, Porto, Portugal, dirigiu seu primeiro filme em 1931 e continuou a fazer filmes até 1942, quando então ele parou de fazer filmes até 1955, após o qual ele trabalhou sem parar, até seu último filme, O Velho do Restelo (The Old Man de Belém), que foi lançado em 2014 (quando de Oliveria foi apenas tímido de 105 anos de idade). 

Ao todo, ele dirigiu 62 documentários, características e curtas-metragens (dos quais ele escreveu ou co-escreveu 52 deles), a maioria dos quais depois de 1990 (quando ele tinha 82 anos de idade). Além disso, ele editou 34 de seus filmes, e atuou como diretor de fotografia em 10 deles. 

De Olivera é o único cineasta cuja carreira ativa se estende a partir da idade du cinema mudo para a era digital. The New York Times declarou-o "quase tão antiga quanto o próprio cinema". Desde 2001, ele tem sido considerado o mais antigo diretor de cinema em atividade. Entre seus numerosos prêmios foram dois carreira Leão du Ouro do Festival de Veneza, a Palma de Ouro do Festival de Cannes, e da Legião de Honra francesa. Ele faleceu no Porto, em quinta-feira, abril 2, 2015 por insuficiência cardíaca congestiva. Ele deixa para trás sua esposa Maria Isabel Brandão de Meneses de Almeida Carvalhais, quatro filhos, cinco netos e sete bisnetos.


Special thanks to Mauricio Pita and João Coelho for the Portuguese translation.
Um agradecimento especial a Mauricio Pita e João Coelho para a tradução português.

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Descanse em paz / Rest in peace 

Manoel de Oliveira

HOLA Legends: ROBERTO GÓMEZ BOLAÑOS "CHESPIRITO"

Roberto Gómez Bolaños (21 February 1929 – 28 November 2014), more commonly known by his pseudonym Chespirito, was a Mexican screenwriter, actor, comedian, director, playwright, songwriter, and author. He is widely regarded as one of the most important Spanish-language comedians of the 20th century. He was internationally known for writing, directing, and starring in the "Chespirito" (1968), "El Chavo del Ocho" (1971), and "El Chapulín Colorado" (1972) television series. The character of El Chavo is one of the most iconic in the history of Latin American television.

Born in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico, Gómez was an amateur boxer before becoming an actor. He studied engineering at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). He wrote a number of plays, and contributed dialogue for scripts of films and television shows in Mexico, as well as some character acting work before he became famous. His stage name, "Chespirito", was given to him by a producer during Gómez Bolaños' first years as a writer, and was concocted from the diminutive form of the Spanish pronunciation of the name of William Shakespeare's surname-- Shakespearito, meaning "Little Shakespeare".

Chespirito was discovered as an actor while he was waiting in line to apply for a job as a writer, and soon he began writing and starring in his children's comedy shows. Chespirito's first show was "Los Supergenios de la Mesa Cuadrada", a sketch comedy show that premiered in 1968; the show also starred Ramón Valdés, María Antonieta de las Nieves and Rubén Aguirre. "Los Supergenios" was later renamed "Chespirito y la Mesa Cuadrada", and later "Chespirito"; characters like El Chavo, El Chapulín and Dr. Chapatín were introduced in this show (1972, 1970, and 1968, respectively).

His best known roles were in the shows El Chavo and El Chapulín Colorado. Both series premiered in 1973, and were based on sketches of the same name from Los Supergenios. The shows were produced by Mexican TV network Televisa, and aired in 124 countries. Other shows produced by and starring Chespirito were the short-lived "La Chicharra" from 1979, and a second version of "Chespirito" from 1980–1995.

In El Chavo, Chespirito played an 8-year-old boy who often took refuge inside a wooden rain barrel in a Mexican neighborhood, and in El Chapulín Colorado, he played a good-hearted superhero who gets involved in humorous situations. "The Simpsons" creator Matt Groening has said that he created the Bumblebee Man character after watching El Chapulín Colorado in a motel on the United States–Mexico border. He also played Doctor Chapatín in his television series, a doctor who is always trying to practice surgery on patients– even if they don't need it.

El Chavo and El Chapulín Colorado have become cultural icons all over Latin America and the United States, and have also aired in many countries worldwide.

Chespirito is also noted as a composer. He started writing music as a hobby, and most of his early musical work was related to his comedy work, particularly featured in occasional Chapulín Colorado or Chavo del Ocho special episodes. Later works include the theme songs for various Mexican movies and telenovelas, such as "Alguna Vez Tendremos Alas" and "La Dueña".

On 19 November 2004, after 27 years together, he married actress and longtime companion Florinda Meza, who starred as Doña Florinda in "El Chavo". After show production was stopped for his television series, both toured Mexico and the rest of Latin America and the United States with different plays, sometimes playing the characters that made them famous. He died at the age of 85 in Cancún, Quintana Roo, Mexico.

QEPD  Roberto Gómez Bolaños "Chespirito"

QEPD / RIP Elizabeth Peña

By Mario-Francisco Robles.

Elizabeth Peña has passed away. The actress, with a professional career spanning nearly 40 years, left us on the night of Tuesday, October 14, 2014 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. She had recently wrapped work on the first season of the El Rey Network's action series, "Matador", where she played the title character's mother Maritza.

Born in Elizabeth, New Jersey and raised by her Cuban immigrant parents, Peña was destined for a career in the arts. Her father, Mario, was a playwright, director, actor, and designer in their native Cuba, who opened up the Latin American Theatre Ensemble after establishing a life for he and his family in New York. As a teen, Peña began making a name for herself as a formidable young actress in the New York theatre scene. She attended, and graduated from, the High School of Performing Arts and began her professional film career in 1978 with León Ichaso's El Super. A few years later, the ambitious cubana would set off to try her fortunes over on the West Coast.

That move would prove fruitful, as she would go on to land roles in several major films in the 1980s. By the end of that decade, she had a resumé that included La Bamba, Down and Out in Beverly Hills, *batteries not included, and Blue Steel. She even did something that was almost unheard of for a Latina actress– she had her own primetime ABC series, "I Married Dora". She played the title role of Dora in the series, which became infamous and notable because of its controversial premise– which centered on a "green card marriage" that would eventually evolve into something more genuine. 

She kicked off the 1990s with a prominent role opposite Tim Robbins in Jacob's Ladder. She continued her string of notable films with roles in the critically lauded John Sayles drama, Lone Star opposite Matthew McConaughey, as well as Rush Hour and Free Willy 2. Along the way, she racked up TV appearances on "L.A. Law", "Dream On", "Shannon's Deal", and "Drug Wars: The Camarena Story".

At the turn of the century, Peña began shifting her talents in new directions. Aside from starring roles in films like Tortilla Soup, How The García Girls Spent Their Summer, Nothing Like The Holidays, and Showtime's "Resurrection Blvd.", Peña began branching out as both a voice actress and as a director. She directed episodes of a few television series, and lent her vocal talents to everything from the Academy Award-nominated Pixar film The Incredibles (Mirage) to the "Justice League" cartoon series (Paran Dul), and Seth MacFarlane's "American Dad".

Aside from her current work as a series regular on Matador, Peña also had a recurring guest star spot as Pilar, the mother of Sofía Vergara's Gloria on the hit ABC comedy "Modern Family". At the time of her death, Peña had just turned 55.

She is survived by her husband Hans, her two teenage children Fiona and Kaelan, her mother Estela, and her sister, Tania.
  

My Personal Take
I didn't call her Elizabeth, or Liz, or Leechy. She wasn't Aunt, Auntie, Tía, or Titi. To me...she was Ñaña. That was the name I assigned my aunt when I was just a baby, and it's the name I continued to refer to her as when I visited her in Los Angeles last week. She was our star. She was my star. We celebrated her triumphs. We sweated through her struggles. As a family, even when we didn't always talk, we would all do whatever we could for one another. When I got married three years ago, despite their being some logistical hurdles, she flew herself, her husband, and both her kids to attend my special night in New York's Hudson River Valley. Dancing with her, my uncle, and my cousins under the stars that night is a memory I've always cherished, and it's now one that I'll have to hold onto for the rest of my life.

She was an inspiration. A role model. A pillar. And a pisser.

She undoubtedly helped fuel my love of film. She informed my desire to be an actor, writer, and director. I followed in her foot steps at the High School of Performing Arts. It still remains my life's goal to earn a living doing what I love: creating and performing art, transporting audiences to another place for a couple of hours. She did it all, and she made it look fun. She made it look easy. But I know it wasn't. I know she had a drive like no other, and that she was a force to be reckoned with when she decided it was time to make it big or...well, nothing. She never considered an alternative. Her singular focus was breathtaking, and awe-inspiring.  Tonight, my family is heartbroken. There's now a void that will never be filled. All we can do now is remember your sharp sense of humor, your endless hunger for life, and your never ending pursuit of happiness. 

You were a great mother, wife, daughter, sister, and cousin. But you'll always be my Ñaña, #1 in a category all your own. 

QEPD / RIP Elizabeth Peña

[Note from El Blog de HOLA: Elizabeth Peña was one of the founding members of HOLA, the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors. This blog was republished from this site with the permission of the author.]

A memorial on the West Coast in remembrance of the life of Elizabeth Peña will take place on Sunday, November 9, 2014 at 11am at the Saban Theater, located at 8440 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills, California.

QEPD / RIP Abdón Villamizar

Abdón Villamizar

La Asociación de Cronistas de Espectáculos de Nueva York (ACE) informa con profundo pesar a sus asociados y amigos, el fallecimiento a los 84 años de edad en la ciudad de Nueva York, ayer por la mañana, del notable dramaturgo y director venezolano Abdón Villamizar, quien recibió el 21 de abril de 2012 el máximo reconocimiento de esta institución periodística, el Premio Extraordinario ACE por Distinción y Mérito.

Villamizar, quien ha dejado para la posteridad siete libros de obras teatrales, cuentos y poesía, nació en la ciudad de San Cristóbal del estado Táchira, el 30 de julio de 1929, y fue en su natal Venezuela donde realizó sus primeros estudios de arte escénico en la Escuela de la Casa Sindical del Paraíso, para luego fundar el Teatro Rodante La Tinaja, en su natal San Cristóbal, El Teatro del Mundo en Maracaibo y el Teatro IATI en Nueva York.

Entre los innumerables premios recibidos por Villamizar a lo largo de su carrera teatral también figuran, además del Premio Extraordinario ACE por Distinción y Mérito, el Very Special Arts Awards del John F. Kennedy Center de Wáshington D.C.; el de la Academia de Artes, Ciencias y Letras de París; el de la Organización Hispana de Actores Latinos (HOLA, por sus siglas en inglés); así como reconocimientos de la Casa de la Cultura Dominicana y del Consulado General de Venezuela.

EL DIA LUNES, 2O DE JUNIO DE 2014 A LAS 5 P.M. EN LA IGLESIA NUESTRA SEÑORA DE GUADALUPE DE LA CALLE 14 OESTE Y NOVENA AVENIDA EN MANHATTAN SE CELEBRARA UNA MISA POR SU ETERNO DESCANSO.

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The Association of Entertainment Critics of New York regretfully informs its colleagues and friends that the notable Venezuelan playwright and director Abdón Villamizar passed away yesterday (28 May 2014) in New York City at the age of 84. Villamizar received the the highest honor bestowed by the ACE Awards– the Premio Extraordinario ACE por Distinción y Mérito– on 21 April 2012.

Villamizar, who left behind seven books of plays, short stories and poetry, was born in the city of San Cristóbal, Táchira, Venezuela on July 30, 1929, and it was in his native Venezuela where he started his theater studies at the Escuela de la Casa Sindical del Paraíso (also in San Cristóbal), where he founded the Teatro Rodante La Tinaja.  He also founded El Teatro Del Mundo in Maracaibo, Venezuela and IATI Theater in New York City.

Among his innumerable awards throughout his career include the above ACE Award for Extraordinary Distinction and Merit, a Very Special Arts Award from the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.; an award from the Académie des Artes-Sciences-Lettres in Paris, France; an HOLA Award from the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors; as well as honors from the Casa de la Cultura Dominicana and the General Consulate of Venezuela.

ON MONDAY, 2 JUNE 2014 AT 5PM, THERE WILL BE A MEMORIAL MASS IN HIS HONOR AT THE IGLESIA NUESTRA SEÑORA DE GUADALUPE, LOCATED AT NINTH AVENUE AND WEST 14TH STREET IN MANHATTAN.

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QEPD / RIP Abdón Villamizar

HOLA Legends: MÓNICA BOYAR

Mónica Boyar (née Argentina Mercedes María González Morel Valerio Ureña) was an actress, singer, dancer, painter and fashion designer. Born in Santiago de los Caballeros, Santiago, Dominican Republic in 1920, she emigrated with her family to New York at the age of 9 (although some sources say 6). 

By the time she was 12, she was selected out of thousands of schoolchildren to join the children's chorus of New York's Metropolitan Opera. She won a singing contest at the age of 15 (wearing a dress made by her mother) which launched her career as a soloist. She debuted at La Conga club singing with a big band led by Desi Arnaz.

In 1939, she represented the Dominican Republic in that country's pavilion in the World's Fair that took place in New York. At the Fair, she sang, dressed in typical Dominican clothing, introducing merengue to the American audience for the first time. A student of many folklores of the West Indies, she also introduced calypso to American audiences. By the mid-1950s, both dance styles were among the most popular in the U.S.

After the World's Fair, she became popular as a nightclub club singer in the 1940s and 1950s. She was able to sing in seven languages. It was around this time she adopted the name Mónica Boyar (her producers thought her birth name, Argentina Mercedes, was too complicated to say for American audiences). She performed in some the ritziest hotspots around the world, including the Waldorf=Astoria Hotel in New York, the Lido Cabaret in Paris, and the Tropicana in Havana, among others. She performed in front of royal figures such as Prince Rainier of Monaco, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.

In film and television she appeared in the films Princess Papaya (1945) and Fandango at War Bonnet (1954), and the series "Mister Peepers (1952) and "Studio One in Hollywood" (1954). On Broadway, she originated the role of Rosa Gonzales in the play Summer and Smoke (1949), making her the first Latina to act in a Tennessee Williams play. She also returned to Broadway in 1961 in the Eaton Maggon, Jr.-Leon Tokatyan musical 13 Daughters.

She was briefly married first to Canadian businessman Steve McDonald in the 1940s; the marriage was annulled. She then wed fellow Dominican Federico Horacio Henríquez Vásquez from 1943-1947. Henríquez was the nephew of Horacio Vásquez, the last elected president of the Dominican Republic before the rise of dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo. Boyar was widowed when her husband was killed by Trujillo's forces. She then married Canadian actor Leslie Nielsen from 1950-1956. He later became famous for his roles in the Airplane and Naked Gun franchises. She was also briefly married to comedian Lee Tully in 1958. She was called the "Satin Latin Song Stylist". Famed journalist Walter Winchell referred to her as the finest Latin talent in the entertainment field in 1960. 

Her godfather was Juan Rafael Estrella Ureña, the last acting president of the Dominican Republic before Trujillo took over the nation (Estrella was briefly Vice-President under Trujillo). Due to the contentious relationship between Estrella and Trujillo, she was unable to set foot on the island of her birth for over three decades. She became an anti-Trujillo proponent, even recording two albums of self-penned work titled Marcha a Santo Domingo and Capita fue a la guerra. As a result, she is more well known in the United States than her native Dominican Republic. 

A former art student, she later studied painting and fashion design and became known for her lines of hats and purses, where she designed for some of the biggest names in Hollywood, including her compatriot María Montez.

She was a member and supporter of the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors (HOLA) during the organization's early days. She moved from New York and lived in Las Vegas with her fifth and final husband Rafael Flavio Echemendia. She passed away at the age of 92 on October 2, 2013, due to complications from a stroke.

RIP / QEPD MÓNICA BOYAR

"Gracias, Mónica"