Carmen Sevilla dies at the age of 92: goodbye to the great myth consumed by Alzheimer’s

Sad day for the world of cinema, culture and entertainment in Spain. carmen sevilla has died at the age of 92 after eight years in a nursing home, suffering from the terrible Alzheimer’s disease. Last Sunday, June 25, she was transferred to the Jiménez Díaz Foundation (Madrid) due to a worsening in her health. The light of one of the most beloved women in our country has gone out to make way for the legend.

The one who was a presenter of neighborhood cinema It is a benchmark of Spanish culture. In addition to being a great actress, she belongs to that breed of essential classics of our folklore, one of her greats like her friends Lola Flores, Rocio Jurado o Shell Piquer. Since 2009 she suffered from the disease that made her forget about her loved ones and about herself.

In addition to being a singer and actress, she was a much-loved presenter with her little sheep, her “little coupon” and her distractions. María del Carmen García Galisteo, known as Carmen Sevilla, was born on October 16, 1930 and soon became one of the most important figures in our country. she daughter of Antonio Garcia Padilla, who worked composing lyrics for great artists such as Concha Piquer, Imperio Argentina and Estrellita Castro and died on February 17, 1987; and Florentina Galisteo Ramírez, who lived almost 100 years.

Carmen demonstrated from almost as a child that she had great showmanship. At just 17 years old, she made her film debut sponsored by no less than little star castro. He was so young that in his beginnings, he had to deceive about his age, because he was a minor.

That early white lie led to the misrepresentation of his true date of birth in many biographies. Her impressiveness, her Sevillian sympathy and her characteristic smile made her “the sweetheart of Spain” for decades and in her long professional career she had numerous suitors.

gave gourds to the bullfighter Carlos Arruzato the king of the operetta, Louis Mariano and the comic actor Mario Moreno ‘Cantinflas’. All of them, except Luis Mariano, accompanied their processions with valuable jewels, which Carmen returned to them.

She lived her last years apart from everything and everyone, lost in that impenetrable and cruel world of memory loss. Very few people knew everything about her: her son Augusto J. Algueró and his soulmate, Moncho Ferrer, veteran PR of the music world. The two have accompanied her to her deathbed. She had been practically isolated for some time in her residence without receiving visitors, as she requested her only son.

His wedding in the basilica of Pilar de Zaragoza, in February 1961, with the composer Augusto AlgueróIt was a national event. From her marriage to the famous arranger, her only child, Augustito, was born, but the relationship broke up after 13 years together.

Shortly after Carmen fell in love with the film businessman vincent patuel, with whom he could not marry until years later, since he was still married. Finally, they celebrated the wedding in the palace of the Duke of Ahumada, in Arcos de la Frontera when Patuel obtained the divorce.

The background of the report on the civil wedding of the actress and the businessman is worthy of a soap opera. And it is that then, Jaime Penafieldirector of Magazine, the weekly of Grupo Zeta, launched to compete with Hola, of which Peñafiel had been the editor-in-chief. The journalist got the exclusive on the ceremony after maneuvering in absolute secrecy for months so that no one knew the date or the place where it would be held.

Not even the bride and groom knew the details of their own wedding until the last moment, which finally took place at three in the afternoon, a strange time, in order to avoid any leaks. Augustito, the son of the bride, did not even attend so as not to give clues to the ceremony.

Peñafiel paid 25 million pesetas for the exclusive but assures that the entire operation cost him almost 40 million pesetas, a fabulous figure never before handled in the gossip. Vicente Patuel put a gun on the table to demand an advance of 10 million. At that time, Patuel had financial problems and was willing to do anything to remedy them.

This second marriage separated Carmen from the entertainment world. The couple dedicated themselves to the fields on the Patuel farm in Extremadura, where Carmen made her phrase about the sheep famous. But there is no idyllic field that can remove a great artist from her vocation and her return in the 90s brought her back to film and television.

Then began a brilliant television career with shows like neighborhood cinema or the Telecoupon, after Valerio Lararov recovered it in the nineties for the first stages of Telecinco. Between 2005 and 2006 she delighted viewers with her spontaneity in Look who is dancingagain on TVE.

In 2010 she decided to retire due to the fact that there were more and more mistakes she had, being replaced in neighborhood cinema by shell velascowho at 83 years old currently suffers from the ailments of age in a residence on the outskirts of Madrid.

It is difficult to sum up his extraordinary and long cinematic career that spans all genres. In addition to her innumerable titles, of a traditional and folkloric nature, Carmen was a pioneer by participating in European and American co-productions, where she appeared alongside actors such as Gary Cooper o Frank Sinatraalthough he rejected a seven-year contract in Hollywood and preferred to stay in Spain.

He worked with Mexican idol Jorge Negrete. With Luis Mariano, already an international artist, he made imperial violets. She was the protagonist of The revenge by Juan Antonio Bardem, the first Spanish film to be nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. She appeared in titles alongside Paulette Goddard, Charlton Heston, Vittorio de Sica and Raf Vallone.

And in the 70s he knew how to reinvent himself and play roles in dramatic and erotic films. With the glass ceilingby Eloy de la Iglesia, received the award for best actress from El Círculo de Escritores.

The last time we saw her on the small screen was on October 15, 2016. It was an interview that she did Maria Teresa Camposrecorded five years earlier on the occasion of his eighty-first birthday.

Since then Carmen became an indelible memory in the memory of the people. Her son Augusto shielded her image and her news so that the public that adored and adores her, keeps a memory of the mature Carmen, still beautiful and close that we all have in our memory.