MEXICO CITY (CNN) – Silvia Pinal, the legendary Mexican actress who starred in Luis Buñuel’s masterpiece “Viridiana,” died Thursday, according to television stations and government officials. She was 93 years old.
Born in 1931 in the city of Guaymas in northwestern Mexico, Pinal was born to Pedro Infante, Germán Valdes “Tan Tan”, Cantinflas, and Arturo de Córdoba.
Mexico’s Secretary of Culture, Claudia Curiel de Icasa, mourned her on social media, calling her “a pioneer in the theater world who paved the way for the next generation.”
“Her accomplishments as an artist and her contribution to our culture are unforgettable,” Curiel de Icasa wrote. “May she rest in peace.”
One of his daughters, Sylvia Pasquel, said earlier this week that Pinal was in intensive care due to complications from a urinary tract infection.
Pinal was a larger-than-life figure with voluptuous blonde hair and bright red lipstick. She entered the film world at the age of 18, playing a bit role in the 1949 film “Bamba.”
Over a six-decade career, Pinal appeared in dozens of films made in Mexico, the United States, and Europe. She rose to international fame with her roles in three films by legendary film director Luis Buñuel. The first was Viridiana (1962), the first Spanish-Mexican co-production that won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, and then Simon of Simon. ‘Desert’ (1965) and ‘Angel of Extermination’ (1967).
Pinal also starred in the 1969 Mexican-American action film Shark! Alongside Burt Reynolds.
In addition to film, Pinal has had success in musical theater and television as an actress and producer. She produced the popular telenovela “Mujer, casos de la vida real,” which aired for over 20 years until 2007.
Emilion Azcárraga, chairman of the board of Grupo Televisa, Mexico’s largest television company, where Pinal worked for decades and produced a series based on her life, paid tribute to Pinal on social media.
“While we are sad to say goodbye to a diva who helped usher in the golden age of Mexican film, theater and television, we are also proud to have shared many years of learning with her,” she said. It is the home of the TV station,” Azcarraga said.
Pinal also dabbled in Mexican politics as a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, winning seats in the Mexican House of Representatives, the Senate, and the Mexico City Regional Council.
Pinal has been married four times and has four children, including rock singer Alejandra Guzman.
Pinal’s beauty is captured in every frame and is immortalized in her portrait painted by Diego Rivera, one of the greatest exponents of Mexican mural painting.
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