Silvia Pinal, Actress of Mexican Cinema's Golden Age, Dies at 93

Silvia Pinal, an actress from Mexico’s Golden Age of cinema and muse to the director Luis Buñuel, has died aged 93.

Her death was confirmed by Mexico’s culture secretary, Claudia Curiel de Icaza.

“Her legacy as an artist and her contributions to our culture are unforgettable. Rest in peace,” Curiel de Icaza wrote on social media.

Earlier this month, Pinal had been hospitalised for a urinary tract infection.

During a prolific acting and producing career that spanned seven decades, Pinal got her start in theatre in the 1940s, working with the director Rafael Banquells – the first of her four husbands.

She became a star in 1950 aged 18, when she appeared opposite two of Mexico’s biggest comedic film stars: Germán Valdés (Tin-Tan) in "The King of the Neighborhood" and Mario Moreno (Cantinflas) in "The Doorman".

In 1952, she appeared alongside heartthrob Pedro Infante in "A Place Near Heaven".

The late star also played the titular role in Luis Buñuel’s film "Viridiana" in 1961.

She went on to appear in two other Buñuel films: "The Exterminating Angel" in 1962 and "Simon of the Desert" in 1965.

Pinal gained international fame for toplining "Viridiana", "The Exterminating Angel", and "Simon of the Desert".

Pinal was one of the few Golden Age actors who also adapted to a subsequent career in television, after the quality of Mexican film began tapering off in the 1960s.

Of her 100-plus acting credits, she worked mostly in Mexico, though she did appear in several pictures featuring Hollywood talent, including the MGM co-production "Guns for San Sebastian" (1968), an action film starring Anthony Quinn and Charles Bronson and Samuel Fuller’s "Shark" (1969), featuring Burt Reynolds.

On television, Pinal won over audiences as the presenter and producer of Mujer, "Casos de la Vida Real", a 1986-2007 anthology melodrama based on real-life stories submitted by viewers. 

The hit program, which aired throughout Latin America, tackled social themes that received scant attention in Mexico in the ’80s and ’90s, including domestic violence, and women’s rights.

Pinal also was a leading figure in musical theater in Mexico. 

She starred in and produced local versions of Broadway musicals such as "Hello, Dolly!", "A Chorus Line", and "Cats", and she owned several theaters in Mexico City.

Later in life, Pinal juggled show business with a career in politics.

She served as a federal lawmaker in the early ’90s and headed the Mexican actors guild ANDA from 2010-14.

Born on September 12, 1931, in Mexico’s northern state of Sonora, Pinal took the last name of her stepfather, the journalist and politician Luis G. Pinal, as a homage to the man who raised her. Her mother worked in a seafood restaurant and her biological father, Moises Pasquel, was an orchestra conductor. 

Three of her former spouses worked in show business, and their children and grandchildren had jobs in everything from film and TV to music and modeling. 

With her third husband, the pop singer Enrique Guzman, she had two children, including musician Alejandra Guzman, a Latin Grammy-winning artist who has sold more than 30 million albums. Given the family’s many success stories in entertainment, it is often referred to as the “Pinal Dynasty.”

The acting legend is survived by her daughters, actor Sylvia Pasquel and rock singer Alejandra Guzmán.

Funeral plans were not yet announced.