Spanish television is in mourning. The historic actress and presenter Laura Valenzuela has died this Friday, March 17, at the age of 92, as confirmed by María Eugenia Yagüe to Better late and also RTVE itself. A few weeks ago all the alarms went off about her delicate state of health after she was admitted to the San Rafael hospital after finding a fever and detecting an infection. Currently, she was admitted to the Hospital de La Princesa, in Madrid.
Rocío Espinosa López-Cepero, better known as Laura Valenzuela, was born on February 18, 1931 in Seville. However, when he was barely over a year old, his entire family moved to Madrid. After completing her basic studies, she enrolled in the Central School of Commerce, and later she began working as an administrator, secretary, and model.
Manuel Campo Vidal: “She was the first presenter, so nobody could teach her anything”
It was precisely the world of fashion that opened the doors to cinema. In 1954, with 23 years just turned, debuted on the big screen at the hands of Antonio del Amo with The couplet fisherman. This would be followed by other films like The tenant (1957), The Violetera (1958) y Those cuplé times (1958).
Laura Valenzuela has passed away at the age of 92.
She was a pioneer in the world of television in Spain and became the first presenter in the history of TVE.
Goodbye, dear Laurita. pic.twitter.com/F8ftmRCPxi
— La 1 (@La1_tve) March 17, 2023
In parallel, in 1956 he became one of the first faces of Spanish Television together with colleagues like Blanca Álvarez or Jesús Álvarez. the contest questions to space -in which she was accompanied by Álvarez- or the broadcasts of the variety show Marconi Festival they were his first television experiences.
“Pioneer and benchmark”
Laura Valenzuela spoke several languages, including English, which set her apart at that time as “a modern woman ahead of her time”as her partner and friend Teresa Viejo pointed out in a documentary about the figure of the presenter, broadcast by Canal Sur in 2016. Paco Clavel, for his part, said of her that she was a woman “pioneer and benchmark” on television.
“It was a very experimental time. When they told me they were looking for television presenters, I replied: ‘And what is that?’, Laura herself revealed about her beginnings, in an interview with TVE on the occasion of the channel’s 50th anniversary. “I stood on the Paseo de la Havana saying: ‘My name is Laura Valenzuela and I come here in case you need television presenters, I don’t know what it is to be a presenter, and neither does television.”
As TVE recalled a few years ago, It was José Luis Ozores who spoke to Laura Valenzuela about television and he recommended going to the Paseo de la Habana. There she Laura had her first opportunity. She placed herself in front of the camera and introduced a bailaor, she was so professional that, even at her premiere, she knew how to improvise when the guest’s shoe heel got caught. She was a “natural and fresh” presenter, everyone admired her. She had an innate gift, she was the same on TV and at home, and that was part of her success.
In 1958, he met what would later become her husband, the film producer José Luis Dibildos. Suddenly, for no reason, he put aside his television career and chose to focus on the big screen. In this way, she intervened in films such as Single and mother in life (1967), The ones that have to serve (1967) or foreign productions that allowed him to work with artists such as Alain Delon (the black tulip1964) and Sofia Loren (Madame Sans-Gene1961).
After almost a decade away from television, Valenzuela returns to Spanish Television in 1968 with spaces like We count on you y Galas on Saturday. This last program united her professionally with Joaquín Prat (her father), with whom she would form one of the most remembered presenter couples on the small screen.
In 1969, it was the one in charge of broadcasting the Eurovision Song Contest from the Teatro Real in Madrid. This contest ended with the famous four-way tie between Spain, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and France. Valenzuela had to deal with such a tense moment before the eyes of millions of viewers from all over Europe.
After 13 years of courtship with José Luis Dibildos, they decide to marry on the condition that Laura should leave her job. She did not hesitate for a moment and left the spotlights and television cameras behind to dedicate herself completely to her husband and her daughter, Lara Divildos, who, by the way, would follow in the footsteps of her mother years later. on tv.
The return of Valenzuela, 20 years later
Laura Valenzuela she stayed away from television until 1990. It was his signing for Telecinco the one that returned it to the small screen. On October 6 of that year, the presenter took over the magazine Telecinco, tell me?, along with Javier Basilio and Paloma Lago. The slot remained on the grid until December 19, 1992.
In September 1991, the chain revamped the format and made it a daily. Valenzuela continued to lead it, accompanied by Pepe Regueiro. In the last months of the space, Paloma Lago was replaced by Belén Rueda and Antonia Dell’Atte and these, in turn, by Amparo Larrañaga.
Later, in the same chain, Laura Valenzuela took charge of different formats such as nap is over (1992), Take a breath (1993), The mornings of Telecinco (1993-1994), one of the most remembered spaces and in which he was a couple with José María Íñigoy My dear Spain (1994).
In 1996, he returned to Spanish Television to command a new space in the morning schedule. In Mornings of First, the presenter had the opportunity to share the set with her daughter Lara, since she was one of the collaborators of the space. However, the program only lasted a few months on the air. After its cancellation, Laura appeared on Between you and me (1997).
His withdrawal
Laura Valenzuela’s television appearances in the 2000s can be counted on one hand. In 2006, she returned to what she had always been her house, TVE, to present the 50th anniversary Gala of the public channel, along with Anne Igartiburu and Paula Vazquez.
A year before, In 2005, the actress and presenter underwent an operation for breast cancer. An ailment that his daughter Lara suffered in the same way a few months before. Due to her advanced age and her health ailments, she did not appear on the small screen again, other than to pick up the Iris Award for a lifetime dedicated to television, in 2011.
In the awards section, in addition, Valenzuela was awarded the Ondas in 1957, an Antena de Oro in 1969, the TP de Oro in 2005 and the Toda una Vida de Cine awarded by the Community of Madrid in 2012.
Spanish television is in mourning. The historic actress and presenter Laura Valenzuela has died this Friday, March 17, at the age of 92, as confirmed by María Eugenia Yagüe to Better late and also RTVE itself. A few weeks ago all the alarms went off about her delicate state of health after she was admitted to the San Rafael hospital after finding a fever and detecting an infection. Currently, she was admitted to the Hospital de La Princesa, in Madrid.
