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Marisa Paredes, a legend of Spanish cinema, died this week. She was 78 years old. Spain's Film Academy wrote in a statement that Paredes spent her career playing strong, passionate women. NPR's Isabella Gomez Sarmiento has this appreciation.
ISABELLA GOMEZ SARMIENTO, BYLINE: Marisa Paredes appeared in over 100 movies and TV shows, even more if you count plays. But she's best known as one of the Chicas Almodovar, for collaborating with director Pedro Almodovar. They started working together in the 1980s. In a later interview with Spanish TV program "De Tu A Tu," the director explained how he was completely drawn by the way Paredes could walk, move, wear a jacket just so.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "DE TU A TU")
PEDRO ALMODOVAR: (Non-English language spoken).
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: He described it not only as style and elegance, but an overwhelming dignity. And so he often cast her as a flamboyant heroine in his films, a diva, capable of commanding any room she walked into. In 1991's "High Heels," it was the role of a legendary singer in an embattled relationship with her daughter.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "HIGH HEELS")
MARISA PAREDES: (Non-English language spoken).
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: "The Flower Of My Secret," four years later, saw Paredes transform into a tormented author grappling with the expectations to write romance novels.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE FLOWER OF MY SECRET")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (Non-English language spoken).
PAREDES: (Non-English language spoken).
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: And in the Academy Award-winning "All About My Mother" from 1999, Perez embodied Huma Rojo, a magnetic stage actress inspired by a tragic loss.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER")
PAREDES: (Non-English language spoken).
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: Marisa Paredes was born in Madrid in 1946. In an interview for the Spanish Academy's Memoria Colectiva project, she said she was born into her craft, that the air in her neighborhood carried something special. She grew up among statues of great writers and mere blocks from Teatro Espanol, the city's iconic theater. She remembered as a girl thinking...
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PAREDES: (Non-English language spoken).
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: She needed to get behind those doors. She did that and then some. After making her screen debut at age 14, Paredes went on to become president of the Spanish Film Academy and received an honorary Goya award in 2018. This week, people paid their respects at the Teatro Espanol. Actress Rossy de Palma told the Spanish outlet Mundo Deportivo that she will always remember Paredes' outsized impact not only as a performer, but as an activist who fought for better working conditions for actors.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
ROSSY DE PALMA: (Non-English language spoken).
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: "Marisa Paredes was more than an actress," she said. "She was a great dame of acting." Isabella Gomez Sarmiento, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "PIENSA EN MI")
PAREDES: (Singing in non-English language). Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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