Rocío Laura Espinosa López-Cepero, known as Laura Valenzuela, has died this Friday at the age of 92 in Madrid, after spending the last few days admitted to the La Princesa hospital, as EL PAÍS has been able to confirm.
At the gates of the hospital and before leaving for the funeral home, Valenzuela's only daughter, Lara Dibildos, 51, this afternoon thanked the many people who have sent their condolences "for all the love and respect" , has expressed dressed in mourning and in tears.
"It's been hard," she said.
"He has gone in peace."
Laura Valenzuela was born in Seville on February 18, 1931. She had few memories of her hometown because her family moved frequently from the city due to her father's profession, which was an airplane pilot.
The eldest of three siblings, she studied boarding for three years at a school in the south of France and she also lived in Paris before returning to Madrid.
After high school, he began his studies in Commerce, which he abandoned because he began working in the office of a crane company and later in a fashion store, where, in addition to assisting customers and thanks to his measurements (89-64-90), he already her height (1.71 meters), she began to occasionally act as a mannequin: “A friend of mine opened a boutique and invited me to pass models for her clientele.
She told me: 'With that great guy you have!'
That encouraged me a lot because I kept looking lanky, skinny, gangly.
And on top of that... with an olive face!" Valenzuela declared about those years, according to the magazine
soon
.
More information
The life of Laura Valenzuela, in photos: from presenting Eurovision to her films with José Luis Dibildos
She walked for fashion brands of the time such as Asunción Bastida or Marbel, but as reported in the TVE program
Lazos de sangre
dedicated to her life in July 2020, her journey as a mannequin ended abruptly when a very important client took a fancy to her. one of the models that Valenzuela wore and she put it in the bag with a hanger included.
The client was so enraged that Valenzuela was immediately fired.
And it is that the buyer was neither more nor less than the Duchess of Alba.
Seeing himself on the street, through the actor José Luis Ozores, whom he met by chance, he found out that Televisión Española (TVE) was looking for presenters for the studios on the Paseo de La Habana.
This happened in 1952 and the first television broadcasts were produced in 1956. Valenzuela applied and was hired.
In fact, she was the first presenter that the house had and enjoyed great popularity from the beginning.
The presenter, who was part of the first promotion of television presenters in Spain, commented in an interview with EL PAÍS in 1996 that she had been "on TV since there were only 600 sets."
It is natural that the viewers would refer to that young mischievous woman who did a little of everything inside that box in the living room as
Laurita
, because it was almost family.
In 1957 she was awarded the Ondas Award in recognition of her work on Spanish Television in the first year that these awards honored professionals who worked in television.
The actresses Laura Valenzuela, Concha Velasco and Núria Espert, in a file image.
alvaro rodriguez (Getty)
In 1954, Valenzuela acted in his first film, playing a small role in 'El pescador de coplas', directed by Antonio del Amo and starring Marujita Díaz and Tony Leblanc.
She met in 1956 the film producer José Luis Dibildos, who made her a contract to appear in 13 films as an actress and with whom she then began a sentimental relationship.
One of her most prominent roles was in the film
Ana says yes
, directed by Pedro Lazaga in 1958. Since then, she has focused her efforts on film acting, participating in the filming of films such as
Soltera y sola en la vida
,
Las que tiene que servir
,
The black tulip
and
Madame Sans-Gene.
In 1968 she returned to her work as a television presenter with the premiere of Galas del Sábado, a classic entertainment program with musical and humorous performances.
Valenzuela and Joaquín Prat (died in 1995) were the faces that led that space, which lasted two years on the Spanish Television screen.
In 1969 she presented the Eurovision Song Contest, which that year was held in Madrid after the triumph of the singer Massiel the previous year.
Two years later, in 1971, she participated in the film
Españolas en París
, by Ricardo Bodegas, for which she was awarded the Best Actress Award from the Círculo de Escritores Cinematográficos.
That was her last performance in the cinema.
Her professional retirement in 1971 was motivated by her marriage to José Luis Dibildos on March 27 of that same year after 13 years of courtship, quite modern for the time, in which each one lived in their own house and had their own professional projects.
The wedding finally came after Laura Valenzuela's pregnancy and was held in Illescas, in Toledo, in the same place where Julio Iglesias and Isabel Preysler had said "yes, I do" a few months before.
They had a daughter, Lara Dibildos, in September of that same year.
"I don't think I'll do more movies or television anymore, I aspire to be just the lady of Dibildos," she declared in an interview at the time.
And indeed,
San Sebastián, June 1967. Laura Valenzuela poses for the photographers in the city's port during one of the breaks in the projections of the XV International Film Festival of the city, to which she attended as a guest.
By then she had already been in the world of cinema for almost 15 years. FÉLIX GÓMEZ (EFE)
'Saturday Galas' became one of the most successful programs on television at the end of the sixties, especially thanks to the charisma of its presenters, Joaquín Prat and Laura Valenzuela.EFE
The actor Tony Leblanc and Laura Valenzuela share the stage in February 1971. Europapress / Europa Press / ContactoPhoto
Laura Valenzuela shared the screen with the most important actors and actresses in the country in the fifties and sixties.
Here, she with José Sazatornil, she 'Saza', in 'Those who have to serve', 1967. AGATA FILMS / Entertainment Pictures / ContactoPhoto
Before being an actress and television presenter, Valenzuela was a model for different fashion firms, and also worked as a clerk in a 'boutique'.
Here, in a photo session in 1969. Europa Press / ContactoPhoto
Laura Valenzuela was the presenter of the 1969 Eurovision Song Contest, the only one that has been held in Spain, thanks to Massiel's triumph the previous year thanks to his 'La La La'.EFE
Laura Valenzuela and José Luis Dibildos were married in Illescas (Toledo) on March 27, 1971. They had already been in a relationship for a decade.
So, the bride was pregnant with what would be her only daughter, Lara. Europa Press / ContactoPhoto
Sara Montiel and Laura Valenzuela visited the 'Cinema de Barrio' program in 1999 to celebrate their fourth anniversary on the air with José Manuel Parada.Europa Press Reports / Europa Press / ContactoPhoto
Laura Valenzuela and Tony Leblanc in the 1968 comedy directed by Fernando Merino 'La dynamite is served.'
This was one of the 13 films for which she signed a contract with José Luis Dibildos (here, her screenwriter), whom she would marry in the 1970s.Entertainment Pictures / Entertainment Pictures / ContactoPhoto
Laura Valenzuela was named "Lady Spain" in 1989. Here, she embraces the singer Rocío Jurado during a performance by the latter at the election gala. CARLES RIBAS (EFE)
Laura Valenzuela and Lara Dibildos pose together at a charity event.
The presenter, who died at the age of 92, had been retired for a little over a decade, without public appearances and without granting interviews. Josefina Blanco / Europa Press / ContactoPhoto
On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of TVE, Laura Valenzuela was awarded as the best television presenter.
She sporadically returned to the small screen to present galas like Christmas Eve in 1980. Telecinco signed her in 1990 to host programs like Tele 5
Tell me?
or
My dear Spain
, and even presented the New Year's Eve bells of 1990 and 1991 on that television network.
In 1996 she returned to TVE for two years to present with Ramón García the magazines that until then had been hosted by María Teresa Campos and her daughter Terelu, signed by Telecinco.
After almost a decade without appearing on the screens, in 2006 she presented the 50th Anniversary Gala of Televisión Española together with Anne Igartiburu and Paula Vázquez.
In 2012, he received the Iris Toda Una Vida Award from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, in recognition of his professional career, also appearing on television for that reason and to collect the award, the last time he did so in his long trajectory.
Throughout her life, the presenter and actress had to face several bitter moments.
One of them was when her daughter, Lara Dibildos, was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 1991, a disease that she overcame.
As her daughter confessed in Blood Ties, Laura Valenzuela fainted when she received the news.
In 2002, José Luis Dibildos died of a heart attack.
And in 2005, Valenzuela herself underwent surgery for breast cancer in Houston (USA).
The actress and popular presenter Laura Valenzuela dies.
She participated in films such as Spanish in Paris, Los underdeveloped, Those who have to serve or The black tulip.
pic.twitter.com/NSvHQ4dI09
– Film Academy (@Academiadecine) March 17, 2023
In the last stage of her life, Laura Valenzuela stayed away from those spotlights that had been pointed at her since she was a young girl.
Without leaving his house, he received frequent visits from his daughter Lara and his grandchildren, Fran (24 years old and son of Lara Dibildos and former basketball player Fran Murcia) and Álvaro (16 years old, son of Dibildos and the jockey Álvaro Muñoz Escassi), and his close friends.
She herself recounted in her withdrawal, in 2012, that she wanted calm: “I have already decided that I want to go to bed soon, I want to rest.
What I feel like are meals, snacks, dinners with family and closest friends and that's it.
And not put on makeup."
As her daughter declared in Lazos de Sangre, in 2020, Laura Valenzuela led a quiet life: "She goes to bed early and no longer wants to know anything about popularity."
Her grandchildren affectionately called her 'nona'.
The Minister of Culture, Miquel Iceta, has fired the actress and presenter, one of the most famous faces on television from the sixties, seventies and eighties.
"Rest in peace.
May her family and friends find comfort in the indelible memory of a great artist and presenter, ”the minister wrote on his Twitter profile.
The Film Academy has also wanted to remember her figure and some of the almost 40 films in which she participated.