María Elena Velasco

Multitalented María Elena Velasco is Mexico's greatest comedienne. La India María, the hilarious, likable indigenous woman she created and played, is the most successful female movie character in the history of Mexican cinema; her comedies broke box office records and remain widely popular. She also had her own comic book, recorded a couple of albums, starred in a stage show and a sitcom. María Elena Velasco Fragoso was born in the Mexican city of Puebla. Her family moved to Mexico City to get medical help for her father, who became seriously ill. After her husband passed away, Mrs. Velasco decided to stay in the Mexican capital. María Elena and her younger sister, Susy Velasco, eventually found work in show business. The beautiful and curvaceous María Elena began her career as a dancer in variety shows. She then started working as an actress on stage, playing the serious counterparts to comedians Fernando Soto "Mantequilla", Adalberto Martínez "Resortes", Manuel Medel, and José Jasso. Around the same time, she married actor Julián de Meriche and made her debut on the big screen with small roles in My Memories of Mexico (1963), Los derechos de los hijos (1963), and El revólver sangriento (1964). La India María, the character that finally made her a star, was inspired by the indigenous street vendors who sold fruit on San Juan de Letrán Avenue in central Mexico City. María Elena's new comedy sketch based on those women was overwhelmingly popular at the Teatro Blanquita. The highly amusing character successfully transitioned to television. Her frequent appearances in TV shows such as Domingos espectaculares (1969) and Siempre en domingo (1970) led to a film career. Fernando de Fuentes hijo produced her first blockbuster, Tonta, tonta, pero no tanto (1972). María Elena returned to television as the main star and host of the variety program Revista musical Nescafe (1972). La India María continued to triumph at the box office with her adventures as a vendor of healing water in Pobre, pero honrada! (1973), a troublesome nun in La madrecita (1974), a mayor of a small town in La presidenta municipal (1975), and the guardian of a rich Shih Tzu dog in El miedo no anda en burro (1976). La India María often finds herself in zany situations. She flies a helicopter in Sor Tequila (1977), is seen as a good luck charm in Duro pero seguro (1978), and masquerades as a rich society woman in La comadrita (1978). Her character travels to the US for the first time in Okey, Mister Pancho (1981). She won Mexico's equivalent of the Golden Globe Award for her performance in ¡El que no corre... vuela! (1982), her final collaboration with Fuentes. In the early 1980s, María Elena signed a new contract with Antonio Matouk. Matouk gave her more artistic freedom and produced El coyote emplumado (1983) and Ni Chana, ni Juana (1984), the first India María movies she directed. Her son, Iván Lipkies, produced her first independent feature film, Ni de aquí, ni de allá (1988). Six years later, she found theatrical success reprising her India María role in the stage comedy México canta y aguanta (1994), for which she won the Mexican Theatre Critics Association's Celia Montalván Award. After a long absence from the small screen (she had been blacklisted for many years for joking about the expensive vacations of Mexican presidents), La India María came back with her own sitcom, ¡Ay María qué puntería! (1998), and several guest appearances. She wrote the screenplay for her penultimate screen comedy, Las delicias del poder (1999), a political satire in which she plays twin sisters. It was directed by her son and produced by her daughter, Ivette Lipkies. Las delicias del poder was such a success that María Elena planned another India María movie, but the project was eventually postponed. In the meantime, the Lipkies-Velasco family adapted William Shakespeare's Othello as Huapango (2004). Iván was the director and María Elena and Ivette (credited as Ivette Lipkies) played supporting roles. The script earned the three of them an Ariel Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. La India María made her long-awaited comeback in the comedy La hija de Moctezuma (2014), a thrilling adventure fantasy. Eduardo Manzano, another iconic Mexican comedian, was cast as her grandfather and the two sang the movie's theme song, which she also wrote. Sadly, María Elena passed away several months after the premiere and this movie turned out to be her final work.