Alicia Montoya

Alicia Montoya (born Alicia Rodríguez Montoya; January 25, 1920 – August 17, 2002) was a Mexican actress of film, theatre, and television. The daughter of the stage actress María Tereza Montoya, she appeared in around sixty films and more than eighty telenovelas over a long career, among them Senda prohibida, the first telenovela produced in Mexico. A veteran character actress, she received an Ariel Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the film De muerte natural (1996). She was a granddaughter of Felipe Montoya y Alarcón and a niece of the actor Joaquín Pardavé, and began performing at the age of six, making her stage debut in the play Lo que ella no pudo prever. She was among the actresses involved in the union's Estancia Infantil, a children's daycare centre established under Dolores del Río in 1973, contributing over five hundred hours of volunteer service in its first year. She died in Mexico City on August 17, 2002, at the age of 82.

Career Film Montoya made her film debut in La Zandunga (1937) and appeared in around sixty films. The film historian Abraham Castillo Flores has singled out her climactic scene, describing her character as a devout woman, disbelieved by others about the vampire, who kills the vampiress in a fit of rage. Later in her career she played the director of a girls' school in Sergio Véjar's Discoteca es amor (1978), in a performance a reviewer described as strict and unbending. She received an Ariel Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for the film De muerte natural (produced 1984; released 1996). She was also among the actresses who worked as radio voices at the station Radio Femenina.

Television She became best known through television, which she entered in the 1950s. In 1958 she took part in Senda prohibida, the first telenovela produced in Mexico, In 1952 she played Doña Blanca de Padilla in Carlos Solórzano's Doña Beatriz, la sin ventura, staged by UNAM's Teatro Universitario under the direction of Max Aub at the Sala Molière, in a performance the reviewer singled out for praise.

In the early 1950s she was, with Enrique Alonso, co-director of the children's theatre company Teatro del Pequeño Mundo, appearing in its productions such as El portal de Belén (1953), in which she played the Virgin Mary, and Un viaje maravilloso (1954). Also in 1954 she performed with her mother's troupe, the Compañía María Tereza Montoya, in Jacinto Benavente's Su amante esposa at the Teatro Ideal. In 1958 she played Edith Frank in the Mexican premiere of The Diary of Anne Frank at the Teatro Jorge Negrete, a Compañía María Tereza Montoya production directed by Ricardo Mondragón in which her mother and her half-sister María Teresa Mondragón also appeared, with Pina Pellicer in the title role.

Her dramatic roles included parts in two plays by Federico García Lorca: La casa de Bernarda Alba and, as the mother, Bodas de sangre. In 1960 she played Piedad in the premiere of Hugo Argüelles's Los cuervos están de luto at the Teatro Jorge Negrete, directed by Virgilio Mariel and produced by and co-starring Carmen Montejo; the critic Rafael Solana credited her performance with changing her career from supporting roles to that of a leading actress. In 1963 she appeared in a revival of Rafael Solana's comedy Debiera haber obispas at the Teatro Fábregas, part of the INBA's Temporada de Oro del Teatro Mexicano, staged by the German director Hanns Anselm Perten and headed by Gloria Marín; a critic praised her professionalism and the restraint she brought to a role that could have been overplayed. In 1964 she played Åse, the mother of the title character, in José Solé's staging of Henrik Ibsen's Peer Gynt at the Teatro Hidalgo, in a performance critics praised as exemplary. In 1968 she played the countess in a revival of Dario Niccodemi's melodrama La enemiga, starring Amparo Rivelles, in a performance a critic praised warmly. In 1972 she appeared as a German housekeeper in José Cibrián's staging of the thriller Gaslight, again opposite Amparo Rivelles.

Over a career that began in childhood, she is credited with appearing in several hundred stage plays.

Selected filmography La Zandunga (1937) Talpa (1956) El vampiro (1957).... María Teresa El farol de la ventana (1958) El duende y yo (1960).... Marga Quinceañera (1960) Teresa (1961).... Doña Josefina Chicas casaderas (1961) Chicano (1975).... Herlinda Discoteca es amor (1978).... School director De muerte natural (produced 1984; released 1996).... Anciana portera

Telenovelas Senda prohibida (1958) Teresa (1959).... Mamá de Teresa Ha llegado un extraño (1959) La actriz (1962) La herencia (1962) Doña Macabra (1963) La sombra del otro (1963) Historia de un cobarde (1964) El dolor de vivir (1964) El crisol (1964)''' Una mujer (1965) La sembradora (1965) La mentira (1965) Más fuerte que tu amor (1966) Vértigo (1966) Estafa de amor (1967) Lo prohibido (1967) Deborah (1967) Leyendas de México (1968) Águeda (1968) Chucho el Roto (1968).... Doña Luisa Rubí (1968).... Refugio Puente de amor (1969) No creo en los hombres (1969) Sin palabras (1969).... Elise La constitución (1970).... Lola Jiménez y Muro Velo de novia (1971) Muchacha italiana viene a casarse (1971).... Teresa #2 Entre brumas (1973).... Sarah Los miserables (1974).... Madre Abadesa Barata de primavera (1975).... Nana Licha Pobre Clara (1975).... Tía Emilia Donde termina el camino (1978) Ángel Guerra (1979) Honrarás a los tuyos (1979) El Enemigo (1979) La llama de tu amor (1979) Herencia maldita (1986).... Catherine El engaño (1986).... Martha Victoria (1987).... Esperanza Quinceañera (1987).... Licha Imperio de cristal (1995).... Antonia Arizmendi Bendita mentira (1996).... Virtudes La culpa (1996).... Manuela Pueblo chico, infierno grande (1997).... Doña Hipólita Gotita de amor (1998).... Trini Serafín (1999).... Cruz Abrázame muy fuerte (2000-2001).... Gumersinda Montes''