María Francés

María Candelaria Francés García (2 February 1887– 9 December 1987), better known as María Francés, was a Spanish stage, film and television actress.^[1]

She made her debut at the early age of 16 as a chorus girl in zarzuela in Madrid, from where she moved to Bilbao. She played second lead to Carmen Cobeña (grandmother of director Jaime de Armiñán) and married the future manager of the Arriaga Theater in Bilbao, with whom she had six children. In the 1930s, she emigrated to America with Santiago Artigas theater company.^[2]

After the end of the Spanish Civil War, he devoted himself to cinema, with notable performances in Surcos by José Antonio Nieves Conde and Viento del norte by José Antonio Nieves Conde, for which he received an honorable mention at the 1st San Sebastián International Film Festival.^[3] During the 1960s, he also appeared in televised theater productions on Estudio 1 and Novela, as well as participating in television series such as Las cuatro caras de Eva (The Four Faces of Eve, 1972) and Curro Jiménez(1977).

In 1973, together with fellow actor Xan das Bolas, he received an honorary award from the National Entertainment Union for his film career,^[4] retiring from the stage for good four years later, in 1977.

• D'Lugo, Marvin. Guide to the Cinema of Spain. Greenwood Publishing, 1997.

• María Francés at IMDb