Pina Pellicer

Josefina Yolanda Pellicer López de Llergo was born on 3 April 1934 in Mexico City,^[1] the daughter of César Pellicer Sánchez, a lawyer, and Pilar López de Llergo.^{[citation needed]} Her uncle, Carlos Pellicer, was a modernist poet. Of her seven siblings, her younger sister Pilar Pellicer also became an actress best known for her roles in numerous telenovelas. Another younger sister, Ana, was a sculptor and the co-author of Pina Pellicer's 2006 biography.^{[citation needed][2]}

Pellicer's first acting role, albeit only her second movie to be released, was the Paramount Pictures production One-Eyed Jacks.^[3] In the movie, Pellicer played Louisa, the stepdaughter of Karl Malden and the lover of Marlon Brando. Mexican actress Katy Jurado appeared as Louisa's mother. The production of the movie was much delayed, and the original director, Stanley Kubrick left, along with screenwriter Sam Peckinpah, leaving Brando to finish the movie – the only time Brando was credited with directing a movie.

Production started in 1958; the movie was released in 1961. European response was positive, and in July 1961, the movie received the Golden Shell (Concha de Oro) at the San Sebastián International Film Festival. Pellicer was awarded the prize for best female performer. Reviews compared her to Audrey Hepburn. In the United States, the response was more mixed and the movie received only one Academy Award nomination, for Charles Lang's cinematography.^[4]

The first movie with Pellicer to reach theaters was the Mexican production Macario, released in 1960.^{[citation needed]} Pellicer played the wife of the title character opposite Ignacio López Tarso.^[5] Macario was the first Mexican production to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but lost out to Ingmar Bergman's The Virgin Spring.^[6] After Macario, Pellicer appeared in two more Mexican films, Días de Otoño, released in 1963, and Sinful, released in 1965.

During her appearance at the San Sebastián Film Festival, Pellicer met Spanish director Rafael Gil, who cast the actress in the title role in Rogelia, filmed in Asturias and released in 1962. In addition to her film work, Pellicer appeared in episodes of the television shows The Fugitive ("Smoke Screen", 1963) and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour ("The Life Work of Juan Diaz", 1964, written by Ray Bradbury), as well as on Mexican television.^{[citation needed]}

Pellicer died by suicide on 6 December 1964, aged 30, from an overdose of sleeping pills.^[7] Her body was buried at Panteón Jardín in Mexico City.^[8][9]