Libertad Lamarque: 1908-2000: Actor, Singer

Lamarque's 1960 return to Argentina was heralded by her fans, who met her at the airport, bearing signs that read "Welcome Back" and "Long Live Libertad." Television beckoned when Lamarque returned to Argentina, and she answered the call. She was a favorite guest on talk shows, reflecting and telling anecdotes from her long film career. She joined Mexican entertainer Cantinflas and actor Dolores del Rio to make director Nancy Cardenas' 1977 documentary about Mexican film. Lamarque got her start in television soap operas in 1981 when Cardenas cast her in Soledad. In 1998 she joined the cast of La Usurpadora.

Lamarque died in Mexico City on December 12, 2000. Earlier that year, Lamarque was honored by the Mexican Academy of Cinema Arts and Sciences, which gave her the Mexican equivalent of an Oscar for her work. She also received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Hispanic Film Makers Board, and was honored at the Hispanic Film Festival of Miami, which featured a retrospective of her films. Two weeks before her death, she filmed the Christmas episode of Carita de Angel, the Mexican soap opera she had been working on. She was invited to receive an honor at the Santa Fe Film Festival as a pioneer of Latin-American film, but Lupita Tovar, Lamarque's contemporary who also was honored, accepted the award on her behalf. Just one month before her death, Lamarque was quoted as saying, "I'll work forever," according to Austin Mutti-Mewse in the Independent. "As long as I have a good pulse to put my make-up on, I'll keep working."