Laura Valenzuela is going through a tough health patch. The journalist, who has been retired from the public scene for years and has been one of the first and best-known faces of cinema and television between the years 1950 and 1970, is admitted to a Madrid hospital. Her daughter, Lara Dibildos, confirmed this morning to Diez Minutos magazine that she was admitted to the ICU last week and that she now remains hospitalized on the floor. “My mother is ill,” said Lara, who assures that “the whole family is with her.”
Valenzuela is an icon of the ‘box’ in black and white. Originally from Seville, she made her film debut in 1954 with ‘El pescador de copla’, by Antonio del Amo. They would follow ‘The tenant’ (1957), ‘La violetera’ (1958) and ‘Aquellos tiempos del cuplé’ (1958). She was the first popular face of Spanish Television, back in 1956. In 1958 she met the man who would later be her husband, the film producer José Luis Dibildos, who encouraged her to promote her film career. He took part in films such as ‘Those who have to serve’ (1967), ‘Single and mother in life’ (1969) or productions abroad that allowed him to work with artists such as Alain Delon (‘The black tulip’, 1964) and Sophia Loren (‘Madame Sans-Gene’, 1961).
He returned to the small screen in 1968, with the shows ‘We’re counting on you’ and ‘Galas del sábado’, together with Joaquín Prat, becoming one of the most remembered television couples. She also became the face that welcomed Europeans in 1969, the only year in which Spain has organized the Eurovision Song Contest. She won Salome.
She decided to retire from her profession after her marriage on March 27, 1971 with José Luis Dibildos and the birth of her daughter, Lara, who has followed in her footsteps on television. She would not work as a presenter again until the advent of private television, almost twenty years later. It was in 1990, with the program ‘Tele 5, tell me?’, together with Javier Basilio and Paloma Lago. Later they would come on the same channel, ‘The nap is over’ (1992), ‘Give yourself a break’ (1993), ‘Las mañanas de Tele 5’ (1993), with José María Íñigo, and ‘My dear Spain’ (1994 ). She would return to TVE with the program ‘Mañanas de Primera’, which she presented together with her daughter Lara. It was the chain’s response to the departure of María Teresa Campos to Telecinco. The program only lasted a few months.