Angelines Fernández


María de los Ángeles "Angelines" Fernández Abad was a Spanish-born Mexican actress of film and television. She is best remembered for playing Doña Clotilde "La Bruja del 71" in the sitcom El Chavo del Ocho. She was an anti-Franco refugee who remained in Mexico from 1947 until the end of her life.

Career

She made her acting debut in the musical comedy Carlo Monte en Monte Carlo in Isabela Garcés' theatre company in Madrid. She flew to Mexico in 1947 in fear for her life due to her support for the Spanish Maquis. During the Spanish Civil War, young Fernández was supportive of the Republican faction. She would remain in Mexico for the rest of her life, except for international tours and a short stint in Cuba during the late 1940s. In 1950, she returned to Mexico permanently.
Angelines Fernández starred in fourteen films, including the classic El Esqueleto de la señora Morales. In 1964, she took the supporting role of Sara, the nemesis of Cantinflas's character Padre Sebastián, in El padrecito. She starred in Cadenas de amor at the age of 37, and other telenovelas in the 1960s with the second to last one in 1970. It was not until she was hired in 1973 to play "La Bruja del 71" in El Chavo del Ocho that she cemented her status as a legend. She got that job when she asked her personal friend, Ramón Valdés, if he knew of any acting jobs she might be able to do.
She also participated in Chespiritos other show, El Chapulín Colorado, years later. It was with El Chavo del Ocho and El Chapulín Colorado that she achieved fame in her native Spain. The two Chespirito productions became wide international hits, reaching virtually every country in the Americas and also other, non-Spanish speaking, countries as well. The shows are still shown with re-runs in many countries. In 1974, she participated in her last telenovela and her last film and concentrated her work around Chespirito productions.
After the shows ended in 1979, she continued playing "La Bruja" on the hour-long Chespirito and on public tours. Starting later in the 1980s, she began playing Ignacia Fernández "Doña Nachita", a second regular character on Chespirito, the gossipy neighbor in the Los caquitos sketches. She remained on the show until 1992.

Death

An acknowledged tobacco smoker, she died on 25 March 1994 from a tobacco related cancer. She is buried at the Mausoleos del Ángel in Mexico City. She was 71 years old.

Filmography

Film