Celebrity Biographies
Chus Lampreave
He was one of the most recognizable faces in Spanish cinema, and displayed a spontaneity that connected with the general public. Chus Lampreave worked with great directors such as Luis García Berlanga, Marco Ferreri and Fernando Trueba, but she will be remembered above all as an Almodóvar girl. The actress died at the Torrecárdenas hospital complex, in Almería, the city where she lived, at the age of 85 on April 4, 2016.
Born in the capital of Spain, on December 11, 1930, María Jesús Lampreave Pérez studied Painting at the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts. At first, it had not even crossed her mind to become an actress, but she appeared as an extra in El pisito , and with a little more role in El cochecito , both by Ferreri, and she got the bug of acting.
The directors grew fond of Chus Lampreave , so each time they gave him longer interventions. This is the case of Berlanga, who after verifying her effectiveness as a visitor to a very episodic work in El verdugo , ended up turning her into Viti, one of the maids of the family from La escopeta nacional and its sequels. The same thing happened with Trueba, who first trusted her as a writer in Be unfaithful and don’t look with whom and ended up giving her prominent appearances in titles such as The Year of Lights , The Artist and the Model and, above all, Belle Epoque ., for which she won the Goya for Best Supporting Actress, and for which she was awarded the Oscar for the Foreign Language Film.
After playing a nun in Entre tinieblas , by Pedro Almodóvar , she would become the actress most requested by the man from La Mancha, and the only one who has remained present over the years, almost always in characters as bizarre as they are funny, recognizable and human. , like the grandmother of What have I done to deserve this? or the Jehovah’s Witness concierge from Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown . At her command, he has appeared in titles such as Matador , Los abrazos rotos , Talk to her , or Volver , which won the performance award for the ensemble cast at the Cannes Film Festival.
In 2001 the Government of Spain awarded him the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts. She active to a late age, her last on-screen appearance being in Torrente 5. Operación Eurovegas .