Concepción Velasco Varona (29 November 1939 – 2 December 2023), known professionally as Concha Velasco, also Conchita Velasco, was a Spanish actress, singer, dancer, television presenter, and theatrical producer. She received numerous accolades throughout her career in film, theater, and television spanning over six decades, including two National Theater Awards presented by the Spanish Ministry of Culture in 1972 and 2016, the Lifetime Achievement Award presented by the Spanish Television Academy in 2009, and the Honorary Goya Award presented by the Spanish Film Academy in 2012. Some of her credits include leading film performances in Red Cross Girls (1958), Los tramposos (1959), The Fair of the Dove (1963), Television Stories (1965), The Witching Hour (1985), and Beyond the Garden (1996); leading stage performances in ¡Mamá, quiero ser artista!, in several plays that author Antonio Gala wrote for her, and in the Spanish productions of Filumena Marturano and Hello, Dolly!; leading television performances in Teresa de Jesús and Herederos on Televisión Española, Motivos personales on Telecinco, and Gran Hotel on Antena 3; as well as a television presenter in numerous shows for those three networks. Velasco had been also the recipient of many honours. The Government of Spain honoured her with the Gold Medal of Merit in the Fine Arts in 1987, the Gold Medal of Merit in Labour in 2008, the Grand Cross of the Civil Order of Alfonso X, the Wise in 2016, and the Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Isabella the Catholic posthumously in 2023. The Spanish Film Academy honoured her with its Gold Medal in 2003.

Life and career

Concepción Velasco Varona was born in Valladolid on 29 November 1939. She was raised in Valladolid until she was six years old, when her family moved to Larache. At age ten, she moved to Madrid where she studied classical and Spanish dance at the National Conservatory. She made her debut as a dancer in the corps de ballet of the La Coruña opera and later worked as a flamenco dancer with Manolo Caracol and as revue dancer with Celia Gámez. Velasco began her career in the cinema at the age of fifteen in several titles as a supporting actress. Her first film as a leading actress was Red Cross Girls (1958). During the 1960s and 1970s she combined her work starring in films and in plays for theater and television. In the film Television Stories (1965) she performed the song "Chica ye ye" composed by Augusto Algueró with lyrics by Antonio Guijarro. The song became a hit and she suddenly found success as a yé-yé singer recording eight albums. After an early career with a filmography in line with the tenets of Francoism and close to the regime's favoured filmmaker José Luis Sáenz de Heredia, she eventually developed left-wing views and was reportedly vetoed for her trade union activity. At age 80, she described herself as "Catholic, Socialist, and Spanish". During the 1970s and 1980s she performed more serious roles. Her most successful role for television was in Teresa de Jesús (1984) as Teresa of Ávila. Also in the 1980s she launched her career as television presenter hosting the New Year's Eve variety shows to welcome 1985, 1986, and 1987 on Televisión Española, where she also sings and dances. She hosted on Antena 3 the broadcast of the New Year's Eve clock bell strikes live from Puerta del Sol in Madrid to welcome 1998 –along with Constantino Romero–. In theater, she had her own theatrical troupe first, and a production company with her husband Paco Marsó later, producing many of the plays she starred in herself, which led her to bankruptcy and to have debts with the Tax Agency on several occasions. On 14 March 2018 she announced that, after a career of 64 years, the stage play El funeral would be her last. She retired on 21 September 2021 with her last performance of the play La habitación de María at Theatre of Bretón de los Herreros in Logroño. On 28 May 2010 she revealed she was battling lymphatic cancer which was discovered in April. She got back to her activities months after. She died at the Hospital Puerta de Hierro in Majadahonda (Madrid) on 2 December 2023, at the age of 84. She lied in repose at La Latina theater in Madrid for public wake. The following day her mortal remains were taken to Valladolid where she was honored in front of Teatro Calderón, and people paid tribute to her, as the funeral procession passed by. Her funeral took place in the Cathedral and she was buried in the Pantheon of Illustrious Vallisoletans at El Carmen cemetery.

Filmography and performances

Film

As herself

Stage

• 1959: Ven y ven... al Eslava • 1961: Los derechos de la mujer, by Alfonso Paso • 1962: The Boy Friend, by Sandy Wilson • 1962: Las que tienen que servir (play), by Alfonso Paso • 1965: Elena, para los miércoles, by Muriel Resnik • 1966: Don Juan Tenorio as doña Inés, by José Zorrilla • 1966: Il giorno della tartaruga, by Pietro Garinei and Sandro Giovannini • 1967: Una chica en mi sopa, by Terence Frisby • 1969: El alma se serena, by Juan José Alonso Millán • 1970: Llegada de los dioses as Verónica, by Antonio Buero Vallejo • 1972: Abelardo y Eloísa, by Ronald Millar • 1974: Las cítaras colgadas de los árboles as Olalla, by Antonio Gala • 1977: Las arrecogías del beaterio de Santa María Egipciaca, by José Martín Recuerda • 1979: Filomena Marturano as Filonema, by Eduardo De Filippo • 1981: Yo me bajo en la próxima, ¿y usted?, by Adolfo Marsillach • 1983: Mata-Hari, by Adolfo Marsillach • 1985: Buenas noches, madre, by Marsha Norman • 1986: ¡Mamá, quiero ser artista!, by Juan José de Arteche • 1988: Carmen, Carmen as Carmen, by Antonio Gala • 1992: La truhana, by Antonio Gala • 1996: Nostalgia del Paraíso, by Antonio Gala • 1997: La rosa tatuada, by Tennessee Williams • 1999: Las manzanas del viernes as Orosia, by Antonio Gala • 2001: Hello, Dolly! as Dolly, by Jerry Herman and Michael Stewart • 2003: Inés desabrochada, by Antonio Gala • 2006: Filomena Marturano as Filonema, by Eduardo De Filippo • 2009: La vida por delante, by Romain Gary • 2011: Concha, yo lo que quiero es bailar, by Juan Carlos Rubio • 2012: Hélade • 2013: Hécuba as Hecuba, by Euripides • 2014: Olivia y Eugenio, by Herbert Morote • 2016: Reina Juana as Juana, by Ernesto Caballero de las Heras • 2018: El funeral, by Manuel Martínez Velasco • 2019: Metamorphoses, by Mary Zimmerman • 2020: La habitación de María, by Manuel Martínez Velasco

Television

As herself

Accolades

Awards and nominations

Honours

Legacy

On 27 June 2011, a star with her name was placed at the Madrid Walk of Fame. On 3 November 2011, the Sala Concha Velasco –a multipurpose theater with capacity for 610 seats on retractable stands– was opened at the Valladolid Arts Laboratory. On 8 May 2014, a street in Valladolid received her name. On 10 February 2024, she was honored at the 38th Goya Awards ceremony, held in Valladolid, by its presenters Ana Belén, Javier Ambrossi, and Javier Calvo performing a medley of two of her songs "¡Mamá, quiero ser artista!" and "Chica ye ye". She was honored in the opening number of the eleventh season of Tu cara me suena aired on 12 April 2024 on Antena 3, Roko impersonated her, and the season's contestants joined, in singing "¡Mamá, quiero ser artista!". On 3 October 2024, Correos, the Spanish postal service, issued a sheet of stamps in tribute to her as part of its Spanish cinema series.