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María Luisa Merlo
Merlo in 2017
Born	María Luisa Merlo Colomina (1941-09-06) September 6, 1941 (age 83) Valencia
Nationality	Spanish
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1957–present
Spouse	Carlos Larrañaga ​ ​(m. 1961; div. 1983)​ Michael Kenton ​ ​(m. 1992; div. 1997)​
Children	Luis Merlo Amparo Larrañaga [es] Pedro Juan Carlos (stepson)

María Luisa Merlo Colomina (born 6 September 1941) is a Spanish film, theatre and television actress.

Merlo, with more than 60 years of artistic career, has received the prestigious Gold Medal of Merit in the Fine Arts from the Spanish Ministry of Culture.

She is the mother of actors Luis Merlo and Amparo Larrañaga [es].

Early life

Merlo was born in Valencia in 1941. She is the daughter of actors Ismael Merlo Piquer and María Luisa Colomina Domingo.

She was raised following her parents theatre company, as a result, she was able to attend school for less than two years.

Career

Merlo made her debut as a dancer in the 1957 show Te espero en el Eslava by Luis Escobar Kirkpatrick.

She made her cinema debut in 1959 with José María Forqué in the film De espaldas a la puerta. Other titles followed during the first half of the sixties, such as Siempre es domingo (1961) by Fernando Palacios, Cuidado con las personas formales (1961) by Agustín Palacios, Más bonita que ninguna (1965) by Luis César Amadori, with Rocío Dúrcal, and De cuerpo presente (1967) by Antonio Eceiza.

However, from 1965 onward, she focused more on her theatre and television career.

Since the mid-sixties she has become a regular face on Spanish television, playing dozens of roles in Primera fila, Novela and Estudio 1.

In 1973, she starred alongside her then-husband Carlos Larrañaga in the TVE comedy Compañera te doy. 13 years later, she played alongside her daughter, Amparo Larrañaga, in the series Media naranja; in 2006, she did the same with her son, Luis Merlo, in Aquí no hay quien viva.

She has also appeared in the series Aquí hay negocio (1995), Luna negra (2003), Mis adorable vecinos (2004), Supervillanos (2006), Los Serrano (2008) and Somos cómplices (2009).

At the end of 2007, she participated in the sixth edition of the television contest ¡Mira quién baila!

In July 2013, she starred in the short film Betiko, directed by Arantza Ibarra, together with the actor Javier Pradera in the caves of Zugarramurdi.

Personal life

Merlo was married to the actor Carlos Larrañaga for 15 years; they separated in 1975 and obtained a divorce in November 1983. Besides a son, Juan Carlos, from Carlos previous marriage, they had three children: Amparo Larrañaga, Luis Merlo and Pedro.

In 1992, she married university professor Michael Kenton, with whom she divorced five years later.

An authoritative biography of Merlo, María Luisa Merlo: Más allá del teatro, was published in 2003 by playwright Pedro Víllora.

Filmography

Film

Television

Theatre

Her career on the stage is marked by the performance of works of all genres, from drama to comedy, including musicals. In 1986 she joined the Compañía Nacional de Teatro Clásico.

Awards

In 1967, Merlo was awarded with the Antena de Oro de Televisión Prize. She was awarded the Ercilla Theatre Prize in 2009 for her career in theatre. In 2013, she was awarded the Distinction of the Generalitat Valenciana for Cultural Merit. The Spanish Ministry of Culture awarded Merlo the Gold Medal of Merit in the Fine Arts in 2017.

References

1. ^ "María Luisa Merlo: "Me tomé 20 pastillas para dormir"". Abc (in Spanish). 2018-04-02. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
2. "María Luisa Merlo publica una sorprendente autobiografía". Abc (in Spanish). 2003-03-08. Retrieved 2020-04-10.
3. "Te espero en Eslava. Efemérides de teatro | CDAEM · Teatro Español". Centro de Documentación de las Artes Escénicas y de la Música (in Spanish). Retrieved 2020-04-08.
4. "Mª Luisa Merlo se despide de los escenarios con 'Mentiras inteligentes', una comedia de amor, sexo y secretos". 20minutos (in Spanish). 2020-02-03. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
5. ""¡Mira quién baila!" abre de nuevo sus puertas en TVE-1". Abc (in Spanish). 2007-09-17. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
6. "Arantza Ibarra graba un corto con Maria Luisa Merlo en Zugarramurdi". El Diario Vasco (in European Spanish). 2013-07-17. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
7. "'Betiko' zinea Zugarramurdin". El Mundo (in Basque). 2015-05-20. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
8. "María Luisa Merlo recuerda su matrimonio y su posterior amistad con Carlos Larrañaga". Europa Press (in Spanish). 2019-08-22. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
9. "Lazos de Sangre La vida y los amores de Carlos Larrañaga". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 2019-08-22. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
10. "Los Larrañaga: una saga con muchas tablas". Divinity (in European Spanish). 2012-08-31. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
11. ^ EFE (2010-01-14). "Maria Luisa Merlo, Premio Ercilla 2009 por su trayectoria artística". RTVE.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 2020-04-09.
12. EFE (7 May 2019). "María Luisa Merlo: "Los españoles somos más listos que el hambre"". eldiario.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 2020-04-09.
13. Tecglen, Eduardo Haro (1991-02-04). "Las parejas felices". El País. Retrieved 2011-05-30.
14. "ABC MADRID 16-03-1968 página 103". Abc (in Spanish). 2019-08-09. Retrieved 2020-04-09.
15. "Distinció mèrit cultural". Generalitat Valenciana (in Catalan). Retrieved 2020-04-09.
16. Cádiz, Diario de (2017-12-30). "El parque eólico marino 'Wikinger' empieza a suministrar energía". Diario de Jerez (in European Spanish). Retrieved 2020-04-08.

External links

• María Luisa Merlo at IMDb
• María Luisa Merlo at AllMovie

• 1941 births
• Living people
• Actresses from Valencia
• Spanish film actresses
• Spanish stage actresses
• 20th-century Spanish actresses
• 21st-century Spanish actresses