Mexico loses another of its stars

Mexico is sad, and it has lost another of its great stars.

Ernesto Gómez Cruz died last Saturday night, leaving a great legacy and enormous regret among the public, his family and colleagues.

“The National Association of Actors regrets the sensitive death of our Comrade Ernesto Gómez Cruz. Our condolences to his family, friends and colleagues. The artistic community in Mexico suffers the loss of a great artist and companion. RIP,” ANDA reported in a release.

Ernesto Gómez Cruz was born in 1933, he was known for his participation in various films such as Los Caifanes, Herod’s Law, Hell, The Crime of Father Amaro among others.

His last participation in the cinema was in La familia gang in 2014, since in his last years he was away from the spotlight. In 2018 he was also seen in the novel Por amar sin ley.

He won the silver Ariel twice for Best Actor in addition to another four for Best Male Acting. In 2014 he received the Golden Ariel in recognition of his fruitful career.

With an average of four productions a year, between films and soap operas, Ernesto Gómez Cruz was an acting monster.

His career in audiovisuals began in 1967 with the film Los Caifanes.

Ernesto Gómez Cruz died at the age of 90, leaving a gap in the world of cinema in which he stood out and worked for 57 years. However, he went through difficult times throughout his career as an actor, because although he forged a prolific career, he was a victim of unemployment and there was a time when he had to work as a sweeper to get ahead.

Since Gómez Cruz lived in his native Veracruz, the need to dedicate himself to singing awoke in him; However, he was an extremely shy person, which prevented him from working as a musical performer or as a composer or announcer, his other two great aspirations.

“I was a very shy person, I would blush in front of anyone and, if it was a woman, even worse, but I wanted to be a singer, I wanted to be a composer, I wanted to be an announcer, but I didn’t have the preparation,” he acknowledged in an interview for ADN 40 , in 2014.

The first actor never dared to dedicate himself to music, so he began to try his luck in different professions, but none of them satisfied him, not like acting would do years later.

“I didn’t know what I was going to do, I went through all the jobs there were.”

A few years passed before Don Ernesto traveled to Mexico City to study acting at the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature (INBAL), formerly INBA.

Upon graduation, his first and great opportunity in cinema came, as “the Azteca” in the film “Los caifanes” by Juan Ibáñez, gaining widespread recognition from the world of national cinema.

“Fame comes, but, at that moment, I didn’t understand what fame was, just as it came to me, I enjoyed it,” he highlighted.

Although he highlighted that the bad streaks he experienced throughout his career led him to understand the importance of focusing on his projects and giving all his effort to each film or production in which he participated.

“I had my ups and downs, they were what taught me to endure all the inclemencies that arose in my time,” he said.

Your work will not be forgotten

These are 5 characters that the Veracruz native played and have remained in the public’s memory:

El Azteca is part of the group of young people who for one night show a couple their luck. He dresses Diana the Huntress in underwear and climbs into a coffin to see what death means.

Chankin is a Chamula who sees how a filmmaker comes to portray his reality, although in a falsified way. He must endure it because of the poverty and abuse that is upon him.

A few minutes serve to draw Lucas García, the rebellious peasant who helps the persecuted students, minutes before his lynching. He tries to protect them and is killed.

A rooster and a woman are the downfall of Dionisio Pinzón, winner in palenques. Under the direction of Arturo Ripstein, his work won awards in Havana and San Sebastián.

His leading role in the soap opera could not be with just any character and so he agrees to be a bandit who steals the clothes of a dead priest, meeting him along the way, posing as him.