Silvia Tortosa, an empowered scream queen

Silvia Tortosa, an actress of radiant beauty, abhorred that exposure with which she was too closely associated: “What would have made me feel liberated would have been for the men to also undress, to my visual delight and that of women in general, but the only visual delight sought was that of men. That of women or other groups did not count for anything,” she explained in José Aguilar’s book ‘The stars of uncovering and transition’ (2012). On the other end of the phone, Paco Poch reveals to us that it was the Barcelona native who bought the “rights to the novel ‘La senyora’, by the Mallorcan writer Antoni Mus, before offering it to the director Jordi Cadena and myself, who made my debut as a producer. It was the story of a woman married to a bourgeois man much older than her, who keeps her locked up without touching her, because her sex seems dirty to him. In the poster, the blonde appeared self-satisfied in an act that can be seen as empowering.

Although Tortosa had participated in some prestigious films such as ‘Asignatura pending’ (1977) or ‘Tobi’ (1978), her consecration as a “serious actress” did not come until ‘The Lady’ (1987), somewhat late and leaving the feeling of a wasted talent, who could have been much more than a “cover girl.” At least he had the opportunity to flee from monsters, becoming an icon of national fantasy terror, starting with ‘Panic on the Trans-Siberian Railway’ (1972), a classic by Eugenio Martín in which he rubbed shoulders with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, followed by ‘ The Claws of Lorelei’ (1973), ‘The Frenchman’s Garden’ (1978), ‘Freddy’ (1982), one of those very effective ‘Stories to keep you from sleeping’ by Chicho Ibáñez Serrador, or ‘The Enigma of the Yacht’ ( 1983). In any case, she remained stunning until the end, as witnessed by her time in the magnificent series ‘Arde Madrid’ (2018), where she embodied a character inspired by Concha Piquer, enhanced by her eternal mischievous smile.

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