Mexican Actor Enrique Lizalde Dies From Cancer At Age 76

Enrique Lizalde, Mexican actor of film, theater and television, died this Monday at age 76 due to liver cancer and was laid to rest in Mexico City. 

Lizalde was born on Jan. 9, 1937 in Tepic, Nayarit. He began studies in literature, but in the 60s he decided to change careers to devote time to acting, highlighting his beginnings as a heartthrob in television and theater.

The National Council for Culture and Arts, the highest authority in Mexican culture, said in a press release that "Lizalde saw on television also an important means to develop his career. Coinciding with the point of view of many intellectuals and writers, including Gabriel García Marquez, he believed that genres such as the soap opera were those which were going to prevail in the difficult transition from the twentieth to the twenty-first century."

He became famous with the role of Juan del Diablo, near Julissa, Enrique Alvarez Felix and Jacqueline Andere on the soap opera of the 60s, 'Wild Heart" by Caridad Bravo Adams and led to television for the first time by Ernesto Alonso.

"He was going to dedicate himself to be an opera singer, but as an actor he never sang. At a party we were able to hear him, I don't know how fate led him into acting," said Andere to the newspaper Reforma. She performed with Lizalde in "Wild Heart."

In this story, Juan del Diablo sailed the seas in his ship Lucifer and lived many adventures. The telenovela was born as a romantic story, with dazzling costumes and hairstyles and was full of adventures.

In his beginnings in the filming world, he worked in movies like "He matado a un hombre" (1963), "Viento negro" (1965), "Nosotros los jóvenes" (1966), "Corona de lágrimas" (1968) and "La mentira" (1969). In the next decade, he alternated his job between movies and TV shows, outstanding in the films "Rosario" (1970), "El hombre y la bestia" (1972), "El monasterio de los buitres" (1973), "La dama del alba" (1975) and "María de mi corazón" (1979).

In recent times, he acted in soap operas like "Entre el amor y el odio' (2002), "Heridas de amor" (2006). "Amor sin maquillaje" (2007) and "Mañana es para siempre" (2009).

Although very respected in the showbiz realm, Lizalde was always reluctant to give interviews, even if only to talk about his acting career.

The Mexican Academy of Arts and Motion Picture Sciences mourned the passing of Lizalde, who was also a renowned advocate for the rights of the union as the founder of the Independent Actors Guild.