Film This article is more than 11 years oldLupe Ontiveros, 69, dies of liver cancer
This article is more than 11 years oldSelena co-star Jacob Vargas pays tribute to Mexican-American actor's 'great contribution to film and TV'Lupe Ontiveros, the Mexican-American star of As Good as it Gets and the TV show Desperate Housewives, has died of liver cancer. She was 69.
Born Guadalupe Moreno, Ontiveros's Hollywood career spanned four decades and included roles in the 80s classic The Goonies and the 2002 film Real Women Have Curves, for which she won a special jury prize at the Sundance film festival. In Selena, a drama based on the life of the late Tejano musician, she garnered critical acclaim for her performance as Yolanda Saldívar, the woman convicted of murdering the singer in 1995. Another big role came through Gregory Nava's El Norte (1983), in which she played Nacha, a maid who is tasked with looking after a young immigrant from Guatemala.
Jacob Vargas, who co-starred with Ontiveros in Selena, was with the actor shortly before she died. "My friend Lupe Ontiveros just passed away," he tweeted. "May you rest in peace. Thank you for your great contribution to film and TV. You will be missed."
Other notable big screen roles include her co-starring slot as mentor to a disturbed wannabe playwright in the 2000 black comedy Chuck & Buck. Elsewhere, Todd Solondz's 2001 film Storytelling provided the actor with a bumper payload of revenge with her turn as the downtrodden housekeeper who torches the home of her employers.
Despite these highlights Ontiveros struggled to find variety in the parts she was offered, stating often that she had played "the Maid" hundreds of times. These characters were often colourful caricatures – stereotypically feisty Latinas who acted as a foil for the principals.
She found more interesting work on television, where she had cameos on King of the Hill and Hill Street Blues, and in the theatre with the LA-based Latino Theater Company, of which she was a founding member.
In 2010, she was awarded a lifetime achievement award by the National Association of Latino Independent Producers. A video filmed for the presentation ceremony showed Ontiveros talking about her life and how she'd like to be remembered. "I can say I had a very interesting and fulfilling life, full of challenges," she said. "From the set to the grave, from the stage to the grave. That's the way I want to go."
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