Míriam Colón obit

Miriam Colon, iconic U.S. Latina movie, theater actress, dies at 80

 She was not on the list.

Puerto Rican actress Miriam Colon, best known for playing Al Pacino’s mother in the 1983 film “Scarface,” has died. She as 80.

Her husband told the AP that Colon died on Friday following medical complications from a pulmonary infection.

While perhaps best known for appearing in Brian De Palma and Oliver Stone star-studded remake of the 1932 gangster film, Colon made her mark on the entertainment community through various film and television roles, as well as founding the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater in New York.

Born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, Colon began acting in high school and local plays until 1953 when she became the first Puerto Rican to enroll in the famed Actors Studio, founded by Elia Kazan.

During her early career, Colon appeared in television shows including “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” and westerns such as “Gunsmoke,” and “Bonanza.” With several Broadway credits to her name, in the late 1960s she founded the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater in Manhattan. Over the course of her decades-long career, Colon collected over 100 acting credits in film and television.

In September 2015 Colon received a National Medal of the Arts from then-President Barack Obama. Colon is credited as a “trailblazer” who “helped open doors for generations of Hispanic actors.”

 

Filmography

1951 Los Peloteros as Lolita

1955 Danger (TV Series)

1955 Star Tonight (TV Series)

1956 Crowded Paradise

1956 Soraya (TV Series, three episodes)

1957 The Big Story (TV Series) as Esperanza Martinez

1958 Decoy (TV Series) as Maria

1956-1958 Studio One (TV Series) as Mrs. Talavera / Rosie

1959 Lux Playhouse (TV Series) as Mrs. Flores

1959 State Trooper (TV Series, Episode, Case of the Barefoot Girl) as Francesca

1959 One Step Beyond (TV Series, Episode - The Hand) as Alma Rodriguez

1959 Markham (TV Series) as Esperanza

1959 Mike Hammer (TV Series) as Tarano

1959 Peter Gunn (TV Series) as Maria DeCara

1959 Tales of Wells Fargo (TV Series, Episode - Desert Showdown) as Rita

1959 Wanted: Dead or Alive (TV Series, Episode - Desert Seed) as Mrs. Gomez

1961 One-eyed Jacks as Redheaded Lady

1961 Battle at Bloody Beach as Nahni

1961 The Outsider as Anita

1962 Alfred Hitchcock Presents (TV Series) (Season 7 Episode 19: "Strange Miracle") as Lolla Siqueras

1962 The New Breed (TV Series) as Dolores Madero

1962 The Richest Man in Bogota (TV Series, on The DuPont Show of the Week) as Marina

1962 Doctor Kildare (TV Series) as Pila / Rani Stewart

1962 The Defenders (TV Series) as Carmella Lopez

1962 Gunsmoke (TV Series, Episode - He Learned About Women) as Kisla

1963 Have Gun - Will Travel (TV Series) as Punya

1963 Laramie (TV Series) as Winema

1963 Death Valley Days (TV Series) as Maria

1963 Harbor Lights as Gina Rosario

1963 Ben Casey (TV Series) as Eva Rosario

1963 The Great Adventure (TV Series) as Sarah Crow

1963 Thunder Island as Anita Chavez

1963 The Dick Van Dyke Show (TV Series) as Maria

1963 Gunsmoke (TV Series, Episode - Shona) as Shona

1964 The Nurses (TV Series) as Maria Marissa

1964 Slattery's People (TV Series) as Elena Delgado

1966 The Legend of Jesse James (TV Series) as Theresa

1966 The Appaloosa as Ana

1967 N.Y.P.D. (TV Series) as Teresa

1967 The Fugitive (TV Series) as Mercedes Anza

1967 The Virginian (TV Series) as Eva Talbot

1967 Christmas in the Marketplace (TV Movie) as Virgin Mary / Mercedes

1968 The High Chaparral (TV Series, Episode - “Follow Your Heart”) as Trini Butler

1968 Gunsmoke (TV Series, Episode - Zavala) as Amelita Avila

1969 Desperate Mission (TV Movie) as Claudina, Otilia's Servant

1969 Bonanza (TV Series) as Anita Lavez

1969 Gunsmoke (TV Series, Episode - Charlie Moon) as The Woman

1970 Gunsmoke (TV Series, Episode - "Chato") as Mora

1971 They Call It Murder (TV Movie) as Anita Nogales

1972 Gunsmoke (TV Series, Episode - The River) as Paulette

1972 The Possession of Joel Delaney as Veronica

1974 Dr. Max (TV Movie) as Mrs. Camacho

1974 Sanford & Son (TV Series, Episode - Julio and Sister and Nephew) as Carlotta

1974 Gunsmoke (TV Series, Episode - The Iron Blood of Courage) as Mignon

1976 The Hemingway Play (TV Movie)

1979 A Life of Sin as Isabel

1979 The Edge of Night (TV soap opera) as Dr. Marie Santos

1981 Back Roads as Angel

1981 ABC Afterschool Specials (TV Series) as Yolanda

1983 Scarface (1983) as Mama Georgina Montana

1984 Best Kept Secret (TV Movie) as Ina Dietz

1985 Lady Blue (TV Series) as Dona Maria

1986 Kay O'Brien (TV Series) as Mrs. Amaro

1987 Highway to Heaven (TV Series) as Anna Martinez

1988 Deadline: Madrid (TV Movie)

1991 L.A. Law (TV Series) as Gaby Sifuentes

1991 Law and Order (TV Series) as Mrs. Anna Rivers

1991 Lightning Field (TV Movie)

1991 City of Hope as Mrs. Ramirez

1992 Murder, She Wrote (TV Series, Episode - Day of the Dead) as Consuela Montejano

1993 The House of the Spirits as Nana

1994 The Cosby Mysteries (TV Series)

1994 NYPD Blue (TV Series) as Valeria Santiago

1995 Streets of Laredo (TV Mini-Series) as Estrella

1995 Sabrina as Rosa

1995 All My Children (TV soap opera) as Lydia Flores

1996 Edipo alcalde as Deyanira

1996 Lone Star as Mercedes Cruz

1996 Mistrial (TV Movie) as Mrs. Cruz

1996 Cosby (TV Series) as Lillian

1996-1997 One Life to Live (TV soap opera) as Abuelita Maria Delgado

1999 Gloria as María

2000 For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story (TV Movie) as Cirita Sandoval

2000 All the Pretty Horses as Doña Alfonsa

2001 Third Watch (2001, TV Series) as Theresa Caffey

2001 The Blue Diner as Meche

2001 Guiding Light (TV soap opera) as Maria Santos

2001 Almost a Woman (TV Movie) as Tata

2005 Jonny Zero (TV Series) as Lupe

2005 Goal! as Mercedes

2007 Goal! 2: Living the Dream... as Mercedes

2007 The Cry as Gloria The Curandera

2009 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV Series) as Yolanda

2009 Goal! 3: Taking on the World as Mercedes (uncredited)

2010-2011 How to Make It in America (TV Series) as Cam's Grandma

2011 Gun Hill Road as Gloria

2011 The Bay (TV Series) as Grandma Andrews

2011 Hawthorne (TV Series) as Mama Renata

2011 Foreverland as Esperanza

2013 Bless Me, Ultima as Ultima

2013 Unhallowed as Bruja (rumored)

2014 Top Five as Chelsea's Grandmother

2014 On Painted Wings (not distributed) as Manuela

2015 Better Call Saul (TV Series) as Abuelita Salamanca

2015 The Girl Is in Trouble as Grandma

2015 The Southside as Abuelita Sanchez

Broadway

In The Summer House (1954)

The Innkeepers (1956)

The Wrong Way Lightbulb (1969)