Gray day for the world of interpretation in Euskadi. This Tuesday the death of actress Mercedes López de Luzuriaga, at the age of 95, was announced. Born in Lemoiz but raised in Bilbao, she fulfilled her dream of standing in front of the cameras after retiring, after having lived a long career in the medical world. Her most remembered role is that of the scholarship holder Asun Sempere in Camera Café, the memorable Telecinco comic strip directed by Luis Guridi.
“All my life I yearned for acting, but life takes you down other paths. I was 16 or 17 years old and then the profession was frowned upon. I dedicated myself to working as a black with some uncles who had a bar and a tobacconist until I got married, ”she recounted in an interview in 2007.
And it is that Luzuriaga did not become a renowned actress until after her retirement. Mother of six children, during her working life she worked in the medical sector. She was in the biochemistry laboratory of the Hospital de Cruces in Bilbao, as a clinical assistant.
Even so, the Biscayan looked for ways to enter the world of acting, even if it was not full time. In the late sixties, she began working intermittently as a walk-on. She did it in locally produced titles, such as The Other Tree of Gernika, Goodbye Little One or Everything for Pasta. She was already retired that her idea of being an actress returned to stay full time. Her first attempts were with small roles in Zumbados, an ETB hidden camera program.
It wasn't until the arrival of Camera Café and the role of Asun that Luzuriaga rose to national fame. The actress played the character of a veteran intern for five seasons, between 2005 and 2009. Her role, within the eclectic cast of the comic strip show, was one of the most remembered, as well as the most outstanding of her career. . A role that she would play again in 2022, thanks to the film adaptation of the format directed by Ernesto Sevilla.
Beyond his outings at the coffee machine, Luzuriaga leaves behind an enviable resume after a successful career. Her roles in Fibrilando, the Camera Café spin-off, Cuéntame cómo pasó, where she played Karina's grandmother, La tira, Qué vida más triste, La que se avecina, Hospital Central, Aída and Here peace and peace will remain in the memory. then glory. An extensive career added to the small steps that she made part-time when she was younger, combining them with her job.
The reactions to the loss have not been long in coming. One of the earliest has been that of Pólvora Films, a production company directed by Arturo Valls, Luzuriaga's colleague at Camera Café. “Sad news, today Mercedes Luzuriaga has left us. From Pólvora Films, we send all our love to her family and friends. How lucky to have been able to count on the best intern for our office”, expressed the team from their official Twitter account.
