Still of Aguirre, the Wrath of God by Werner Herzog
Mexican actress Helena Rojo passed away yesterday at the age of 79 due to liver cancer. Her cinematic journey led her to collaborate with prominent Mexican film directors from the seventies and nineties, including Felipe Cazals, Arturo Ripstein, Rafael Corkidi, Alberto Bojórquez, Marcela Fernández Violante, and Jorge Fons. A two-time Ariel Award winner, she also worked with German director Werner Herzog in Aguirre, the Wrath of God.
Born María Helena Lamadrid Ruiz on August 18, 1944, in Mexico City, Rojo initiated her career as a model in 1961. Towards the end of the decade, she studied drama with renowned Mexican directors Carlos Ancira and José Luis Ibáñez, making her film debut in 1968 in Rogelio A. González's El club de los suicidas.
In the same year, Rojo appeared in her second film, Icaro Cisneros' Los amigos. She continued to work as a model and take on small film roles in the late sixties and early seventies. In 1969, she signed an exclusivity contract with Productora Cinematográfica Marte, expanding her acting career into television and theater.
In 1972, she portrayed Inez de Atienze in Herzog’s acclaimed epic historical drama Aguirre, the Wrath of God, opposite Klaus Kinski. The film follows a ruthless Spanish conquistador vying for power during an expedition in Peru to find El Dorado, the mythical seven cities of gold. As Aguirre presses deeper into the Amazonian jungle, he descends further into madness.
Her diverse film credits include Javier Mariscal's Eye for an Eye / El sabor de la venganza (1971), Guillermo Murray's Una vez, un hombre... (1971), Sergio Olhovich's Queen Doll / Muñeca reina (1972), Felipe Cazals and Mario Llorca's Aquellos años (1973), Jorge Fons' Los cachorros (1973), Juan López Moctezuma's Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary (1975), Carlos Enrique Taboada's Darker Than Night / Más negro que la noche (1975), Arturo Ripstein's Foxtrot (1976), alongside actors Charlotte Rampling, Peter O'Toole, and Max von Sydow, and Alfredo Gurrola's La sucesión (1980).
Rojo won the Ariel Awards twice, for Best Supporting Actress in the 1972 film Fin de fiesta by Mauricio Walerstein and for Best Actress in Misterio (1980) by Marcela Fernández Violante. She earned two additional Ariel nominations for Best Actress for Los cachorros and Muerte ciega by Enrique Gómez Vadillo (1992).
She enjoyed a successful television career, and in 2006, she appeared in the American dramedy series Ugly Betty. Her final film credit was in the 2023 Netflix thriller A Deadly Invitation / Invitación a un Asesinato, directed by J.M. Cravioto.
