| María Elena Gertner | |
| Birth Place: | Iquique, Chile |
| Death Place: | Isla Negra, Chile |
| Occupation: | Writer, actress |
María Elena Gertner (1926 – 25 January 2013) was a Chilean actress, author, and television screenwriter.[1] [2]
María Elena Gertner began her literary career with the 1950 poetry collection Homenaje al miedo. In this way, she was classified within the "generation of 1950" – also called the "generation of 1957"[3] – of which her novel Islas en la ciudad is considered one of the six key works.[4] Among her early creations, the theatrical works La mujer que trajo la lluvia and La rosa perdida stood out. In 1964, she won the CRAV Award with her story "El invencible sueño del coronel".
She began acting in 1952, when she was a member of the . Later, she participated in the Art Theater of the Ministry of Education and in chamber theaters, exhibiting her previously mentioned theatrical stories as an actress and stage director. She also starred in the 1971 film by Helvio Soto.[5]
Gertner wrote several telenovelas for Televisión Nacional de Chile. One of the most controversial was (1986), which included several Nazi characters and referred to the Third Reich, as well as genetic experiments. Because of this, the telenovela suffered censorship by the (DINACOS), a body established during the military regime.[6]
In 2005, Gertner received the Pablo Neruda Order of Artistic and Cultural Merit.[7]
Regarding the novel Islas en la ciudad, the poet Marietta Morales Rodríguez described it in the following way in the magazine Cinosargo: "The main character is the city. A Santiago that turns people into islands and represents the isolation of conflicts."
| Year | Title | Notes | Ref | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | Homenaje al miedo | Poems | [8] | |
| 1954 | Niñita | |||
| 1958 | Islas en la ciudad | |||
| 1959 | Un juego de salón | |||
| 1963 | Páramo salvaje | |||
| 1963 | El invencible sueño del coronel | |||
| 1965 | Después del desierto | |||
| 1965 | La derrota | |||
| 1967 | La mujer de sal |
| Year | Title | Role | Ref | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | Performer | |||
| 1981 | La Madrastra | Performer | ||
| 1982 | Screenwriter | |||
| 1983 | Screenwriter | |||
| 1985 | Screenwriter | |||
| 1986 | La dama del balcón | Screenwriter | ||
| 1987 | Performer | |||
| 1988 | Performer | |||
| 1988 | Performer | |||
| 1990 | Screenwriter |
| Year | Title | Type | Role | Ref | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1949 | La cadena infinita | Feature | Performer | ||
| 1954 | Confession at Dawn | Feature | Screenwriter | ||
| 1971 | Feature | Performer | |||
| 1975 | La pérgola de las flores | TV film | Performer |
| Year | Title | Ref | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1951 | La mujer que trajo la lluvia | ||
| 1952 | La rosa perdida |