| Nelly Meruane | |
| Birth Name: | Nelly Lucinda Consuelo Meruane Solano |
| Birth Date: | 20 December 1927 |
| Birth Place: | Nueva Toltén, Chile |
| Death Place: | Santiago, Chile |
| Occupation: | Actress, teacher |
| Years Active: | 1952–2018 |
| Spouse: | (1969–2018) |
| Alma Mater: | University of Chile |
| Family: | Ricardo Meruane (nephew) Lina Meruane (great-niece) |
Nelly Lucinda Consuelo Meruane Solano (20 December 1927 – 20 June 2018) was a distinguished Chilean actress and teacher whose career spanned 65 years.[1] For 20 years she was a member of the stable cast of the of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile.[2]
Meruane was recognized for her leading roles in the television series (1967), the telenovela La madrastra (1981), and the play Mama Rosa (1982).[3] She received several honors, such as an Award in 2011[4] and an Altazor in 2014.[5]
Nelly Meruane was born in Nueva Toltén on 20 December 1927.[3] She showed a strong interest in the performing arts from a very young age. Due to strong opposition from her parents, she studied pedagogy in Spanish, but also took theater classes in parallel.[3] When beginning her studies at the University of Chile's Pedagogical Institute, she also entered the school's Dramatic Arts Center (CADIP), joining the cast of several plays under the stage name Sonia del Solar.[6] Later, she majored in theater at the Catholic University. She debuted in the play Time and the Conways at the Municipal Theatre of Santiago in 1952 as a first-year student of the Theater Academy.[7]
In 1960 she starred in by Isidora Aguirre, where she replaced actress Ana González in the role of Rosaura. In the following years, she popularized the role of La Cotocó in the TV series , starring alongside . She met actor when he appeared on the show in 1969, and married him 45 days later.[3]
She subsequently traveled to Venezuela with Bistoto, achieving a distinguished career in theater and television there. In 1977 she starred in the film El Pez que Fuma, directed by the playwright Román Chalbaud. She returned to Chile in 1981, and played Dora in Arturo Moya Grau's successful telenovela La madrastra. In 1982 she starred in Mama Rosa by Fernando Debesa, a performance which was lauded as one of her best.[8] She continued to appear in films and television, with her last acting role being Señora Felman on the telenovela Chipe libre in 2014.[1] In 2016 she was featured in the documentary Viejos amores, along with six other veteran actresses.[9]
Nelly Meruane died in Santiago on 20 June 2018, nine days after her contemporary and frequent co-star Liliana Ross.[1] [3]
In November 2018 she received a posthumous career tribute from the Actors Guild of Chile.[10]
| Year | Title | Character | Channel |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | La madrastra | Dora San Lucas | Canal 13 |
| 1982 | Marisa Altamira | Canal 13 | |
| Ester Elizalde | Canal 13 | ||
| 1983 | Kiki Zelada | Canal 13 | |
| 1985 | Natalia López | Canal 13 | |
| 1986 | Marilú Alemparte | Canal 13 | |
| 1987 | Julieta Vantini | Canal 13 | |
| 1988 | Ema Riquelme | Canal 13 | |
| Elsa Santana | Canal 13 | ||
| 1989 | Eugenia | Canal 13 | |
| 1990 | Hilda Mardones | Canal 13 | |
| 1991 | Úrsula | Canal 13 | |
| 1992 | Berta | Canal 13 | |
| 1993 | Aída | Canal 13 | |
| 1994 | Inés Molina | Canal 13 | |
| Canal 13 | |||
| 1996 | Aída | Canal 13 | |
| 1997 | Silvia O'Reilly | Canal 13 | |
| 1999 | Lavinia Loyola | Canal 13 | |
| 2001 | Flora Salas | Canal 13 | |
| América | Canal 13 | ||
| 2003 | Machos | Mirna Robles | Canal 13 |
| 2004 | Blanca Donoso | Canal 13 | |
| 2008 | Mala Conducta | Rosa Bobadilla | Chilevisión |
| 2014 | Chipe libre | Señora Felman | Canal 13 |
| Year | Title | Character | Channel | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1967–1972 | Cotocó Pereira | Canal 13 | ||
| 2002–2006 | Margarita/Milena | TVN | ||
| 2004 | El cuento del tío | Professor | TVN | |
| 2004 | Lídia | Mega | ||
| 2005–2006 | La Nany | Yaya Cárdenas | Mega | |
| 2006 | Vecina | TVN | ||
| 2007 | Sra. Elena | Canal 13 | ||
| 2007–2010 | Various | Chilevisión | ||
| 2008 | Casado con hijos | Josefina de Larraín | Mega | |
| 2009 | Nora Cifuentes | Chilevisión | ||
| 2014 | Familia moderna | Antonia's grandmother | Mega |