Beatriz Sheridan

Beatriz Sheridan
Beatriz Sheridan
	Silver Ariel Award as Best Supporting Actress (1986); (1987)

Elizabeth Ann Sheridan Scarbrough, better known as Beatriz Sheridan (12 July 1923 – 12 July 2005) was a Mexican actress and director. A pioneer of the Mexican telenovelas and prominent figure of the Mexican theater of the 20th century, she was also a teacher of dramatic technique for television and directed many great dramatic stars.

Biography

Early life

Elizabeth Ann Sheridan Scarbrough was born on 12 July 1923 in Mexico City, of a British mother and Mexican father of Irish descent. She had 6 brothers and one sister. She studied philosophy and letters at the University of Missouri in the United States. Back in Mexico, she studied at Mexico City College. She was a distinguished student of the famous Japanese director and instructor Seki Sano, to whom she became an assistant in the direction of a number of theatrical montages.^[1]

Theater

Beginning in 1961, Sheridan participated as an actress and protagonist on the Mexican stage for four years. She worked with Alejandro Jodorowsky in montages like The lesson, Penelope, The sonata of the specters, Fando y Lis and The opera of Order, among others. From 1963, she was part of numerous Mexican classical theater ensembles. Some of her works include The Trojan Women (1963), directed by Jose Solé, La moza del cántaro (1964), directed by Jose Luis Ibáñez, Los secuestradores de Altona (1965), directed by Rafael López Miarnau, Strange interlude, directed by Xavier Rojas, Doce y una trece, by Juan José Gurrola, Mudarse por mejorarse (1966), by José Luis Ibáñez, Diálogo entre el amor y un viejo (1966), also by Ibáñez, Por Lucrecia, directed by Héctor Gómez, La noche de los asesinos directed by Juan José Gurrola, A Streetcar Named Desire (1968), directed by Dimitro Sarrás and Ah, los días felices (1977) by Manuel Montoro.^[2]

In 1987 she performed what would probably be her most memorable theatric performance,

RW Fassbinder's The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, directed by Nancy Cárdenas. The poet Pita Amor wrote an essay entitled The Bitter Tears of Beatriz Sheridan about her impressive performance.^[3]

Sheridan was also a pioneer and director of live readings of poetry and literature. Octavio Paz would demand the presence of Sheridan for every reading of his poems.^[1]

Films

Sheridan made her film debut in 1963 in the film version of Euripides'

Silver Ariel Award from the Mexican Film Academy in the category of Best Female Co-Performance.^[4]

Sheridan's most remembered cinematographic work was arguably in Confidencias (1983), by Jaime Humberto Hermosillo, based on the novel Pétalos perennes by Luis Zapata, and acting alongside María Rojo. For this performance she was awarded the Silver Ariel Award in the category of Best Actress.^[5]
Sheridan's last film work was in the award-winning film Gaby: A True Story, by Luis Mandoki, starring Norma Aleandro and Liv Ullmann.^{[citation needed]}

Television

Sheridan was a pioneer of Mexican

Alondra (1995), with Ana Colchero and Gonzalo Vega, and Amor real (2003), with Adela Noriega.^{[citation needed}

]

Her last work as an actress was in the telenovela Contra viento y marea (2005), where she partnered with the actress Azela Robinson.^{[citation needed]}

Director

In the last two decades of her life, Beatriz Sheridan stood out as the director of numerous Mexican melodramas. Her unique techniques in television influenced a wide range of notable Mexican actors. Her first directing appearance was through famed Chilean producer

María la del barrio (1995). These telenovelas were a huge international success.^{[citation needed}

]

Death

Beatriz Sheridan died on Wednesday, 12 July 2005 at 4:44 am in her apartment in the Colonia San Miguel Chapultepec in Mexico City of a heart attack, at 72 years of age. Her ashes were scattered in the Caribbean Sea, facing the beaches of

Cozumel Island, Quintana Roo, Mexico, one of the actress's favorite places where she owned a house.^{[citation needed}

]