Rosita Fornés is a Cuban actress, television star, singer, and vedette.
Rosalía Lourdes Elisa Palet Bonavia, our Rosita Fornés, was born in New York on February 11, 1923, and passed away in Miami on June 10, 2020, at the age of 97. By the actress's express wish, she was buried in the Colón Cemetery in Havana, Cuba, after her remains arrived on the island and the funeral procession traversed the streets of Havana, where thousands of Cubans paid their final respects.
She was the daughter of two Spanish emigrants living in Cuba who resided in New York in 1922. Rosita, who returned to Havana in 1925, came from a family with a strong background in various artistic fields, which led to her early inclination towards music and acting. In 1933, her family emigrated to Valencia, Spain, the homeland of her stepfather, who gave her the surname Fornés. There, she began to take an interest in the musical styles of the time, and upon her return to Havana in 1936, after the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, she participated at just 15 years old in the talent show aired by the Cuban radio station CMQ-Radio called La Corte Suprema del Arte. For her debut, she performed the milonga La hija de Juan Simón, accompanied by the Andalusian Manolo Tirado on guitar. Rosita won the contest, and from then on, she adopted the stage name that would accompany her throughout her unstoppable career, during which she would share the stage with great personalities of music, film, and theater.
Under the guidance of the great conductor Germán Pinelli, she continued to participate in tours and radio programs, and her first appearance at the National Theatre was as part of the chorus and as a dancer in the contradanza in a production of the Cuban operetta Cecilia Valdés, by composer Gonzalo Roig.
En 1939 debutó en el cine cantando la canción cubana "Intrusa", compuesta por Ramiro Bonachea para la cinta Una aventura Peligrosa.
She would also make her debut that year for the first time in the cabaret genre at the National Theater, and in 1940 she would venture into the lyrical genre through radio, where she would be discovered by the Spanish comic tenor Antonio Palacios.
In 1941, at the age of 18, she made her debut at the Teatro Principal de la Comedia with the operetta El asombro de Damasco, playing the role of Zobeida. There, she met the maestro Ernesto Lecuona, who invited her to join his lyrical company, with which she achieved great success in various performances, including the iconic productions Siboney and Siempre en mi corazón.
In the following years, she remained immersed in the operetta season, which took her to the most famous Cuban stages of the time, such as the Teatro Nacional, the Teatro Martí, the Campoamor, and the Teatro Principal de la Comedia, connecting her with the most recognized musical directors and the best companies. Lecuona, Rodrigo Prats, among others, counted on her presence on Cuban stages. However, Rosita never forgot the radio that continued to accompany her theatrical work and also pursued her film career, participating in her second movie, Romance Musical (1941).
In 1945, at the age of 22, he had already achieved a significant part of his successful career on the island and decided to travel to Mexico and the United States, where he performed in several films and musical revues.
In 1947, she married the Mexican actor and businessman Manuel Medel, father of her only daughter, Rosa María, who was born on March 10, 1949.
In the 1950s, she founded the Medel-Fornés Lyrical Theater Company with her husband, but in February 1952, amid marital disagreements, she returned to Cuba permanently with her daughter, where she would begin a new chapter in Cuban television marked by the triumph of the revolution.
She was one of the founders of the National Lyrical Theatre group and adapted to the new demands of socialist television by participating in tours of the socialist bloc. With the musical production “Variedades de La Habana,” she visited the Soviet Union, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Romania. She took part in the Varadero International Song Festival in 1967, 1970, and 1981; attended the Sopot Festival in Poland; and represented Cuba in the musical tour “Melodías de los Países Amigos,” which lasted three months across various European countries. That same year, she served as a promoter for the Cuban record at the Golden Orpheus Festival in Bulgaria.
Iconic films such as these will remain in the minds of Cubans:
For exchange. Address: Juan Carlos Tabío, 1984
1986: Plácido. Director: Sergio Giral (Cuba).
1987: Today as Yesterday Director: Constante Rapi Diego (Cuba-Mexico).
1987: The Rhythm Barbarian. Directed by: Sergio Véjar (Cuba-Mexico).
1989: Supporting Papers. Director: Orlando Rojas (Cuba).
1994: Love Me and You'll See. Directed by: Daniel Díaz Torres (Cuba).
2001: The Nights of Constantinople. Directed by: Orlando Rojas (Cuba).
2001: At Dusk. Directed by Tomás Piard (Cuba).
2002: Los Zafiros, music from the edge of time (documentary), as herself (Cuba-United States).
In 2001, he was awarded the National Theater Prize (Havana), alongside María de los Ángeles Santana. Additionally, he received the National Television Prize (2003) and the National Music Prize (2005).
In February 2011, Don Juan Carlos I, King of Spain, awarded him the Order of Civil Merit.
On April 2, 2019, a tribute was held in the García Lorca hall of the Gran Teatro de La Habana to honor her 80 years of artistic life, and to celebrate her 96 years of life. Following this, the star decided to settle in Miami, citing health reasons.
