Violeta Rosa Ester Vidaurre Heiremans (12 September 1928 – 1 June 2021), better known as Violeta Vidaurre, was a Chilean actress with a long television and theater career, with more than 120 characters played since her debut.
In 2015, she stood as the sole female candidate among five selected for the National Prize for Performing and Audiovisual Arts, ultimately won by actor Héctor Noguera. That year, she garnered numerous tributes and acknowledgments for her extensive contributions to the performing arts. National Prize for Performing and Audiovisual Arts,[7] whose winner was actor Héctor Noguera. In the same year, she received several tributes and recognitions for her vast career in the performing arts.
Her last performances included appearances in various television series and some valued performances in independent theater companies, allowing herself to be honored in each presentation.
Biography
Early years and childhood
Born of the marriage formed by Víctor Vidaurre Coo and Rosa Violeta Heiremans Brockman.[8] of Belgian and German origin, Violeta Vidaurre was the eldest of three siblings and a cousin of the doctor, actor, storyteller, novelist and playwright Luis Alberto Heiremans [es] and the businessman Eugenio Heiremans [es]. On her childhood the actress said, "I was always very pampered by my parents, but the one with whom I had more complicity and affinity was my dad. Sometimes I think I was in love with him."
Coming from an aristocratic or upper-class family from Santiago's Barrio República [es],[9] her basic education took place at the Colegio Sagrado Corazón, Villa María Academy, and Sacred Heart of Argentine nuns. "In school plays they never gave me the role to represent the Virgin, because I had bad behavior. I suffered a lot because of that, but in the end I was reassured because the house had a good time when we made the sets with costumes and wigs." Since she was a child, she showed her acting skills with her cousin Luis Alberto, who wrote and performed plays that were staged at her grandfather's house, as in the case of Atahuicha, la reina de la selva, which Luis Alberto wrote and directed.[10]
Vidaurre entered into her first marriage at age 19 with Ramón Salgado Suárez, a marine guard of the school ship Lautaro, which caught fire before his eyes off Callao in 1945. "In those years I valued my marriage and I did not go to study theater although I liked it. Only at the age of 28 Luis Alberto convinced me to enter to study theater, and then I started replacing actresses until this became a real passion."
She participated in the premiere of La pérgola de las flores [es] by Isidora Aguirre in 1961, playing the role of Mrs. Laura Larraín.[13] In an interview, the actress declared: "Eugenio Guzmán, the director of the play, first placed me in the choir and then chose me as a replacement for Silvia Piñeiro and there I stayed for several seasons."[14] In a short time the play became a massive popular culture phenomenon. It occupied all the spaces that the media offered at that time, transforming image and sound into a true cultural sensation, making an international tour through Argentina, Mexico, and Europe.[15][16]
She joined the artistic team of Los cuatro, a theater company based on the creative abilities of each one of the artists that made up a cast, formed by Orietta Escámez, Humberto and Héctor [es] Duvauchelle, with the participation of Víctor Jara, Claudio di Girolamo [es], Mireya Véliz, Isabel Allende, Raúl Ruiz, Hugo Miller, René Combeau, and Domingo Tessier [es].[17] At the same time, she belonged to the Theater Research Workshop (TIT), from 1968 to 1971, under the direction of Fernando Colina [es] and Enrique Noisvander. Highlights of this period include plays such as Peligro a 50 metros, Nos tomamos la Universidad, and Antigone, the latter led by Víctor Jara. In 1972 she was invited to the Teatro Opera's Bim bam bum magazine, where she made several artistic presentations.
Along with this intimate love of theatrical art, Vidaurre participated in countless national and international tours of countries such as Argentina, Mexico, France, and Spain. Among the plays that were part of these itineraries were Tartuffe, Las chiquillas van a la pelea, Monólogos de Dario Fo, Las señoras de los jueves, and the comedy El rapto del galán de la teleserie.
In this period, she had notable friendships with the theater and television producer Sonia Fuchs (1931–1991), the actress and National Art Prize winner Marés González [es] (1925–2008) and the actress and writer María Elena Gertner (1932–2013).[19]
Over the years, her output diminished but she still continued making special appearances in TV series such as 12 días que estremecieron Chile [es] and Lo que callamos las mujeres, on youth telenovelas like Gordis, Decibel 110 [es], and her last appearance on television as a guest actress on 2014's Chipe libre, along with Jaime Vadell and Gloria Münchmeyer.[18] In theater she acted in Las chiquillas van a la pelea (2015) and Esperanzo la carroza (2016), playing Mamá Cora in the latter.
In 2015, she was the only woman to be a candidate (out of five selected) for the National Prize for Performing and Audiovisual Arts, whose winner was actor Héctor Noguera. In the same year, she received several tributes and recognitions for her vast career in the performing arts.
I want to die like Elena Moreno, who was taken from the theater and taken away.
During 2015 she received several tributes and recognitions for her vast career in the performing arts.[21]
In 2017, she was taken to a nursing home due to Alzheimer's disease, amid allegations that she had been forcibly hospitalized.[22][23][18] She died from the disease on 1 June 2021, aged 92.[24]
^Escala Escobar, Manuel; Fortin, Carlos; Fuentealba Jiménez, Fernando (1985). Historia didáctica de Chile crono-antológica [Didactic History of Chrono-Anthological Chile] (in Spanish). Ediciones Hernández-Blanco. p. 1006. Retrieved 21 May 2018 – via Google Books.
^Munizaga, Giselle; de la Luz Hurtado, María (1980). Testimonios del teatro: 35 años de teatro en la Universidad Católica [Theater Testimonials: 35 Years of Theater at the Catholic University] (in Spanish). Ediciones Nueva Universidad. p. 166. Retrieved 21 May 2018 – via Google Books.
^Subercaseaux, Benjamín (1998). Noticias del ser chileno [News of the Chilean Being] (in Spanish). RIL Editores. p. 177. ISBN9789562840491. Retrieved 21 May 2018 – via Google Books.
