Cuban Actress and Theater Director Doris Gutiérrez Dies at 80

July 12, 2026

Cuban actress and theater director Doris Gutiérrez died in the early hours of Thursday, July 9, 2026, in Havana, at age 80, filmmaker and screenwriter Carlos Collazo confirmed on social media.

Born in 1946 in the Jobabo sugar mill town, in what is now Las Tunas province, Gutiérrez was one of fifteen students in the inaugural Dramatic Arts course at the National School of Art (ENA) in Havana. For nearly three decades she was a member of the Teatro Estudio company, working alongside figures such as Vicente Revuelta, Raquel Revuelta, Héctor Quintero, Abelardo Estorino, Armando Suárez del Villar, and Berta Martínez.

In 1994 she joined the Hubert de Blanck company to focus on stage direction. As a director she staged productions including Los soles truncos, Electra o la caída de las máscaras — which she translated from French — Los días felices, Las criadas (co-directed with Mónica Guffanti), María Estuardo, and Tío Vania.

Gutiérrez gained wide popularity with Cuban audiences in 2024 for playing the French character Dominique Lafont in the telenovela Tan lejos y tan cerca, marking her return to television after nearly three decades away. In 2022, the Cuban Union of Writers and Artists (UNEAC) had awarded her the Omar Valdés Prize, the highest honor of the Association of Performing Artists, in recognition of her lifetime body of work.