Rosita Fornés announces that she is beginning a new stage of her life at 96 years old

September 28, 2019

The legendary Cuban actress, singer, and vedette Rosita Fornés decided to stay and live in Miami after having visited the city on numerous occasions.

The news was reported on his YouTube channel by presenter Alexander Otaola, mentioning health reasons as one of the artist's motivations for settling in Miami.

In this city live her only daughter, actress Rosa María Medel; her son-in-law, producer José Antonio Jiménez and several grandchildren.

Fornés faced pneumonia that kept her hospitalized for a few days, but she is already recovering, explained the source.

For his part, an old friend of Rosita's, stylist and stage director Alejandro Galindo, a resident of Miami, told el Nuevo Herald that she is "very upbeat and in very good health for her years."

"Rosita eats and sleeps very well. In fact, I mentioned to her the idea of doing a one-woman show and she seemed very enthusiastic," affirmed Galindo.

Regarding whether she will stay in Miami or not, Galindo said that "she spends more time here than in Havana. When I asked her if she would spend Christmas in Miami, she said yes. But she never answered me whether she would return or not."

el Nuevo Herald called Fornés' son-in-law, José Antonio Jiménez, to obtain a comment from the artist about the decision to stay in Miami, but did not receive a response.

Born in New York on February 11, 1923, Fornés, daughter of Spanish parents settled in Cuba, became a Cuban national and developed a versatile career that included film, television, musical revue, zarzuela, and operetta. From her film career, her unforgettable performance in the comedy Se permuta (1985) is remembered, whose theatrical version she had previously starred in during an extremely long run.

Her artistic beginnings date back to 1938, when at 15 years old, she participated in La corte suprema del arte, an amateur program in which she won with the milonga La hija de Juan Simón. Her film debut came in Una aventura peligrosa, a comedy by Ramón Peón filmed in 1939.

Her career reached international prominence with performances in Spain and Mexico, where she was part of the golden age of Mexican cinema. She also shone in Cuban television in musical and dramatized programs. In Miami she participated in the XIV Latin American Monologue Festival in 2015 with a work of biographical tone.

Fornés, 96 years old, received a grand tribute last April for her eight decades of career at the García Lorca hall of the Gran Teatro de La Habana Alicia Alonso. During the performance, a retrospective of key pieces in her repertoire was presented, such as El Pichi from the musical revue Las Leandras, which was performed by Edith Mazola. Greetings from such important figures as Cuban composer Meme Solís, resident in New York and one of her close friends, were also screened. Although it was announced that at the end of the show the vedette would speak to the audience, she was unable to do so due to emotion.