Verónica Lynn at ninety years old continues to be a master of the stage

August 13, 2021

In the successful artistic career of Verónica Lynn, doña Teresa Guzmán, from the Cuban telenovela Sol de Batey, has been one of her most diabolical characters. "I greatly enjoyed taking on this leading role for the challenge it represented to portray a landowner who owned slaves," said this prestigious actress in an exclusive interview, who at ninety years of age continues to set examples of scenic mastery.

Verónica believes that she was born with the sign of an artist. And she repeated so many times that she wanted to be an actress that by five years of age it was deeply ingrained in her mind and heart, despite the fact that no one in her family felt the slightest inclination toward art. Her mother adored artists because she listened to the radio a lot while washing and ironing clothes for others, as people said back then. Meanwhile, she, at sixteen years old, worked as a manicurist in a beauty salon.

Her debut as an actress was on television; in her judgment, it came late because she would have been between twenty-one or twenty-two years old. She debuted in a short-lived program that aired through different episodes. In it she sometimes played humorous characters and other times dramatic ones. She remembers that in that program the actor Severino Puentes was Señor Gallo and she was his secretary. She participated in those programs for free, but felt immensely happy because, finally, she was beginning to be an actress. In those years she met actor Alfonso Silvestre, who was preparing a theater work in which seven men and one woman participated. He proposed that she play that female character. She had never even been to a theater, but, of course, she accepted right away because she was interested in acting and if they told her that even in a circus she could do it, she would go there gladly. During the rehearsals of that theatrical work, she realized that there were greater possibilities to become a true actress and, on the other hand, that she could carry out both work and acting at the same time. All members of this group performed different tasks and she, by that time, had stopped being a manicurist and dedicated herself to selling wholesale various products like shampoo, hair dyes, and nail polish to various beauty salons in Marianao. Her salary came from that work. Just like television, she attended theater without earning a cent. Since all the members worked, meetings began at five in the afternoon and on many occasions they could not begin rehearsing until seven or nine at night, because the stage was occupied by some production of another group. They were truly difficult times during which she barely had enough money to eat. But despite all those difficulties, she felt that she was taking sure steps to achieve her great dream.

In those days it was wealthy people who sponsored theater groups and therefore there were several groups dedicated to this manifestation of art. These people even gave prizes for the best artistic performances. With this they intended to keep theater alive and small theaters began to proliferate in Havana like Prometeo, Arlequín, Prado 260, to name just a few.

After several years doing theater with works of great acceptance like Rain or Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, she returned to television. It was the years fifty-four or fifty-five, that is, the triumph of the Revolution had not yet occurred. By that time she was already an actress. She had won what she always considered the greatest prize of her life. She obtained it certainly in an empirical way, self-taught, although yes and above all with much sacrifice, forgoing things as elementary as eating or sleeping because during that time she studied tirelessly so that everything would work out well, how she had to look, speak, walk. From then until today so many characters have been born that unfortunately memory has not been able to retain.

Always in a brilliant manner and imprinting a very peculiar mark, Verónica has ventured into television, theater, radio, and cinema. In all cases assuming mostly negative characters.

Almost every time she has played the role of the villain. There are, for example, such terribly evil characters as Teresa Guzmán or Doña Perfecta in the theater. Those characters delighted her. She greatly enjoyed representing them because the bad ones are the ones who cause the problems, the conflicts in a work. It would be very boring if in a novel, a play, or a film there were no villains. Who would the good ones confront and defeat? The good ones become great, they become heroes only when they are capable of confronting and defeating the bad ones.

She considers that when analyzing the attitude of a negative character, one must place it in its political and social context, in its time. That is, where that human being is located in time and space. Doña Perfecta and doña Teresa belong to very high social classes, they are landowners. They possess great wealth, so they have to defend their interests and she internalized this, identified with them until appropriating their personality and being able to represent them convincingly.

Certainly almost all of her interpretations have been directed at assuming negative characters. But you can believe that those same characters have led her to popularity. Teresa Guzmán was very evil, inhuman, merciless, however, it is so encouraging that when she has traveled the Island from Cabo de San Antonio to Punta de Maisí, even in the Escambray, surrounded by mountains, I have heard many people say: "Look, look, that's the woman of the little birds." Obviously they are referring to Teresa Guzmán and, through her, to Verónica. That really fills you with joy. It makes you feel that although it was bad, very bad, your character remained in popular memory and that is truly gratifying, Verónica has expressed. It is the best that can happen to you after so much time of studies and sacrifices, although I do not deny that in our profession we have a lot of fun."

"Although it was bad, very bad, your character remained in popular memory and that is truly gratifying."

Many other telenovelas, despite the passage of time, also endure among her admirers who number in the thousands throughout the country. Among them Passion and Prejudice, The Orphans of Obrapía, Fortunata and Jacinta. The same happens in cinema.

Without a doubt La Bella del Alhambra is her preferred work in cinema. The character of that woman, consumed by failures in her life and vice, deeply moved Verónica. She also greatly liked Long Distance, and more recently, filmed in 2018, Candelaria, a very tender film, because it deals with a couple that has been married for fifty years. Very nice that character.

Verónica affirms that talent is born with you, no professor gives it to you. That said, throughout her career, whatever the artistic manifestation, one must be capable of appropriating tools that allow you to develop it. For example, there are actors who don't have much talent, however, they possess abilities and to those abilities they add much study, perseverance, discipline, and rigor and above all much, much love for their profession, for what they do. You always have to seek more, learn more from everything and from everyone.

To tell the truth, she has had to overcome many obstacles to get here. One must take into account that she comes from the era of capitalism, nevertheless she has always been an actress very much in love with her profession. A woman who, from the moment she became an actress, never conceived of her life without acting. She has always been strict with herself, demanding discipline and showing absolute respect for her people, for the public that follows her performances, whether in cinema, television, or radio. Art is her reason for being, for existing. Precisely because of that respect for her work she has had to sacrifice many things, but always with great pleasure. Artists suffer, cry, suffer, but at the same time love, enjoy. Working to serve the public has always been her greatest pleasure.

In each interpretation she assumes, Verónica Lynn completely disappears, fades away, to give way to that character who convinces, whom the public sees from beginning to end what he really is.

At all times and whatever the circumstances, she has preferred criticism. "But she is referring to that criticism that comes from admiration and respect. Well-directed criticism allows you to see your faults, your errors. It allows you to rectify, correct what was done wrong, and direct your actions, your steps in a more correct manner. Criticism makes you grow. I admire and esteem very much those who have criticized me and still criticize me, but always, always with the desire to help me, with the desire for me to do better any character, any interpretation."

It pains her to see how the craft of that necessary, comforting criticism has been lost. Years ago sessions were very common, both in the written press, and on radio and television, spaces dedicated to criticism. She believes it would be very beneficial to resume that practice.

Despite her nine decades of life, Verónica continues devoted to acting with the same passion of her youth.

"Yes, indeed I continue working. I feel very well physically and with enormous desire to continue making art." Despite the health restrictions imposed by this unbearable pandemic, she worked on a film titled AM/PM. It is a production by filmmaker Alejandro Gil. In it she plays the character of a woman who lives alone because her children and grandchildren have left the country. She lives in a very nice, very comfortable apartment thanks to the financial help she receives from her family living abroad. It is a very beautiful character, whose main complexity is showing what simplicity, everyday life is.

At the moment she is engrossed in learning a script for another film that will begin shooting in a few days and is titled The Gardening Novice, by filmmaker Arturo Soto. In this she is a nun, the director of the convent, her mother superior.

She also recently filmed with filmmaker Rudy Mora a serial of eleven chapters, in which she participates in four. It is a series for television and she plays a character that is quite, very complex, because it is a diva who was greatly admired, very loved, but as time passed the new generations, at first, do not recognize her.

And also, for some time now, she has been heading the theater group Trotamundo. Respecting, of course, health and sanitation measures, they have recently worked on staging the play Red Beans. This production was almost ready to be premiered. In fact its premiere was scheduled on purpose for her ninetieth birthday. But once again the pandemic is the great obstacle. In any case and through various means, they continue working with the actors, fine-tuning details, perfecting each character.

She recommends to actors and actresses that they never think that even if they have public recognition they are at the summit, that they have already arrived. On the contrary, they still have much more to go because precisely that recognition implies a commitment, implies doing more each day. She has been an actress for more than sixty years, however she considers that she has not yet reached the summit. She thinks that she still has many more things to do, to achieve.

"I have been an actress for more than sixty years, however I consider that I have not yet reached the summit."

That they never become conceited actors. That they thank the public with more academic preparation, with more effort, with more rigor and discipline. That any show of love, of admiration they receive from the public, be compensated with more study, with more improvement. That they never feel deserving. Our work is a team job, a group effort where individualism and egocentrism will never have a place. No actor can shine by himself alone, because his artistic performance will always be supported by that or those performers, however insignificant they may seem. A modality of acting is, for example, the monologue. But behind that actor, even when he appears alone before the public, there is an entire team.

And finally, and perhaps the most important message, that they make humility, modesty, the main foundation of their artistic career.

It is quite likely that more than thirty national and foreign recognitions and awards have been given to Verónica Lyn during her more than half a century of artistic work. And although she grants each and every one of them the value they possess, this acclaimed actress assures that the greatest award she has received is a phrase said by some admirers on several occasions: "Thank you for existing."

TAGS: PERFORMING ARTS, CUBAN CINEMA, CUBAN THEATER, CUBAN TELEVISION