Irma Serrano

Irma Consuelo Cielo Serrano Castro[1] (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈiɾma konˈswelo ˈsjelo seˈrano ˈkastɾo]; born 9 December 1933) is a Mexican pop-folk-singer of chanson, songwriter, actress, politician and vedette.[2] Famous for her "tantalizing," "untamed spitfire" voice,[3] she is one of the most noted performers of the ranchera and corrido genres;[4] she was nicknamed La Tigresa de la Canción Ranchera[5] and later known simply as "La Tigresa" (Spanish pronunciation: [la ti´ɣɾesa]). At the same time, she developed a film career of more than a dozen films.

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Serrano and the second or maternal family name is Castro.
Irma Serrano
Serrano in El zurdo (1965)
Born
Irma Consuelo Cielo Serrano Castro

(1933-12-09) 9 December 1933
Comitán, Chiapas, Mexico
NationalityMexican
Other namesLa Tigresa
La Tigresa de la Canción Ranchera
Alma materNational Autonomous University of Mexico
Occupation
  • Singer
  • songwriter
  • actress
  • politician
  • vedette
Years active1962–2005
Partner(s)Fernando Casas Alemán
Gustavo Díaz Ordaz
Alejo PeraltaOrdaz]]
El Pato Zambrano
RelativesRosario Castellanos (cousin)
Musical career
Genres
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • guitar
Labels
Associated acts

In the 1970s and 1980s, Serrano achieved great success as an actress and producer in a series of controversial stage plays, highlighting the controversial play Naná (1973). In the decade of the 1990s, she also ventured into politics and occupied a seat in the Mexican Senate. In her later years, she was the center of multiple scandals and controversies.[6] She has appeared in celebrity gossip magazines and television shows because of her political career as senator of her home state of Chiapas from 1994 to 1997.

Early life

Serrano is the third of three children (Mario, Yolanda, and Irma). Her father, Santiago Serrano Ruiz "El Chanti" (25 July 1897 – 17 December 1957),[7] was a distinguished author, poet, and politician born in Suchiapa to humble parents of indigenous descent.[8] Her mother, María Castro Domínguez,[9] was a local aristocrat who owned seventeen haciendas.[10] Her older siblings were Mario and Yolanda. Her parents divorced when she was 7 years old.[10] She is a cousin of poet, author, and diplomat Rosario Castellanos.[10]

Career

Music

Irma Serrano began her artistic career as a dancer in the choreographic group directed by the dancer Chelo La Rué. Later, Serrano began her career as singer when signing a contract with Columbia Records in 1962.[11] In 1963, she won several awards such as the Folklore Revelation Trophy, the Macuilxóchitl as the Revelation Songwriter and the Musa Trophy of Radiolandia.[11] Serrano became one of the most popular Mexican folk music artists of the 1960s. One of her most remembered songs is the corrido of La Martina, considered a classic of the Mexican folk genre.

Film

She began her career in films at age 29 in the movie Samson vs. the Zombies, starring the popular Mexican wrestler El Santo (Samson). She works on films like The Extra (1962), opposite Cantinflas, Tiburoneros (1963, directed by Luis Alcoriza), and Gabino Barrera (1964) along with the actor and singer Antonio Aguilar, among others. From 1968, begins to use the pseudonym of La Tigresa (The Tigress), taken from a comic that she herself starred due to its popularity. In the 1970s she participated in her best films. In 1972, she stars in La Martina", inspired by her most popular song. In 1973 she starred in the fantastic film La Tigresa. In that same year, she works in the film The Monastery of the Vultures of the filmmaker Francisco del Villar. At the end of the 1970s and during the 1980s, Serrano's appearances at the movies were rather sporadic. She performs special performances in films like Cabaret Nights (1978) and Lola la trailera (1982). In 1985 Irma produces Naná inspired by the controversial same name stage play, which she herself starred in Mexico years ago. In 1986, Serrano made her last relevant film performance in the horror film The Lovers of the Lord of the Night next to Isela Vega and Emilio Fernández.

Theater

In 1972, Serrano acquired the old Virginia Fábregas Theater, located in the street of Donceles, in the Mexico City's Historic Center. The actress remodeled the theater and renamed it Teatro Fru Fru.[12] From the 1970s, Serrano stars and produces a series of theatrical montages that caused controversy. Of them it emphasizes Naná (1973), free adaptation of Serrano of the same name novel of Emile Zola. The stage play was produced by Serrano and directed by Maricela Lara. Naná caused controversy in Mexico because of its high erotic content, and remained on the billboard for four uninterrupted years (1973-1977).

In 1977, Serrano partnered with actor, producer, writer and director Alejandro Jodorowsky to perform the stage play Lucrecia Borgia. Nevertheless, the differences between both personages provoked a dispute that caused that both independently produced its own version of the work.[13]

Other stage plays starring by Serrano in the Teatro Fru Frú were A Lady Without Camelias (1977), Oh ... Calcutta (1977), Yocasta Reina (1978), The Cross-legged War(1979) and the autobiographical A calzón amarrado (1980, based on the controversial autobiographical book published by La Tigresa a little earlier). In addition to starring in these works, Serrano also served as co-producer, co-director and co-author of the arguments, some along with the director, actor and producer Pablo Leder. Her last theatrical projects were The Two Emanuele (1984, alongside Isela Vega and also represented in the Million Dollar Theater of Los Angeles) and The Well of Solitude (1985).

As a producer, she also performed a series of theatrical productions, some of them within the successful concept Theater at the Midnight, created by Pablo Leder for a strictly adult audience. Such montages were Emanuele LIVE (1981), Jail for Girls (1981), Vampira! (Emanuele de ultratumba) (1983) and Carmen (2004).

In 1967 Serrano was ordered to jail by the First Lady of Mexico, Guadalupe Borja, for daring to serenade Borja's husband, then Mexican President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz at Los Pinos, the presidential residence. It was rumored that Serrano and Díaz Ordaz had a short lived romantic affair.[6] Neither confirmed the rumor until 1998, when Serrano defended the late president, claiming they had lived together, and denying she ever ordered him to attack the students in the 1968 massacre of Tlatelolco.

In 1994, Serrano ran for Senator from her home state of Chiapas and won.[6]

On March 25, 2009 Serrano was arrested in her home State of Chiapas and taken into custody to Mexico City's federal women penitentiary for supposed death threats and brandishing a gun at an ex-tenant of one of her properties three years earlier.[14]

Serrano resides in Comitán, Chiapas.

Filmography
  • 1966 Los malvados
  • 1966 El hijo del diablo
  • 1966 Los gavilanes negros
  • 1965 El hijo de Gabino Barrera
  • 1965 Los sheriffs de la frontera
  • 1965 La conquista de El Dorado
  • 1965 El zurdo
  • 1965 Gabino Barrera
  • 1964 El corrido de María Pistolas
  • 1963 Tiburoneros
  • 1962 The Extra
  • 1962 Santo contra los zombies

Television work
  • 2005 La Madrastra (TV series)
  • 2004 Hospital el paisa (TV series)
  • 1977 Variedades de media noche (TV series)
  • 1974 La tierra (TV series)
  • 1972 Aun hay mas (TV series)

Theater

Actress and Producer
  • Naná (1973)
  • A Lady Without Camellias (1977)
  • Oh...Calcutta (1977)
  • Lucrecia Borgia (1977)
  • Yocasta Reina (1978)
  • The Cross-legged War (1979)
  • A Calzón amarrado (1980)
  • The Two Emanuele (1984)
  • The Well of Solitude (1985)

Producer
  • Emanuele...Live (1981)
  • Jail for Girls (1981)
  • Vampira! (Emanuele de Ultratumba) (1983)
  • Carmen (2004)

Selected discography
  • La Nueva Intérprete de la Canción Ranchera (Columbia, 1964)
  • Lloren Organillos: Folk Songs of Mexico (Columbia, 1965)
  • Nuevo "Hits" con Irma Serrano (Columbia, 1965)
  • Mexican Fire (Columbia, 1966)
  • Mi Noche de Ayer and Other Folk Songs (Columbia, 1968)
  • Irma Serrano con Los Alegres de Terán (Columbia, 1973)

Awards
  • 1963: Trofeo Revelación Folkórica, Premio Macuilxóchitl como la Cancionista Revelación, Trofeo Musa de Radiolandia.

Bibliography
  • SERRANO, Irma / ROBLEDO, Elisa A calzón amarrado Ed. Selector, México (1978) ISBN 9684031645
  • SERRANO, Irma / ROBLEDO, Elisa Sin pelos en la lengua Ed. Selector, México (1979) ISBN 9786074530315

References
  1. Decisión Ciudadana 1994: Reglas del juego, candidatos y perspectivas. Rayuela Editores. 1994. p. 70. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
  2. "Biographical Dictionary of Mexican Film Performers: "S" - Serrano, Irma". Retrieved 30 May 2011.
  3. "The Whirling Disks: Irma Serrano". Reading Eagle. 20 March 1966. Retrieved 5 June 2014.
  4. Herrera-Sobek, María (1993). The Mexican Corrido: A Feminist Analysis. Indiana University Press. p. xviii. ISBN 9780253207951.
  5. Contreras, José A. (10 March 1966). "Irma Serrano sintetiza: Canta con sinceridad para el pueblo". Melodías mexicanas. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
  6. "Mexican Actress Irma Serrano Arrested". Latin American Herald Tribune. Retrieved 2010-07-18.
  7. Sánchez, Alejandro. "Santiago Serrano, poeta de Suchiapa casi olvidado". Noticiasnet. Retrieved 14 July 2014.
  8. Manguen, Juan Jaime; Montesinos, Irma (1992). Los Chiapanecas, guerreros de la historia: pobladores de Suchiapa, Volume 1. Gobierno del Estado de Chiapas. p. 204.
  9. El libro y el pueblo 60. Departamento de Bibliotecas de la Secretaría de Educación Pública. 1970. p. 31. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
  10. Poniatowska, Elena (1993). Todo México, Tomo 1. Editorial Diana. pp. 115–117.
  11. "Notas sobre Irma Serrano en su LP, Lloren organillos". Retrieved 19 June 2014.
  12. Máspormás.com: Habitantes del...Teatro Fru Frú
  13. Jodorowsky, Alejandro (2012). El maestro y las magas (The Master and the Witches). Siruela. ISBN 9788498419801.
  14. "Irma Serrano es detenida tras asistir al programa 'Hoy'". Terra (Mexico) (in Spanish). March 25, 2009. Retrieved 2010-07-18.
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