Prudencia Grifell

Actor

1879-12-27 – 1970-06-07 · Lugo, Galicia, Spain

Prudencia Grifell (December 27, 1879 – June 7, 1970), born Prudencia Grifell Masipon, was a prolific actress of the Golden Era of the Cinema of Mexico.

Grifell was born to Spanish stage actors and started her acting career herself at the age of ten in theater in Venezuela and touring Spain and Latin America. By the 1900s she had become very popular and moved to Mexico to continue her career in stage, after the Spanish Civil War she decided not to go back to that country but instead to relocate in Mexico permanently after 1940.

Three years later, already at the age of 61, she appeared in her first film Internado para señoritas ("Girls Boarding School") with the stars Mapy Cortés, Emilio Tuero and Katy Jurado. Just as Sara García, her co-star as the Vivanco sisters in two films, she mostly played feisty but lovable granny roles.

• El señor doctor (1965) — Señora Martínez
• Little Red Riding Hood (1959) — Abuelita
• The Third Word (1956) — Angelina
• Why Was I Born a Woman? (1970) — Doña Rosa
• The Shadow of the Tyrant (1960) — Dueña de burdel
• The Smile of the Virgin (1958)
• Over the Waves (1950) — Calixta Gutiérrez de Alfaro
• Pensión de artistas (1956)
• Nosotros los rateros (1949) — Madre de Mercedes
• The Force of Desire (1955) — Juana
• Apartment house (1951) — Doña Leonor
• Soledad (1947) — Roberto's mother
• X Murderer (1955) — Señora Encinas
• La dama del alba (1950)
• Ladronzuela (1949)
• México nunca duerme (1959)
• Mujeres que trabajan (1953) — Srita. Benavides
• Adultery (1945) — Doña Lupita
• Cuando me vaya (1954) — Doña Generosa
• La ladrona (1954)
• Two Faces Have the Destiny (1952) — Doña Remedios, mamá de Anita
• Una mujer en la calle (1955) — Tía Nena (María de Jesús)
• The Vivanco Ladies (1959) — Teresa Vivanco
• Póker de ases (1952)