Martínez de Hoyos, Jorge Mapache

(1920-1997)

   born in Mexico City, Martínez de Hoyos received his elementary education in Texas. He returned to Mexico and spent three years working on his law degree, before giving in to the lure of acting at the age of 22. He made his film debut in the English-language Adventures of Casanova (1947), shot in Mexico with a mixed Hollywood-Mexican cast (due to his English-language skills, he also appeared in some other co-productions, including Guns for San Sebastian). Over the next decade, Martínez de Hoyos became one of the most reliable character actors in Mexican cinema (also working on the stage and on TV), winning Best Co-Starring Actor Arieles for Sombra verde and Canasta de cuentos mexicanos; he was also nominated as Best Co-Starring Actor for El túnel seis, and as Best Actor for Los días del amor and El venida del Rey Olmos. As the last two nominations suggest, Martínez de Hoyos played some "character leads" in the 1960s and 1970s. He was married to actress Alicia Caro from the mid-1960s until his death, of lung cancer, in May 1997.