Luz Odilia Font
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Luz Odilia Font ( Arocho; November 11, 1929 – February 9, 2022) was a Puerto Rican actress. She was perhaps better remembered for her role as "Clara" in the 2013 Puerto Rican film production, "
The Condemned ''The Condemned'' is a 2007 action film written and directed by Scott Wiper. The film stars Steve Austin, Vinnie Jones, Robert Mammone, Tory Mussett, Madeleine West and Rick Hoffman. The film centers on ten convicts who are forced to fight each ...
".


Life and career

Born in San Sebastián, the daughter of a social worker mother, Font enjoyed music since an early age. At age nine, Font began a formal training in music by taking musical classes. Her family later moved to the
San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John, may refer to: Places Argentina * San Juan Province, Argentina * San Juan, Argentina, the capital of that province * San Juan, Salta, a village in Iruya, Salta Province * San Juan (Buenos Aires Underground), ...
area of Santurce, where they were neighbors with Manuel Mendez Ballester, a very well known playwright of the era. Ballester discovered her and he invited her to a radio show he produced at the time, named "La Escuela del Aire" ("School on Air"). Font eventually graduated from the
University of Puerto Rico The University of Puerto Rico ( es, Universidad de Puerto Rico, UPR) is the main public university system in the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It is a government-owned corporation with 11 campuses and approximately 58,000 students and 5,3 ...
with an associate degree, hoping to follow that with a degree in psychology. Before that could happen, she met her future husband, Luis Alberto Font. When the couple married, Font took her husband's last name, a practice that is still very uncommon, as of 2021, in Puerto Rico and the rest of Latin America. Font moved to the United States but her stay in her new country did not last long. She was pregnant while visiting Puerto Rico. After giving birth, Font decided to stay in her home country and give acting as a career a try. Soon afterwards, she got her first television acting job, when
Telemundo Puerto Rico Telemundo Puerto Rico may refer to: * Telemundo Puerto Rico (TV channel) * WKAQ-TV WKAQ-TV (channel 2) is a television station in San Juan, Puerto Rico, airing programming from the Telemundo and NBC networks. It is Owned-and-operated station, ...
, then better known mostly as "Canal 2", hired her for a bi-monthly show named "Drama Antizime" (named, for promotional reasons, after a local mouthwash brand, the show was later named, for promotional reasons also, "Drama Malta India" after a local, non-alcoholic malt). Font made her
telenovela A telenovela is a type of a television serial drama or soap opera produced primarily in Latin America. The word combines ''tele'' (for "television") and ''novela'' (meaning "novel"). Similar drama genres around the world include '' teleserye'' ...
debut in a 1958 drama show named "Retorno al Pasado". By 1961, Font's services as an actress were so requested that she had a unique contract which allowed her to work for both of Puerto Rico's main television stations, Telemundo Puerto Rico and
WAPA-TV WAPA-TV (channel 4) is a Spanish language in the United States, Spanish-language Independent station (North America), independent television station in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It is owned by :es:Hemisphere Media Group, Hemisphere Media Group, w ...
, at the same time. While at Telemundo Puerto Rico she acted in "Pueblo" (a telenovela not to be confused with the local supermarket chain of the same name); she also starred at WAPA-TV's " Bendita eres Tu" ("You are Blessed"). Later she starred in other telenovelas such as "Justicia" ("Justice"), "El Perdon de los Pecados" ("Sin's Forgiveness"), "Maria Merce La Mulata" ("Maria Merce the Mulatto") and the major Puerto Rican hit, "Entre Monte y Cielo" (which loosely translates to "Between Heaven and Earth"). Her theater acting career took off about the same time as "Entre Monte y Cielo" was on the air. She acted in plays by
Myrna Casas Myrna Casas (January 2, 1934 – November 9, 2022) was a Puerto Rican experimental playwright, director, actress, and theatre scholar. She was the co-founder and artistic director of the company Producciones Cisne. Early life Casas was born in ...
and in Rene Marquez's "
La Carreta ''La Carreta'' ( en, The Oxcart) is a 1953 play by Puerto Rican playwright René Marqués.Gil de La Madrid, Antonio.René Marqués, dramaturgo. ''Biografías de escritores puertorriqueños'', ''La Gran Enciclopedia Ilustrada del Proyecto Salón ...
", among others. During the 1960s, Font acted in the film named " El Jibarito" about the famous Puerto Rican singer and composer Rafael Hernandez, playing his sister, Victoria Hernandez. Font's career as a television actress and personality continued and she participated in 1969's "Juan de Dios" ("John of God") as well as the international hit telenovela, 1972's " Tomiko" and in "Mujeres sin Hombres" ("Women Without Men"). She also participated in some shows that were hosted by Chilean Enrique Maluenda and participated, as show host, alongside Maluenda and her fellow Puerto Rican actor,
Luis Daniel Rivera Luis Daniel Rivera Filomeno is a Puerto Rican politician from the Popular Democratic Party (PPD). Rivera was elected to the Senate of Puerto Rico in 2012. Rivera was born in Carolina. He has a Bachelor's degree in Political Science. Rivera h ...
, in a variety show named "Super Show Goya", which was sponsored by
Goya Foods Goya Foods, Inc. is an American producer of a brand of foods sold in the United States and many Spanish-speaking countries. It has facilities in the United States, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Spain. It is under third-generation ownersh ...
. In 1979, Font acted alongside
Johanna Rosaly Raquel Johanna Rosaly Guillermety (born January 13, 1948) is a Puerto Rican actress, singer, and television host. Early years Johanna Rosaly was born in Santurce, a district of San Juan. In 1956 at the age of eight, she started taking acting l ...
in "Vida". In 1988, she participated in "Andrea", which was another major hit among Puerto Rican telenovelas. She followed that with her acting in 1992's "Natalia". Meanwhile, she was in two Vicente Castro made-for-TV films, 1999's "Coralito Tiene dos Maridos" ("Coralito has two Husbands") and 2003's "Promesa de Reyes" ("Three Wise Men's Promises"). During 2013, the
Puerto Rican Institute of Culture The Institute of Puerto Rican Culture ( es, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña), or ICP, for short, is an institution of the Government of Puerto Rico responsible for the establishment of the cultural policies required in order to study, preser ...
dedicated its 49th film festival to Font. That same year, she participated in the Puerto Rican film "The Condemned", where she acted alongside
Axel Anderson Axel Anderson (December 11, 1929 – December 16, 2012) was a German actor who was very popular in his adopted homeland of Puerto Rico. Biography Early life Anderson was born Axel Levy to a Jewish family in Berlin, Germany. In 1936 Anderson's f ...
, among others. Font died in
Guaynabo, Puerto Rico Guaynabo (, ) is a city, suburb of San Juan and municipality in the northern part of Puerto Rico, located in the northern coast of the island, north of Aguas Buenas, south of Cataño, east of Bayamón, and west of San Juan. Guaynabo is spr ...
on February 9, 2022, at the age of 92.


See also

* List of Puerto Ricans


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Font, Luz Odilia 1929 births 2022 deaths 20th-century Puerto Rican actresses People from San Sebastián, Puerto Rico University of Puerto Rico alumni