Mary Isabel da Cuña Rodríguez (25 November 1942 – 24 September 2016) was a

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

an actress and theater director.

Biography

Mary da Cuña began her theatrical training at the school of the Theater Club, founded by

Antonio Larreta Gualberto José Antonio Rodríguez Larreta Ferreira (14 December 1922 – 19 August 2015), better known as Antonio Larreta or Taco Larreta, was a Uruguayan writer, critic and actor. Born in Montevideo, he was active in Uruguay and Spain. Selec ...

, where she worked with

Héctor Manuel Vidal Héctor Manuel Vidal (26 August 1943 – 12 January 2014) was a Uruguayan theater director. Biography Héctor Manuel Vidal's training in stage arts began at the school of the group Club de Teatro, in which he performed in over 40 plays. He made h ...

, , , ,

Villanueva Cosse Villanueva Félix Cosse Vega (born 9 November 1933) is a Uruguayan actor, theater director, and writer who has developed a distinguished career in his country and internationally, especially in Argentina, where he has lived since 1973. Biograph ...

, and , among others. In that same space she made her debut as an actress in 1969 with ''Misia Dura al poder'', a theatrical play with political content and writing credit shared by several authors, directed by . Her professional debut was in 1971. She worked under directors such as Sergio Otermin, , Villanueva Cosse, Jorge Denevi, Carlos Aguilera, Alberto Rivero, Gloria Levy, and Ruben Coletto. She acted in works by

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

Woody Allen Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career writing ...

Michael Frayn Michael Frayn, FRSL (; born 8 September 1933) is an English playwright and novelist. He is best known as the author of the farce ''Noises Off'' and the dramas ''Copenhagen'' and ''Democracy''. His novels, such as '' Towards the End of the Mo ...

Neil Simon Marvin Neil Simon (July 4, 1927 – August 26, 2018) was an American playwright, screenwriter and author. He wrote more than 30 plays and nearly the same number of movie screenplays, mostly film adaptations of his plays. He has received mo ...

George Tabori George Tabori ( György Tábori; 24 May 1914 – 23 July 2007) was a Hungarian writer and theatre director. Life and career Tabori was born in Budapest as György Tábori, a son of Kornél and Elsa Tábori. His father Kornél (Cornelius) was m ...

Harold Pinter Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramatists with a writing career that spanne ...

, and

Copi COPI is a coatomer, a protein complex that coats vesicles transporting proteins from the ''cis'' end of the Golgi complex The Golgi apparatus (), also known as the Golgi complex, Golgi body, or simply the Golgi, is an organelle found in most ...

. In 1975 da Cuña became the first woman to be part of a

murga Murga is a form of popular musical theatre performed in Montevideo, Uruguay, Panama, Argentina and Badajoz, Spain during the Carnival season. Murga groups also operate in the Buenos Aires Carnival, though to a lesser extent than in Montevideo; ...

performance in the official contest, when she joined Los Diablos Verdes. In television she was one of the most visible faces of the comic programs ' (where she worked on its second stage with Roberto Jones, , and Imilce Viñas) and ''Plop!'' In 1990 she began working as a teacher at Eduardo Ramírez's School of Dance, the La Gaviota School of Theater, the School of Musical Comedy, and her own school of acting training. She won the 2005 for best actress for the work ''Raspando la cruz'' by

Rafael Spregelburd Rafael Spregelburd (born 1970 in Buenos Aires) is an Argentine playwright, director and actor. He studied acting and drama at the University of Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires ( es, Universidad de Buenos Aires, UBA) is a public r ...

, and received seven other Florencio nominations. Her state of health led her to stop acting and focus on theater direction. She died at age 73, due to the aftermath of a prolonged

vasculitis Vasculitis is a group of disorders that destroy blood vessels by inflammation. Both arteries and veins are affected. Lymphangitis (inflammation of lymphatic vessels) is sometimes considered a type of vasculitis. Vasculitis is primarily caused b ...

, and was buried in the

Cementerio del Norte, Montevideo Cementerio del Norte is the largest cemetery in Montevideo, Uruguay, and also the largest green park area of the city. It is located in the ''barrio'' of Casavalle in the northern-central part of the city, about 7 kilometres from the centre. T ...

. She was divorced from actor and theater director Jorge Denevi, with whom she had a daughter, actress Julieta Denevi.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:da Cuna, Mary 1942 births 2016 deaths 20th-century Uruguayan actresses 21st-century Uruguayan actresses Actresses from Montevideo Uruguayan educators Uruguayan stage actresses Uruguayan television actresses Uruguayan theatre directors Uruguayan women educators Women theatre directors Deaths from vasculitis Burials at the Cementerio del Norte, Montevideo