Mimí Bechelani was a Mexican actress, writer, and

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

. She had spent her entire career writing for

Televisa Grupo Televisa, S.A.B., simply known as Televisa, is a Mexican telecommunications and broadcasting company. A major Latin American mass media corporation, it often presents itself as the largest producer of Spanish-language content. In April ...

. Bechelani was also a radio announcer, as well as a writer of poetry, novels, dramas, films, and theater scripts, for radio, TV, theatre and film industry.

Biography and life

Mimí Bechelani de la Peña was born in

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, on September 5, 1917. Since she was a little girl, she had a big imagination, was an avid reader, and started to write when she was in elementary school. As a child, her father died, but she received a good education. Bechelani studied painting, English, French, history, and theater. She accompanied Amparo Villegas to New York to dub English films in Spanish, after being discovered by Luis de Llano Palmer and being hired by

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

in the 1940s. There, she also worked as a theater actress. In 1952, she worked at '' Radio Femenina''. She also worked at the successful radio station XEW, as a writer and radio announcer. To survive, Bechelani worked as a high school teacher. She married a doctor, Mario Hernández, but they had no children. Their marriage lasted until he died. Bechelani has written extensively, creating more than 200 works for radio and television. She is best known for being the author of the 1959

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 (film and television), drama genres around the w ...

, ''Teresa''. It was made into a film in 1961 (starring Maricruz Olivier) and was remade into four

s, three with that title. Mimí Bechelani died on November 8, 1992.

Selected television works

Original stories

Adaptations

* '' Mi rival'' (1973) (original by

Inés Rodena Inés Rodena (April 20, 1905 in Havana, Cuba – April 15, 1985 in Miami, USA) was a Cuban radio and television writer. Life and career Before becoming a writer Rodena worked as a nurse. Through her experiences with her patients and stories r ...

) * '' Los que ayudan a Dios'' (1973) (original by Nené Cascallar) * '' Mi primer amor'' (1973) (original by Walter Negrão)

Remakes written herself

* '' El honorable Señor Valdez'' (1973) (remake of '' El profesor Valdez'') * '' El cuarto mandamiento'' (1967) (remake of ''

Teresa Teresa (also Theresa, Therese; ) is a feminine given name. It originates in the Iberian Peninsula in late antiquity. Its derivation is uncertain, it may be derived from Classical Greek, Greek θερίζω (''therízō'') "to harvest or rea ...

'')

Remakes written by others

* ''Teresa'' (2010) (remake of ''

'') by Ximena Suárez * ''

Madres egoístas ''Madres egoístas'' (''Selfish mothers'') is a Mexican telenovela produced by Juan Osorio for Televisa in 1991. Enrique Novi, Julieta Rosen, Chantal Andere, and Orlando Carrió starred as the protagonists, while Alberto Mayagoitia and Mar� ...

'' (1991) (remake of ''Madres egoístas'') by Josefina Palos y Romo * ''Teresa'' (1989) (remake of ''

'') by Silvia Castillejos and Francisco Sánchez *

(1969) (Brazilian remake of ''

'') by Raimundo Lopez.

Poetry

* (1970) ''Fuego al sol; poemas eróticos''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bechelani, Mimi Women soap opera writers Telenovela writers 20th-century Mexican women writers 20th-century Mexican writers Mexican women poets 1992 deaths 1917 births