Luisa Vehil was born in 1912 in
Montevideo,
Uruguay, she belongs to an eight generation dynasty of actors originally from
Catalonia; daughter and granddaughter of theatre players. Her brothers were Paquita and Juan. She was also the aunt of actors
Miguel Ángel Solá and
Mónica Vehil. Luisa moved to
Buenos Aires, Argentina at an early age, and starred in her first movie in 1933,
Los tres berretines, directed by
Enrique Telémaco Susini. It was the second Argentine talk movie. She went on to appear in other minor 'talkies' throughout the '30s, working in
tango-oriented films by famed tango writer
Manuel Romero and
Eduardo Morera. Opposite to
Juan Perón regime she suffered an attack when playing the leading role in the play
Fascination. Vehil's next big role was in
Pampa bárbara, an epic western directed by
Lucas Demare and
Hugo Fregonese. It was her second and last screen appearance throughout the '40s; likewise, she acted in film once per decade – once in the '50s (
En la ardiente oscuridad, by
Daniel Tinayre, 1958) and once in the '60s (
El bote, el río y la gente, 1960). Nevertheless, her main activity was the theater where she was regarded as one of the
Grand-Dames of the national scene, a revered and iconic figure. She played
Mary Stuart,
Juana La Loca,
Samuel Beckett's
Happy Days,
Madame Desmortes in
Jean Anouilh's
L'Invitation au Château and
L'Alouette (The Lark),
Alejandro Casona's
Los árboles mueren de pie, etc. Between 1964 and 1967 she directed the Argentina's National Comedy and was also a member of the National Fund for Arts. She made a comeback in the '70s, appearing in films by
Juan Bautista Stagnaro,
Alejandro Doria and
Luis Saslavsky. She would work with Doria one more time in 1982, in
Los pasajeros del jardín. Turning to TV, Vehil starred in the hour-long program
Navidad en el año 2000 in 1981 and hosted the show
Las 24 horas from 1982 to 1985. Her last acting performance was in
Kindergarten (1989), a controversial film by
Jorge Polaco, censored one day short from its release (the first case of censorship in the country following the end of the
Dirty War six years prior). Luisa Vehil was honored as an "Illustrious Citizen of the City of Buenos Aires" in 1990. In 1981 she received the
Platinum and
Diamond Konex Award. She died from natural causes on October 24, 1991. ==Selected filmography==