Ofelia Guilmáin was born in Madrid. She was one of a
number of Spanish artists and intellectuals who fled to Mexico during
the Spanish Civil War, during which Ms. Guilmaín lost a brother and
sister. She married Lucilo Gutiérrez in 1941 and bore four children.
Following divorce, she married Eduardo Flores de Meza, but this ended
in divorce. She was a close friend of the actor José Gálvez and the
painter David Alfaro Siqueiros. She worked in Mexican films from 1941
and became a Mexican citizen in 1952. During the last decades of her
life she acted in several television series, including the epic series
La Antorcha Encendida, in which she played her real son's
mother-in-law. Ms. Guilmaín had four children, three of whom became
actors: Juan Ferrara, Luiía Guilmaín, and Esther Guilmáin. One
grandson, Juan Carlos Bonet, son of Juan Ferrara, is also an actor.
She appeared in at least 100 stage plays and about 50 films, from
classics to low comedy.
Took part in the Guerrillas of Theater groups set up by the Spanish
Republican government. When Franco's fascist regime came to power, she
fled to Mexico.
Sra. Guillmáin, in the epic series La Antorcha Encendida, took the role of Doña Macaria, mother-in-law of Don Pedro DeSoto, played by her real-life son, Luis Ferrara.