Alma Beltran

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Alma Beltran
Born
Alma Leonor Beltran

(1919-08-22)August 22, 1919
Cananea, Sonora, Mexico
DiedJune 9, 2007(2007-06-09) (aged 87)
Northridge, California, U.S.
OccupationActress
Years active1945–2002

Alma Leonor Beltran (August 22, 1919 – June 9, 2007) was a Mexican-American film, stage and television actress. She appeared in 82 films between 1945 and 2002.[1] In addition to her film roles, Beltran played over 80 roles in film and television, often in smaller roles, always as Mexican women, and then later in her career, as matriarch types. She is best known as Mrs. Fuentes, mother of Julio Fuentes, on the NBC-TV series Sanford and Son.

Career

Beltran's career began in 1940 with her dancing, singing, and playing a guitar.[2]

In 1953 Beltran had a six-days-a-week Spanish-language broadcast on radio station KALI.[3] Programmed for housewives, the show included one drama a week that Beltran wrote. Other segments featured fashion news, household hints, poems, and news about Mexico.[4]

The theater was Beltran's first love. She said, "I would never want to get away from the theater" adding that the interaction between audiences and performers was essential to a person's development as an artist.[5] In July 1942 she was a new member of the company at the Padua Hills Theatre.[6] She starred in Miracle of Tepeyac Hill at the Philharmonic Auditorium in Los Angeles on November 27, 1954. More than 3,000 people attended the play, which was a fundraising effort for completion of the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City.[7] Her other work on stage included portraying Matilde in Cuando La Vida Florece (When Life Blooms) at the Teatro Intimo in Los Angeles in 1969.[8] When she performed in The Subject Was Roses at the Pasadena Playhouse in 1983, a newspaper review said, "Alma Bertran, perhaps the strongest portrayal in the cast, captures the universal qualities of mothering".[9]

Beltran portrayed the grandmother on the situation comedy Sanchez of Belair on the USA network, and she made commercials for TV.[5]

Personal life and death

Beltran was married to Orlando Bertran.[10] She died in Northridge, California, on June 9, 2007, aged 87, due to natural causes. She was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles, California.[1]

Filmography

With Donna Reed in the 1953 Colombia Western Gun Fury.
Film credits[11]
Year Title Role Notes
1945 Pan-Americana Miss Guatelmala Uncredited
1945 Mexicana Modern Girl
1945 Yolanda and the Thief Maid Uncredited
1947 Honeymoon Maid Uncredited
1947 Carnival In Costa Rica Bit part Uncredited
1948 The Loves of Carmen Trinket Seller Uncredited
1948 He Walked by Night Miss Montvalo
(Liquor Store proprietor)		 Uncredited
1953 Sombero Party Guest Uncredited
1953 Gun Fury 2nd Mexican girl Uncredited
1954 Jubilee Trail Servant girl Uncredited
1955 The Sea Chase Beautician Uncredited
1956 The Bottom of the Bottle Cantina Hostess Uncredited
1956 Santiago Cuban Woman Uncredited
1957 Dragoon Wells Massacre Station Agent's wife
1968 Blue Cantina Proprietess
1971 Red Sky at Morning Excilda Montoya
1971 Josie's Castle Tijuana Saleslady
1971 The Marriage of a Young Stockbroker Raquel
1972
1972 They Only Kill Their Masters Rosa
1974 The Parallax View Joy Holder
1975 A Woman for All Men Anita
1976 Marathon Man Laundress
1977 Another Man, Another Chance Mexican Widow Uncredited
1978 House Calls Gina
1980 Herbie Goes Bananas General's Wife
1980 Oh, God! Book II Rosa, Paula's Housekeeper
1981 Zoot Suit Lowrider's Mother
1985 Into the Night Cleaning woman
1986 Nobody's Fool Jennieva
1987 Love Among Thieves Airline Clerk TV movie
1989 Trust Me Imelda
1989 Immediate Family Spanish woman
1990 Angel Town Neighbor's Wife
1990 Ghost Woman Ghost
1994 Night Fire Maria
2000 Luminarias Mary
2002 Buying the Cow Hispanic woman (final film role)

References

  1. Scott Wilson (22 August 2016). The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous People (Third ed.). McFarland. p. 54. ISBN 978-0786479924.
  2. "To Appear In Mexican Patriotic Play". The Arizona Daily Star. Arizona, Tucson. September 4, 1955. p. B 5. Retrieved April 28, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. "Actress on air here". Pasadena Star-News. May 10, 1953. p. 11. Retrieved April 28, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. "Alma Leonor Beltran". Pasadena Star-News. May 16, 1953. p. 7. Retrieved April 28, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. "Longing for 'artistic growth' amid success". Laredo Morning Times. February 8, 2007. p. Vista, page 4. Retrieved April 28, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. "Audience at Padua 'joins' acting cast". Los Angeles Times. July 27, 1942. p. Part I, page 8. Retrieved April 28, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. "Latin Benefit Helps Shrine in Mexico City". Los Angeles Times. November 28, 1954. p. Part IA, page 13. Retrieved April 28, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. Crawford, Corine (March 4, 1969). "'Florece' in Weekend Shows at Teatro Intimo". Los Angeles Times. p. Part IV, page 8. Retrieved April 28, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. "The Subject Was Roses". L. A. Weekly. California, Los Angeles. June 3, 1983. p. 111. Retrieved April 28, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. "Mexican Actress Dancer Guest of Carmen Beltran". The Arizona Daily Star. Arizona, Tucson. July 23, 1948. p. 3 B. Retrieved April 28, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. "Alma Beltran | TV Guide". TVGuide.com. Retrieved 2019-10-25.