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Spanish actress Marisa Paredes, known for All About My Mother, High Heels, and The Flower Of My Secret, died at the age of 78 on Tuesday, December 17, 2024. As per The Guardian's December 17 report, Spain’s film academy, while announcing her death on Tuesday, said the country had lost one of its “most iconic actors” and a beloved veteran of more than 75 films.
The report further continued:
“Her body of work was defined by women who were strong, ambivalent, broken, passionate, enigmatic, but who were, above all, very human.”
Marisa Paredes was seemingly more private about her personal life, so not much is known. However, she was in a relationship with director Chema Prado from 1983 until her death. Before that, Paredes had a relationship with filmmaker Antonio Isasi-Isasmendi for about seven years in the 1970s. Furthermore, they had a daughter together, named María Isasi.
All about Marisa Paredes’ partners as the actress dies at the age of 78
José María Prado, also known as Chema Prado, served as the director of the Spanish Cinemathèque for nearly 30 years. As per the Lisboa Film Festival’s official website, he was also in charge of recovering, restoring, conserving, and advancing Spain's cinematic legacy.
Moreover, he served on juries at the Cannes, Sundance, Valladolid, Locarno, Guadalajara (Mexico), Miami, Rotterdam, and Venice film festivals. Marisa Paredes's partner even worked closely with the San Sebastián Film Festival. Furthermore, apart from being a director, he was also a photographer.
He began showcasing his photographs in galleries and institutions around the world in 1992, with a focus on the CHEMA PRADO/SERIES exhibition.
It featured large-format pictures from the Infraganti and Color series, which were displayed at the 10th edition of the Lisbon & Estoril Film Festival in Casino do Estoril in 2016. Some of the biggest figures in film, like Robert De Niro, Antonio Banderas, Pedro Almodóvar, and Jim Jarmusch, were also portrayed in these photos.
According to Lisboa Film Festival’s official page, Prado explained about the Infraganti series,
“[These photographs] were not prepared, there wasn’t an agreement with the people portrayed, they didn’t put on make-up, nor there was any lighting preparation. And that spontaneity ends up being a part of the composition itself.”
He further explained:
“For example, in one of them we see Stephen Frears and Manoel de Oliveira, with Frears making a very funny gesture, pretending he is pointing a gun at him.”
Prado's popular works also include films like Leo (2000), Tras Nazarin: Following Nazarin (2015), Premios Fénix (2015), and Film: The Living Record of Our Memory (2021). On the other hand, before being in a relationship with Chema, Marisa Paredes was in a domestic partnership with filmmaker Antonio Isasi-Isasmendi for almost seven years in the 1970s.
Antonio Isasi-Isasmendi was a director and producer from Spain. From an assistant manager, film editor, playwright, and lead producer, to eventually director, Isasi-Isasmendi started at the production company Emisora Films. He went on to establish Producciones Isasi, his own production firm, in Barcelona in 1955. Then, in Madrid, he established a second company called Moon Films.
He also directed a number of action movies in the middle of the 1960s, such as Scaramouche (The Adventures of Scaramouche) in 1963 and Estambul 65 (That Man in Istanbul) in 1965. Additionally, he worked on an English-language production called They Came to Rob Las Vegas.
Furthermore, after directing El Perro (The Dog) in 1977, he took a ten-year hiatus to focus on producing and distributing movies. He then returned to directing with El Aire de un Crimen (The Hint of a Crime) in 1987. In addition, he produced 8 feature films, scripted 11, and directed 13. He also served on the jury at the 31st Berlin International Film Festival in 1981.
However, on September 28, 2017, he passed away at the age of 90 in Ibiza, Spain. He shared a daughter with Marisa Paredes, named María Isasi. However, not much is known about her.
On the other hand, Paredes is survived by her partner Chema Prado, and her daughter María Isasi.
