Concha Velasco

Velasco had been also the recipient of many honours. The Government of Spain honoured her with the Gold Medal of Merit in the Fine Arts in 1987, the Gold Medal of Merit in Labour in 2008, the Grand Cross of the Civil Order of Alfonso X, the Wise in 2016, and the Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Isabella the Catholic posthumously in 2023. The Spanish Film Academy honoured her with its Gold Medal in 2003.

The recorded working language is Spanish. The field of work recorded is acting, singing and dance. Distinctions recorded are Grand Cross of the Civil Order of Alfonso X the Wise, Honorary Goya Award, National Theater Prize and Valladolid Gold Medal.

Concepción Velasco Varona was born in Valladolid on 29 November 1939. She was raised in Valladolid until she was six years old, when her family moved to Larache. At age ten, she moved to Madrid where she studied classical and Spanish dance at the National Conservatory. She made her debut as a dancer in the corps de ballet of the La Coruña opera and later worked as a flamenco dancer with Manolo Caracol and as revue dancer with Celia Gámez. Velasco began her career in the cinema at the age of fifteen in several titles as a supporting actress. Her first film as a leading actress was Red Cross Girls (1958). During the 1960s and 1970s she combined her work starring in films and in plays for theater and television. In the film Television Stories (1965) she performed the song "Chica ye ye" composed by Augusto Algueró with lyrics by Antonio Guijarro. The song became a hit and she suddenly found success as a yé-yé singer recording eight albums. After an early career with a filmography in line with the tenets of Francoism and close to the regime's favoured filmmaker José Luis Sáenz de Heredia, she eventually developed left-wing views and was reportedly vetoed for her trade union activity. At age 80, she described herself as "Catholic, Socialist, and Spanish". During the 1970s and 1980s she performed more serious roles. Her most successful role for television was in Teresa de Jesús (1984) as Teresa of Ávila. Also in the 1980s she launched her career as television presenter hosting the New Year's Eve variety shows to welcome 1985, 1986, and 1987 on Televisión Española, where she also sings and dances. She hosted on Antena 3 the broadcast of the New Year's Eve clock bell strikes live from Puerta del Sol in Madrid to welcome 1998 –along with Constantino Romero–. In theater, she had her own theatrical troupe first, and a production company with her husband Paco Marsó later, producing many of the plays she starred in herself, which led her to bankruptcy and to have debts with the Tax Agency on several occasions. On 14 March 2018 she announced that, after a career of 64 years, the stage play El funeral would be her last. She retired on 21 September 2021 with her last performance of the play La habitación de María at Theatre of Bretón de los Herreros in Logroño. On 28 May 2010 she revealed she was battling lymphatic cancer which was discovered in April. She got back to her activities months after. She died at the Hospital Puerta de Hierro in Majadahonda (Madrid) on 2 December 2023, at the age of 84. She lay in repose at La Latina theater in Madrid for public wake. The following day her mortal remains were taken to Valladolid where she was honored in front of Teatro Calderón, and people paid tribute to her, as the funeral procession passed by. Her funeral took place in the Cathedral and she was buried in the Pantheon of Illustrious Vallisoletans at El Carmen cemetery.

1996: Sombras y luces: Cien años de cine español 2009: Por la gracia de Luis