RIP Miguel Gurza

 

Actor Miguel Gurza dies at 81

 

U.S.A. Today

By John Carol

August 29, 2022

Tragedy in the world of Mexican cinema! Miguel Gurza, iconic actor and animal lover, has died at the age of 81 after a long and renowned career in many films. He participated in dumbbell with his brother Humberto, according to Agencia El Universal.

Miguel Gurza passed away at the age of 81, after a prolific career in the Mexican film industry, participating (in partnership with his brother Humberto) in endless action films as an actor, stunt double and also as a wildlife trainer, but not just any specimen.

According to Agencia El Universal, Gurza trained species that were part of films that today have become national and international classics such as “Laughing on Vacation”, the “Chanoc” saga, as well as “Predator” and “Conan, the barbarian”, respectively.

The career of the Gurza brothers began in the 1960s, at that time they provided different film productions with animals that appeared in adventure and action films, but that was not all, Miguel and Humberto were the ones who trained the species, according to El Universal Agency.

Species ranged from birds, reptiles, chimpanzees to felines. In fact, it was he and his brother Humberto who were in charge of caring for the species, according to what the actor told the Association of Film Journalists of Mexico (PECIME), in an interview granted in the winter of 2021.

“With my brother Humberto I managed to have a zoo with more than a hundred animals and although we had staff who helped us, the main task was always done by us. Sometimes we had to multiply ourselves to fulfill our work commitments and be aware of all the species”, he recounted

It was precisely when Miguel was caring for a tiger that he suffered a hip injury that prevented him from caring for an animal species, no matter how small; “That’s why I don’t have a dog or a cat as pets because I can’t be feeding them, bathing them or taking them for a walk.”

But throughout his career Gurza contributed a lot to the entertainment industry, for example he was the one behind “Chucho Chucho”, a monkey who shared credits with Olga Breeskin in the show “Violin Girl”, where the vedette performed a piece on the string instrument.

But this was not the only area in which he stood out, over more than five decades of career, Miguel also ventured into the international ranks of the seventh art, as he was a double risk in “Two rascals after the lost emerald”, a film starring Michael Douglas, who played Jack T. Colton, a man who saves a novel writer who is about to die in an accident in a Colombian jungle.

There are many and varied stories that Miguel Gurza kept in his memory, because for years he collaborated with the Churubusco Studios, a place that became the meeting point for a plethora of figures from Mexican cinema with whom he lived over the years and he forged an endearing friendship, points out El Universal.

“In the studios we all knew each other. The restaurant was the place where the filming projects materialized and there was work for everyone, regardless of their physical conditions, there was always a role or character for each of us, ”he told PECIME.

But that bond was not limited to being shared among the great stars of Mexican cinema, but rather the people who worked in the surroundings were also part of the history of the studios and of many films where they appeared as extras.

“Now, I look at the Churubusco (…) no longer with the nostalgia with which I used to, because the studios had a special charm that each of the characters that gathered there gave them,” he said just a few days ago, pointing out that he would not withdraw from the cinema.

The news of his death was announced yesterday by his daughter and her “girl of the forest”, Leticia Gurza, on her social networks, with an emotional message in which she indicated that “Tarzan”, as they called him, always cared for and watched for the good of the animals he loved: “Fly higher than your eagles, now, you are free, they are waiting for you”.

GURZA, Miguel (Miguel Gurza Iglesias)

Born: 1941, Mexico

Died: 8/28/2022, Mexico City, Federal District, Mexico

 

Miguel Gurza’s westerns – wrangler, actor:

El Topo – 1970 [wrangler]

Two Mules for Sister Sara – 1970 [wrangler]

La chaca – 1974 [wrangler]

El payo – un hombre contra elm undo! – 1972 [wrangler]

La montaña del diablo – 1975 (Montaño)

Last of the Dogmen – 1995 [wrangler]