Beloved Actress Dies After Experiencing Peculiar Visions in Final Days: Aurora Clavel Was 88

Mexican film and TV actress Aurora Clavel, remembered for her roles in Tarahumara and Once Upon a Scoundrel, has died.

The Oaxacan star passed away earlier this month at the age of 88, her family announced, according to El Imparical.

Clavel’s cause of death was not disclosed, but her younger sister Yolanda shared that the actress had been ill. Denying her great-nieces claims that she kidnapped and abused Clavel, who also did not see family in her final days, Yolanda explained that Clavel “didn’t want any family members” at her side when she started getting sick because of her “ego, of always seeing her as beautiful,” according to Expresso. Yolanda also claimed that Clavel experienced unspecified “visions” leading up to her passing, resulting in her seeking out someone to try to “exorcise” the star.

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“My sister left happy. I brought her the priest, she confessed, they gave her holy oils. Before that, they even talked about an exorcist. We went and all that. I made everything easier for her, everything,” she said. “Some nurses told us that she was seeing something, it was a matter of delirium. She said she was seeing someone. I even thought it was a member of our family who had already passed on to the other side. I exhausted all those resources.”

Born Teodora Gloria Clavel Gallardo in Santiago Pinotepa Nacional on Aug. 14, 1936, per El Universal, Clavel’s career spanned decades and included roles on both the big and small screens. Her interest in the craft began at a young age, and eventually led her to Mexico City, where she began her acting career. She landed her earliest roles in the ‘60s with appearances in Carnaval en mi barrio, El tejedor de Milagros, Los amores de Marieta Los Fabulosos 20s, and Tarahumara, the 1965 Mexican drama on which she starred as Belén, per her IMDb profile.

In total, Clavel starred in approximately 60 films, more than 40 soap operas, and seven series in a career that spanned five decades. On TV, she is remembered for her roles in shows such as Los ricos también lloran (The Rich Also Cry), La fiera (The Beast), Monte Calvario (Mount Calvary), El pecado de Oyuki (Oyuki’s Sin), María Isabel, Abrázame muy fuerte (Hold Me Tight), and Alborada. Her film credits include the Mexican films La soldadera, ¿Pedro Infante vive?, and Vagabunda. Clavel also appeared in American films like The Wild Bunch, Pat Barrett & Billy the Kid, and The Mosquito Coast. Her final acting credit was in 2017 in the series The Candidate.