Marissa Garrido Arozamena (May 30, 1926 – January 8, 2021)[1] was a Mexican telenovela playwright and writer who was most active in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. She wrote forty-five adaptations and sixty-five original stories for television. Her most successful creation was La leona in 1961. The last telenovela she wrote was Besos prohibidos for TV Azteca in 1999. She was the sister of Mexican actress Amparo Garrido.
From a family of artists, Marissa Garrido was born in Mexico City, May 30, 1926. She lived in the old Barrio del Carmen, although she traveled continuously for the artistic career of her parents. Her father was Juan S. Garrido, a Chilean composer living in Mexico, and her mother was the Mexican actress, Carmen Arozamena Sánchez, a former member of a theatrical group called "Las Hermanas Arozamena." Her maternal grandfather was Eduardo "Nanche" Arozamena Lira, a representative singer and actor during the Golden Age of Mexican cinema. Her sister, Amparo Garrido Arozamena, her uncle, Eduardo Arozamena Pasarón, as well as most of her family, worked as actors in radionovelas (radio soap opera), theater and dubbing.
As a child, Garrido was interested in the arts and studied piano. She was a student at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música. She also formally studied social work at the San Ildefonso College. She soon became interested in writing radionovelas for XEX-AM and thereafter, she changed the direction of her life. Her mother, Carmen, tried to discourage Garrido and her sisters from joining this artistic environment because it did not offer a stable job, being an activity that today is known as freelancer.[2]
Garrido died in Mexico City from a severe respiratory complication caused by COVID-19 on January 8, 2021, at the age of 94.[3]
