Katy Jurado - Later Years (1962– 2002)

Later Years (1962– 2002)

In 1962, Jurado returned to Mexico. She filmed La Bandida, with Maria Felix, Pedro Armendariz and Emilio Fernandez. In 1966, she reprised her role of Helen Ramírez from High Noon (1952) in a High Noon TV pilot called The Clock Strikes Noon Again, which co-starred Peter Fonda as the son of Will Kane. After her suicide attempt in 1968, she moved back to Mexico permanently, though she continued to appear in American films as a character actress. During this period she appeared in numerous American and Mexican movies. In Mexico she starred mainly in a series of Horror movies. In 1972 she starred in Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, directed by Sam Peckinpah, with Kris Kristofferson and Bob Dylan, among others.

Jurado received one of her best dramatic roles in the last episode of the Mexican film Fé, Esperanza y Caridad (1973). The theological virtues are disrupted in daily tragedies, highlighting the episode Caridad. Directed by Jorge Fons, Katy interprets the role of Eulogia, a lower-class woman who suffers a series of bureaucratic abuse to claim the remains of her dead husband. Her great dramatic expression earned her the Silver Ariel. Jurado recognized Caridad as her best performance: "A character that got me deep inside". In 1976, she acted in the movie Captain Pantoja and the Special Service (Pantaleon y las Visitadoras), directed by Mario Vargas Llosa, author of the novel.

Jurado again appeared on television and in films during the 1970s. During this time, she worked on television both in The United States and in Mexico. She made guest appearances in Playhouse Drama and The Rifleman. She also co-starred in the short-lived television series a.k.a. Pablo in 1984, a situation comedy series for ABC, with Paul Rodriguez.

In 1973 Jurado starred on Broadway again in the Tennessee Williams stage play The Red Devil Battery Sign, with Anthony Quinn and Claire Bloom (who replaced Faye Dunaway). In the 1970s she starred in a series of Mexican critical films like Los albañiles (1975), The Children of Sanchez (1978, with Anthony Quinn and Dolores del Río) and La Seducción (1980), directed by Arturo Ripstein. Tragedy struck when her son died in an automobile accident in 1981 at the age of 35.

In 1984, she acted in the Mexican-American production Under the Volcano, directed by John Huston. In 1985, Jurado was named film promotion commissioner for the Mexican state of Morelos. In that position, she issued filming permits, found locations for movies, and arranged accommodations for film crews. The position provided her with the opportunity to arrange and develop national and international motion pictures in her beloved Mexico. In the 1990s Katy reappeared in the Mexican Telenovelas. In 1998 she returned to the cinema. Her last American film appearance was in Stephen Frears's Western The Hi-Lo Country, capping a half-century-long American movie career. In 1998, she completed a timely Spanish-language film for director Arturo Ripstein called El Evangelio de las Maravillas about a millennium sect. She won the best supporting Actress silver Ariel for this role. Ripstein said about Jurado: "Katy Jurado's face seems formidable, has a tragic dimension exceptional in the Mexican Cinema, and really a splendid actress". Katy had a cameo in the film The Hi-Lo Country by the filmmaker Stephen Frears, who called for his first Western as his "lucky charm."

In 1992, Jurado was honored with the Golden Boot Award for her notable contribution to the western movies. In 2002 she made her final film appearance in Un secreto de Esperanza.