Spanish Cinema Actor Marisa Paredes Died at Age 78 — Her Cause of Death Revealed

Actor Marisa Paredes, a Spanish cinema legend, died at age 78. The Spanish film community mourned her loss after it was announced on Tuesday, Dec. 17.

“Spanish cinema is losing one of its most iconic actresses," the Spanish Film Academy wrote on Tuesday.

Here's everything to know about Marisa's cause of death.

Marisa's cause of death was heart failure. According to Variety, the actor was in Madrid, Spain, where she lived for most of her life, when she passed away. It's unclear how long she had been sick before her death.

Marisa's career began in the 1960s when she starred in the film, 091 Policia al Habla. The movie made her a teen "It Girl" of her time and launched her stellar acting career.

Marisa's most memorable roles started in the 1980s through her work with director Pedro Almodóvar. After their first film together in 1983, Dark Habits, she became known as "Almodóvar's Girl" and continued to star in more of his films throughout the '90s and the 2000s, including High Heels, The Flower of My Secret, All About My Mother, and The Skin I Live In. The Flower of My Secret is considered her most career-defining role.

Though she was naturally glamorous, Marisa often gave back to the people in her community. In her later years, she was elected president of the Spanish Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, where she used the 2003 Goya Awards to endorse protests by multiple winners at the support for the invasion of Iraq given by Spain's prime minister José María Aznar’s right-of-center government.

Marisa is survived by her longtime partner, Chema Prado, a former head of the Filmoteca Española. She and Chema first got together in 1983, after her seven-year domestic partnership with filmmaker Antonio Isasi-Isasmendi. Marisa is also survived by her and Antonio's daughter, María Isasi.