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On June 15, 2019, Beatriz Salomón died. La Turca, as she was affectionately known in the artistic milieu, died at the age of 65 at the Hospital Fernández, where she had spent her last days fighting colon cancer. But she had come from battling a life that had made her know all the good and, also, all the bad.
Beatriz was born in San Juan on October 9, 1953, into a family of Syrian descent. "In the house where we lived, mother was in charge of planting tomatoes, lettuce, spinach. We had a clay oven where she made everything handmade. At the end of the year, dad would slaughter a pig or a goat," the actress used to recall.
As there was no money to spare at the Salomóns' place, Turca dropped out of high school and started working as a child. Her first job was in a bazaar and it was not easy at all. Her job was to clean the pans, but in winter, with temperatures below zero, her hands were covered with chilblains and her soul with impotence. Tired, she got another job in a shoe store and, finally, in the Agrarian Bank. She stayed three years, became a teller and even handled treasury matters, which was quite an achievement for a woman in a place where "making a career" was reserved only for men.
As she left adolescence, Beatriz's beauty became more and more striking. At the bank, one of her clients was the manager of a large women's clothing store who insisted that she enter a contest. But she always received the same answer: "Thank you, but no". She had a very jealous father, so much so that he refused to celebrate her 15th birthday so that the boys who wanted her would not get too close to her.
However, the manager's insistence paid off. "One year she found me with a loose yes and I said, 'Okay, I'm going Where do I have to go to try on clothes?" recalled Turca. So she showed up and took not only the provincial crown, but also the chance to participate in the Miss Argentina pageant, and travel to Buenos Aires for the first time. In the new contest, the queen's crown...