HOLA Mourns Passing of Performer, Writer and Poet Anita Velez-Mitchell

The Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors announces the passing of HOLA Awardee and legendary performer, writer and poet, Anita Velez-Mitchell (February 21,1916 - July 10, 2015) who was born in Vieques, Puerto Rico and came to NYC when she was 12.

Anita had a seven-decade career as an artist, and her luminary list of friends and colleagues includes Jose Ferrer, Dali, Ed Sullivan, Tito Puente, Xavier Cugat, Fred Kelly, George Abbott, Leonard Bernstein.

Her life-long performing career includes The Ed Sullivan Show, Carnegie Hall, international tours as a solo artist, the 1963 production of "West Side Story" as Anita and culminates in a video performance as "Abuela" in April 2015 in MultiStages' "Comida de Puta" by Desi Moreno-Penson, directed by her granddaughter Lorca Peress.

Anita was featured in the two-character, award-winning short film "Voice of an Angel" by Josh Marston ("Maria Full of Grace"), among numerous TV shows and films.

Her poetry is published in Woven Voices: 3 generations of Puerto Rican Women (2012, Scapegoat Press, Latino Book Award Nominee) and she has received numerous writing awards and is a member of PEN.

Anita is the subject of the multiple award-winning documentary "Anita Velez: Dancing Through Life," by daughter and TV journalist Jane Velez-Mitchell, and an upcoming documentary "Light Years" by Claire Panke.

Anita's musical was honored with three HOLA 2012 Awards including Outstanding Production, Design, and Special Recognition for Music for "Temple of the Souls," a musical collaboration she wrote with her granddaughters Lorca Peress (book writer, producer, director) and Anika Paris (book writer and co-composer, and co-composer Dean Landon).

In 2013, she received the ACE Extraordinary Award for Distinction and Merit, the top honor given by the Association of Latin Entertainment Critics of New York; and in 2012 Anita received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the League of Puerto Rican Women. She received the Proclamation from the City of New York in 2006, and has addressed the United Nations General Assembly numerous times to protest the bombing crisis in Vieques, P.R.

Her children and their families will hold a private cremation ceremony this week, but a date for a public Memorial to honor Anita in September will be announced soon. Anita loved life, beauty, the mambo, and all the arts. She was a vegetarian and lover of animals. To learn more about Anita and her legacy, visit the templeofthesouls.com website.