María Purificación Josefa Cantudo Porcel, known as María José Cantudo (Andújar, Jaén, July 10, 1951), is a Spanish actress and vedette. The hotelier businessman Carlos del Val encourages and supports her so that she can start an artistic career in Madrid. Her beginnings in 1971-1972 are as an advertising model and photo novel actress, a genre in which she acquires certain popularity. She began her film career in 1973 with the films El espanto surge de la tumba and Autopsia, but achieved her first success under Jorge Grau in La trastienda (1976), where she starred in the first female full nude (seen through a mirror) of Spanish cinema. In 1973 she married the singer and actor Manolo Otero, father of her only son, Manuel (b. 1974). Separated in 1978, she has been romantically linked to actor Pedro Ruiz and artistic entrepreneur Enrique Cornejo. In 2013 she is designated an honorary member of UNESCO for her philanthropic work.

Filmography

• La que se avecina — María José Cantudo
• Cuéntame cómo pasó — Susana de Ramírez Sañudo
• La Comedia Musical Española — Fifí, Emérita
• 1985Sangre en el Caribe — Julia
• 1984Inseminación artificial — Alicia Jordán
• 1984Piernas cruzadas — Lucerito Rioja / Rosario de la Mota
• 1983Love Is a Strange Game
• 1982Las chicas del bingo — María
• 1982Life, Love and Death — Flavia
• 1982The Ambitious Lover — Anna
• 1981Bordello — Esther
• 1978The Frenchman's Garden — Andrea
• 1977Marked by Men — Carmen
• 1977Pasión — Isabel
• 1976Blood and Passion — Juana Ríos
• 1976Las delicias de los verdes años — Herminia
• 1976Los hijos de... — Rocío
• 1976Señoritas de uniforme — Manuela
• 1976The Kidnapping — Marisa
• 1976The Shameful Secret of a Good Boy — Ana
• 1975The Killer Is Not Alone — Sara
• 1975The Lively Vampires of Vögel — Laura
• 1974El último proceso en París — Dennis
• 1974Seven Jackals
• 1973Autopsy — Mrs. Vincent
• 1973Don Quixote Rides Again — (uncredited)
• 1973Horror Rises from the Tomb — Chantal
• 1971Los días de Cabirio — Chica de la boîte Perversión (uncredited)

Appearances as themselves (3)

• 2018La ópera rock Jesucristo Superstar: un hito en la historia del musical español — Self
• Dani&Flo con Lara Álvarez — Self - Interviewee
• 2010The Man Who Saw Frankenstein Cry — Self