Elena Santonja, Spanish television presenter, Died at 84

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María Elena Santonja Esquivias was born on May 29, 1932, and died on October 17, 2016.

She was a Spanish TV presenter and occasional actress.

She was the host of a variety of shows in the early days of TVE such as Entre nosotras (1958), but she reached fame as a host of the cooking show Con las manos en la masa, that lasted from 1984 to 1991.

During that program, Elena cooked food alongside many celebrities (a different one per episode) such as Gonzalo Torrente Ballester, Rosa Chacel, Carlos Berlanga, Joaquín Sabina, Alaska.

Santonja also made sporadic roles as actress in films such as El verdugo (1963) by Luis García Berlanga or Crimen de doble filo (1965) by José Luis Borau.

Elena married in 1956 with film director and scriptwriter Jaime de Armiñán whom she had 3 children: Álvaro, Eduardo and Carmen.

Elena Santonja passed away at 84 years old.