Rocío Espinosa López-Cepero (18 February 1931 – 17 March 2023), known professionally as Laura Valenzuela, or Laurita Valenzuela in her beginnings, was a Spanish television presenter, actress and model.

She was one of the first television presenters in Spain appearing in the early broadcasts of Televisión Española (TVE). In 1969, she hosted the Eurovision Song Contest held in Madrid.

Biography

Before becoming known in Europe for hosting 1969 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, she was a model in a clothes store. She was one of the first faces that Spain saw on television when Televisión Española (TVE) was launched in 1956.

She starred in many films since the early 1950s up through the late 1960s. In 1971, when she married film director José Luis Dibildos and had her daughter, presenter Lara Dibildos, she retired from public life, until she returned to television in 1990 on television channel Telecinco. Later on in 1996, she returned to TVE with the show Mañanas de primera.

She retired again in the 2000s when she was treated for breast cancer. She recovered but remained retired, apart from occasional collaborations and appearances, such as on 7 December 2006, when she hosted the special show Gala 50 años de TVE, which celebrated the 50th anniversary of TVE, alongside Anne Igartiburu and Paula Vázquez.

Valenzuela died on 17 March 2023 at La Princesa Hospital in Madrid. She was 92.

Selected filmography

• High Fashion (1954)
• The Fisher of Songs (1954)
• It Happened in Seville (1955)
• The Tenant (1957)
• The Violet Seller (1958)
• Los tramposos (1959)
• Three Ladies (1960)
• Madame (1961)
• Eva 63 (1963)
• The Daughters of Helena (1963)
• Cyrano and d'Artagnan (1964)
• The Black Tulip (1964)
• Hagan juego, señoras (1964)
• Las noches de Monsieur Max (1966)
• Z7 Operation Rembrandt (1966)
• Amor a la española (1966)
• Demasiadas mujeres para Layton (1967)
• Las que tienen que servir (1967)
• Los subdesarrollados (1968)
• La dinamita está servida (1968)
• De profesión, sus labores (1969)
• Growing Leg, Diminishing Skirt (1970)
• Spaniards in Paris (1971)

• Galas del sábado (1968-1970) – TVE – Host with Joaquín Prat
• Contamos contigo (1968) – TVE – Host with Joaquín Prat
• Eurovision Song Contest 1969 – TVE and EBU – Host
• Festival de la Canción Española (1970) – TVE – Host with Joaquín Prat
• Tele 5 ¿dígame? (1990–1992) – Telecinco – Host with Javier Basilio, Paloma Lago and Nati Abascal
• Gala 50 años de TVE (2006) – TVE – Host with Anne Igartiburu and Paula Vázquez