Mexican Actress Dies in Robbery Attempt
Mexican television actress Mariana Levy died Friday apparently of a heart attack after an assailant approached her car on a Mexico City street and tried to steal her watch.
Levy, who appeared in the Nuestra Casa show on the Televisa network, was apparently traveling in a car driven by a chauffeur when the lone assailant approached.
“She began having difficulty breathing and was taken to a hospital,” said Televisa reporter Luis Perez, quoting witnesses. “She died of a heart attack.”
The assailant did not appear to have used a weapon.
The death shook the Mexican entertainment world. It was one of the highest-profile deaths in Mexico’s wave of common crime since TV comedian Francisco “Paco” Stanley was gunned down in 1999.
“Her heart apparently could not take the shock,” Televisa news anchor Lolita Ayala said.
Levy, 39, was the daughter of television news personality Talina Fernandez.
Levy started as a singer in the 1980s and went on to act in more than a dozen soap operas.
She is survived by her husband, Jose Maria Fernandez Jr., and three children.
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