MEXICO CITY—They called him “Mr. Telenovela” for directing and producing dozens of Mexican soap operas.

www.biosstars-mx.com

Ernesto Ramirez Alonso died at his Mexico City home. He was 90.

Mexico’s Televisa network reports that Ernesto Ramirez Alonso died early Tuesday at his Mexico City home. He was 90.

The native of the central state of Aguascalientes quickly rose to the top in Mexico’s film industry.

Later, he went on to work with renowned Spanish filmmaker Luis Bunuel.

He narrated Bunuel’s award-winning 1950 film “Los Olvidados”—or “The Forgotten”—about Mexico City slum children.

In 1959, Alonso left films to work in television.

He produced his first soap opera in 1960 called “El Otro.” He went on to produce and direct more than 20, and claimed to be the first in the world to make telenovelas based on such historical events as Mexico’s War of Independence.

Alonso’s work helped make Televisa not just the largest media company in the Spanish-speaking world, but a leader in telenovelas.