Mexican comedian and actress María Elena Velasco, best known as character La India María, died Friday at the age of 74, The Institute of Mexican Cinematography announced on Twitter.

El Universal reports she died Friday in Mexico City.

Velasco was born Dec. 17, 1940, in Puebla, Mexico, to her father, Tomás Velasco, a railway mechanic and mother, María Elena Fragoso. She has three siblings. Following her father's death, Velasco and her family moved to Mexico City. She worked Teatro Tívoli dancer. Later, she was a Teatro Blanquita showgirl where she also participated in sketches starring comedians such as Fernando Soto "Mantequilla" and Pompín Iglesias.

While working at the Teatro Blanquita in the early 1960s, Velasco met Russian actor and choreographer Julián de Meriche, who went by the stage name of Vladimir Lipkies Chazan. They married and had three children, Goretti, Iván, and Ivette.

"My husband was worth gold. I will not lie and say he was the perfect man, but he was the love of my life," Velasco said during a 2014 TVNotas interview.

Her big break into acting was in the 1962 film "Ruletero In Full Swing" in which she played a nurse.

In 1972, the actress portrayed María Nicolasa Cruz, "La India María," a naive Mexican indigenous woman who got into mischievous situations, for a Mexican TV series. The television character grew so popular that it made Velasco a celebrity. La India María was so beloved by fans that movie producers created numerous spin-off films starring the character, reports IMDb.

Spanish-language media reports that recently the actress had been battling stomach cancer, though the Mexican icon's cause of death has not yet been revealed. It is known the actress had surgery in February to remove a tumor from her stomach.

The Institute of Mexican Cinematography cites her last film as being in 2014. The movie is titled "La Hija De Moctezuma." Velasco starred in more than 20 films portraying "La India María."

She also starred in the popular show "¡Ay María, qué Puntería!"

The Associate Press reports that she is survived by her children Ivette, Goretti and Iván.