Miami, Jul 28 (IANS/EFE): Veteran film and television actress Lupe Ontiveros has died, actor Jacob Vargas who appeared with her in the film "Selena" said Friday. She was 69.

""My friend Lupe Ontiveros just passed away. May you rest in peace. Thank you for your great contribution to film and TV. You will be missed," the actor said on Twitter.

The celebrity Web site TMZ said the Mexican-American actress was suffering from liver cancer.

Ontiveros worked in dozens of films and TV programmes, though she will be most remembered for her role in "Desperate Housewives", a series in which she played the unbearable mother-in-law constantly at odds with her rich and manipulative daughter-in-law, acted by Eva Longoria.

The actress, born in El Paso, Texas, received an Emmy nomination for that role in the first season of the popular series.

Ontiveros, who before taking up acting was a social worker for 15 years, was in "As Good as It Gets", "The Goonies" and independent film successes like "Storytelling".

But it was three Latino movies that stand out in her career: "Selena", in which she played the admirer who murdered the singer portrayed by Jennifer Lopez; "Real Women Have Curves", as the mother of the character played by America Ferrara, and "El Norte".