[2] Her song Soy infeliz ("I'm Unhappy") was the opening music for Pedro Almodóvar's film Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.

It was there that she met the songwriter Tomás Méndez who composed songs for her, including the international hits "Cucurrucucú paloma" and "Tres Dias".

She also shared credits with Mexican movie stars such as Emilio Fernández, Ignacio López Tarso, Katy Jurado, María Félix and Pedro Armendáriz in La Bandida (1963).

She gave concerts before various world leaders:[1] President Charles de Gaulle of France,[5] the leader of Yugoslavia Josip Broz Tito, Soviet foreign minister Andrei Gromyko, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Leonid Brezhnev, King of Spain Juan Carlos I[4] and Queen Sofia, Queen Elizabeth II,[5] American Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower,[4] John F. Kennedy,[5] Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon and Presidents of Mexico Adolfo Ruiz Cortines and Carlos Salinas de Gortari.

This was done in recognition of her lifetime achievement in the realm of popular music and her success in spreading an appreciation of Mexican culture throughout the world.

On March 24, 1996, soon after recording Disco del Siglo (English: Album of the Century) with Lucha Villa and Amalia Mendoza "La Tariácuri" and produced by Juan Gabriel, Beltrán died of a pulmonary embolism[5] at Hospital Ángeles in Mexico City.