Dolores del Río (August 3, 1905 – April 11, 1983) was a Mexican film actress. She was a star of Hollywood films during the silent era and in the Golden Age of Hollywood. She later became a prominent actress in Mexican films. She was considered one of the most beautiful actresses of her time and was the first Latin American movie star to have international success.
In the silent film era, del Río was considered a female counterpart to Rudolph Valentino. Her career flourished until the end of the silent era, with successful films such as Resurrection (1927), Ramona (1928) and Evangeline (1929). With the arrival of the talkies in the early thirties, Del Río's exotic image was radically changed. She scored successes with Bird of Paradise (1932), Flying Down to Rio (1933), Madame Du Barry, Wonder Bar (1934) and Journey into Fear (1942).
Del Río returned to México. Under the guidance of Emilio Fernández, and at the age of 37, Del Río became the most important star of the Golden age of Mexican cinema, which was at the time as powerful as Hollywood. Her masterpiece is the legendary film Maria Candelaria (1943). She was frequently named the "Princess of México".
Born María de los Dolores Asúnsolo y López Negrete in Durango, Mexico, del Río was the second cousin of actor Ramón Novarro and a cousin to actress Andrea Palma. She was born into a wealthy family of Spanish ancestry.[1] Her parents were Jesus Leonardo Asúnsolo Jacques, director of the Bank of Durango, and Antonia Lopez-Negrete. They were members of the Porfiriato (members of the ruling class from 1876–1911 when Porfirio Díaz was president) in Mexico. The family lost all its assets during the Mexican Revolution, and settled in Mexico City. A desire to restore her comfortable lifestyle inspired del Rio to follow a career as an actress.
She studied at the Liceo Franco Mexicano[2] in Mexico City. She had a passion for dancing and admired the great Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova. Performing as a dancer for gatherings of rich Mexicans, she met Jaime Martinez del Rio, a scion of one of Mexico's most important families. They fell in love although he was 18 years older. In 1921, at the age of 16, she married him. The couple spent three years in Europe.[3] In 1924, they returned to del Rio's ranch in Durango. The couple moved to Mexico City. The “discovery” of Dolores Del Rio reads like a Hollywood movie. Edwin Carewe, an influential director at First National Films, fell under Dolores’ spell watching her dance a tango at a dinner party. The infatuated Carewe cajoled Dolores and Jaime into moving to Hollywood, urging the couple to rebuff familial objections that viewed acting as socially demeaning. Dolores saw it as a marriage strengthening opportunity. “Jaime wanted to escape an environment that did not satisfy him, hoping to develop his literary inclinations writing scripts for Hollywood.” She was also aware that it was a risky adventure for a 21-year-old. “I was mad to do it. My family and my friends would have ostracized me if I’d been a failure.”[4]
Dolores Del Rio (no date).
Using her married surname, del Río made her film debut in Joanna which was directed by Carewe in 1925 and released that year.[5] She played Carlotta Da Silva, a nebulous vamp with a origin between Spanish and Brazilian. But in the movie premiere, she just appeared five minutes, and the credits named her "Dorothy Del Rio". But Carewe reassured her that the little that she appeared in the film, looked so good.[6] Hollywood first noticed her appeal as a sex siren. Del Rio struggled against the "Mexicali Rose" image initially pitched to her by Hollywood executives. Despite her brief appearance, Carewe arranged for much publicity for the actress. Carewe's intention was to transform her into a star on the order of Rudolph Valentino, a Female Latin Lover.
Del Rio emerged in Hollywood in a period ruled by the blond females stars. The few dark-haired stars at the time were Theda Bara and Pola Negri, who were equally exoticized within the film frame or cast as vamps through publicity. While the silent era allowed Del Rio to maximize the racial ambiguity of her dark air and fair complexion, she was cast in various ethnic roles whose characterizations and movement often carried sexual connotations.[7]
In her second film High Steppers, del Rio took the second female credit after Mary Astor. Del Rio also appeared in the comedy The Whole Town's Talking, her first film without the guidance of Carewe.[8] These films were not blockbusters, but helped increase del Río's popularity.
In her next film, the heist comedy Pals First (1926), she received top billing in only her third film. Del Rio’s successes came despite not yet mastering English. She moved her lips phonetically for the benefit of silent film audiences.[9]
Dolores del Río in the movie magazine
Photoplay (1927)
In late 1926, director Raoul Walsh called del Río to give her a role in What Price Glory as the character of Charmaine. Later, she was selected as one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars in 1926 (along with fellow newcomers Joan Crawford, Mary Astor, Janet Gaynor, Fay Wray and Dolores Costello). She came to be admired as one of the most beautiful women on screen.
Carewe produced Resurrection (1927), based on the novel by Leo Tolstoy, which was a box office hit. Although in Hollywood had already been three versions of the film, Carewe thought his version would be the best. He count as an advisor with the Count Ilya Tolstoy, son of Leo Tolstoy, and Dolores as the heroine. Rod La Rocque starred as leading man, and Count Tolstoy himself did a role in the film.[10]
In 1927, Raoul Walsh called del Río for a second version of Carmen, The Loves of Carmen (1927). The first was with Theda Bara in 1917 and reprised by Rita Hayworth in 1953. Walsh thought del Río to be the best interpreter of all the "Hollywoods Carmen" for her authentically Latin American origin. To increase her popularity, a portrait was made by the artist Theodore Lukits. Titled A Souvenir of Seville, it depicted the actress in the dress worn for her presentation to the Spanish Court. The portrait also featured her pet monkey. The large painting was displayed in the Carthay Circle Theatre for the premiere of The Loves of Carmen (1927). It was reproduced in magazine and newspaper articles in the United States and Mexico. A succession of movies, lacking artistic merit, were produced to exploit Del Rio’s fame. Critics noticed, calling The Gateway of the Moon (1928) “A badly-directed, sappy melodrama obviously released only to cash in on the popularity of the star.”[9] In the same line, she filmed No Other Woman.
[edit] Success of Ramona and Evangeline
In 1928, she replaced the actress Renée Adorée (who already showed symptoms of tuberculosis) in the MGM film The Trail of '98, directed by Clarence Brown. Her career flourished until the end of the silent era. She was hired by United Artists for the successful film Ramona (1928, for which she recorded the famous song "Ramona" with RCA Victor). Early film versions of the novel cast fair-haired females like Mary Pickford (directed by D.W. Griffith, 1910) and Adda Gleason (1916) in the role of the Anglo-Indian heroine.[7] Mordaunt Hall of the New York Times found much to praise in what he called "an Indian love lyric": "This current offering is an extraordinarily beautiful production, intelligently directed and, with the exception of a few instances, splendidly acted. The scenic effects are charming and there is for the most part an admirable restraint throughout this drama of Southern California. The different episodes are told discreetly and with a good measure of suspense and sympathy. Some of the characters have been changed to enhance the dramatic worth of the picture, but this is pardonable, especially when one considers this subject as a whole."[11] This was the first United Artist film with a synchronized score, but was not a talking picture.
Del Rio’s marriage suffered the strains of career success. An anonymous insider ruminated, “In Mexico City she had been Jaime Del Rio’s wife. In Hollywood Jaime became Dolores Del Rio’s husband. The situation was intolerable for both of them.” A miscarriage added trauma, and subsequently doctors advised Del Rio not to have children. After a short separation, Dolores filed for a divorce as rumors of an affair with Edwin Carewe circulated. Gossip that was never substantiated and Del Rio’s strict Catholic upbringing argues against the possibility of an affair. Six months later, she received word from Germany that Jaime died of blood poisoning. Whispered rumors of a suicide were widely accepted to be true.[9]
After finishing filing Ramona Hollywood was concerned by the impending arrival of the talkies. On 29 March at the bungalow of Mary Pickford, United Artists brought together Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Charles Chaplin, Norma Talmadge, Gloria Swanson, John Barrymore, D.W. Griffith and Dolores to speak on the radio show The Dodge Brothers Hour to prove he could meet the challenge of talking movies. Dolores del Rio surprised the audience singing Ramona.[12]
She made films like The Red Dance, directed again by Raoul Walsh, and another production sponsored by Carewe: The Daughter of the Bear Tamer, a novel by Konrad Bercovici, that Dolores had the luxury of rename it as Revenge, thinking that all her successes, should begin with "R".[13]
During the filming of Evangeline United Artists considered removing her from the tutelage of Carewe. Carewe had ambitions to marry her and become the most famous Hollywood couple. To achieve this, he filtered small rumors in the film campaign of Ramona and Evangeline.[12] Carewe hired Al Jolson to write the songs that Dolores sings in the movie. Evangeline (1929) was a critical success, but a box office disappointment. The film was notable as Del Rio’s final partnership with Edwin Carewe. The recording of Del Rio singing the title track received extensive radio airplay, enjoying a longer life than the movie. Photoplay singled out Del Rio for her performance. “She now steps into a role that might have been reserved for a Lillian Gish. It’s a tribute to her versatility.” United Artists studio agents convinced Del Rio to separate herself from Carewe, buying her contract and adding Del Rio to their roster for $9,000 a week. The freedom it engendered was palpable in Del Rio. “For the first time in my life I am myself. I do what I want to do. I enjoy life and happiness which I never had as a young woman because I married too quickly, scarcely two weeks after graduating from parochial school. I want to have a romance, laugh, and talk about nothing important. I am now regaining lost time”. Evangeline was her last silent film.[9]
With the arrival of the talkies, del Río left her working relationship with Carewe. He felt angry and betrayed and demanded Del Rio, who pay a large sum of money as compensation. This was accompanied by the absurd demands of the lawyer Gunther Lessing (who divorced Del Río of her ex-husband in 1928), who accused her of being part of a conspiracy of the Mexican Enrique Estrada to take Baja California.[14] Also, Carewe seemed to take revenge by filming a new talkie version of Resurrection with the alleged Dolores rival, Mexican actress Lupe Vélez. With the support of United Artists, Del Rio debuted in the talkies with The Bad One in 1930. The Bad One was directed by George Fitzmaurice and had songs written for Del Rio by Irving Berlin.[15]
[edit] First talkies and Flying Down to Rio
In 1928, Cedric Gibbons, one of the original Academy Award members and one of MGM's leading art directors and production designers, supervised the design of the award trophy by printing the design on a scroll. In need of a model for his statuette, Gibbons was introduced by Dolores to Mexican film director Emilio Fernández. Reluctant at first, Fernández was finally convinced to pose nude to create what today is known as the "Oscar".[16] Dolores met Cedric Gibbons in a party organized by William Randolph Hearst and Marion Davies at Hearst Castle. Their romance culminated in a grandiose marriage ceremony at the Old Mission Santa Barbara Church in 1930. Her presence in Hollywood of the thirties is not just limited to the world of cinema but also the high society circles. The Gibbons-Del Río house in Hollywood was a frequent meeting place from personalities like Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Errol Flynn, Lili Damita, Fay Wray, Constance Bennett, Joan Bennett, Myrna Loy, Clark Gable and many more.[17] A kidney infection (some speculated about a nervous breakdown) kept Del Rio out of movies for an entire year, causing the dissolution of her United Artists contract.[9]
RKO Pictures facilitated Del Rio’s comeback, but she suffered a failure with Girl of the Rio (1932), second version of The Dove.[9] She scored successes with Bird of Paradise (1932), directed by King Vidor. The film was produced by David O. Selznick who reportedly told King Vidor: "I want Del Rio in a love story in the South Seas. I don't care about the script, but in the end, Del Rio should be thrown into a volcano".[18] The film scandalized audiences when she took a naked swim with Joel McCrea. This film was made before the Hays Code was enacted so nudity could be shown.
Next she filmed Flying Down to Rio (the film that first paired Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers) (1933). The global success of Flying Down to Rio swept away all concerns and controversy in its wake. Cinema history notes it as the first pairing of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers although Dolores Del Rio and Gene Raymond received top billing. It might also be the first appearance of the two-piece bathing suit which was worn by the always fashion-conscious Del Rio opposite Fred Astaire in an intricate dance number. Failing to anticipate the movie's success RKO, in the midst of financial crisis, terminated Del Rio’s contract.[9]
Warner Bros. picked up Del Rio’s contract, their press release touting how she would “Bloom into another Greta Garbo.” This plan was sabotaged by movies such as Wonder Bar (1934) and Madame Du Barry (1934) which were "mutilated" by the Hays Code. In Wonder Bar, the star was Al Jolson, who personally selected Del Rio, and gave her a chance to shine, arousing the jealousy of Kay Francis, star of Warner, who threatened to leave the film.[19] Meanwhile, Madame DuBarry was one of the first films mutilated by the Hays Code. The copy finally showed, was full of cuts and had nothing to do with the original, and did not like to the public. The only thing salvageable was the costumes, designed by Orry-Kelly for Del Río, considered one of the most beautiful in Hollywood.[20]
Later, del Río starred in the Busby Berkeley comedies In Caliente (1935) and I Live for Love (1935), but she refused to participate in the film Viva Villa! (Fay Wray took her place). Dolores described the film as an "Anti-Mexican movie".[21] This films completed Del Rio’s contract with Warner.
In 1934, Dolores del Río was one of the victims of the "open season" of the "reds" in Hollywood. With James Cagney, Ramón Novarro and Lupe Vélez, she was accused of promoting communism in California. That happened after these actors attend a special screening of the film Que viva Mexico! of Sergei M. Eisenstein which copies were claimed by Stalin from the Soviet Union to be edited. Twenty years later this would have consequences on her career.[22]
In the late thirties, del Río's career declined. Del Rio worked on Columbia Pictures and Twentieth Century Fox films (such as The Widow from Monte Carlo in 1936 and The Devil's Playground in 1937), but was more visible in advertisements for Lucky Strike cigarettes, Max Factor makeup, or promoting clothing lines and perfumes than acting in films.[9] She left the Fox Studios after a cameo in the multi-star film Ali Baba Goes to Town. With the support of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer she made a series of unsuccessful police films (such as Lancer Spy in 1937 and International Settlement in 1938). In this situation, she accepted a contract from the Criterion United Artists to film Accused in England with Douglas Fairbanks Jr..[23]
Dolores del Río with the singer Everett Marshall in
I Live for Love (1935)
Cedric Gibbons, despite his position at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer could never help his wife in the company in which the leading figures were Greta Garbo, Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford and Jean Harlow, because the "strong men" of the company, Louis B. Mayer and Irving Thalberg felt that Latina women had no place in their stories. Both praised her beauty but about her career they don't speak.[24]
Del Río's career in the late thirties suffered from too many exotic, two-dimensional roles designed with Hollywood's cliched ideas of ethnic minorities in mind. In the late thirties the Latin temperament was no longer fashionable. "Primitive" not interested in a world encircled by the imminence of war, and the glamour, does not go away, lose some of its features sacramentals. Not the same Greta Garbo in Queen Christina or Marlene Dietrich in Josef Von Sternberg's films or Dolores del Rio in Bird of Paradise which Vivien Leigh dirty and exhausted by the war in Gone with the Wind. Dolores del Rio, one of the great beauties of the Star System, is suddenly without an available film character.[25] Del Rio was put on a list entitled: "Box Office Poison". Among the others on the list were, Joan Crawford, Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Mae West and Katharine Hepburn. The list was submitted into a Los Angeles newspaper, by an independent movie theater. The theater's point of the article was that these stars' high salaries and extreme public popularity, didn't affect their ticket sales.
In 1940, del Río met new Hollywood star Orson Welles. About her first contact with Welles, Del Río told her cousin, the actress Andrea Palma years later: "His personality was awesome. His manly appeal could not be ignored by any woman. All in he, radiated vitality and security, that seemed dazzling ... So much struck me, I surprised myself telling it mentally ... If this man asks me to go with him tonight ... I'll go".[26] The couple began a romance. Reportedly, the affair was the cause of her divorce from Gibbons in 1940. An eleven-year marriage to Cedric Gibbons ended, coinciding with Del Rio’s exit from American films. It was a horrible year for Del Rio: she lost her father and her, one time benefactor, Edwin Carewe to heart attacks.[9]
Dolores del Río was with Welles for two years, during which he was at the peak of his career. With Welles everything became a whirlwind, everything was passionate. His relationship with Dolores had that same intensity. The two kept in public appearances and always came accompanied by Marlene Dietrich and Charles Chaplin. She was at his side during the filming of Citizen Kane, and during the attacks of Randolph Hearst against him. Welles initially directed del Río in the Mexican film Santa, but the project was cancelled.[27] The film directed by Norman Foster was realized later by the Mexican actress Esther Fernández.
Welles had planned a project to Del Rio, a Mexican drama gave to the RKO to be budgeted. In the story, Dolores would "Elena Medina", "the most beautiful girl in the world", and Welles would an American who becomes entangled in a plot to disrupt a Nazi plot to overthrow the Mexican government. Welles planned to shoot in Mexico, but the Mexican government must approve the story, and this never happened.[28]
She also accompanied Welles in vaudeville shows across the United States. She also appeared on a radio show with him, which concerned the life of Don Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, Liberator of Mexico. Dolores served as a consultant and as an actress, playing Josefa Ortiz de Dominguez.[26] She collaborated with Welles in the film Journey into Fear in 1942. After Welles broke from RKO, del Río sympathized with him, though her character (a sexy leopard-woman) in the film, was reduced.
Nelson Rockefeller, Coordinator of Pan American affairs, sent Welles as an ambassador of goodwill in South America and to counteract the spread of communism. Welles went wild with the carnival in Rio de Janeiro and had become totally promiscuous. Dolores decided to break her commitment to Welles through a telegram that he never answered.[26]
She also decided to end Hollywood: "Divorced again, without the figure of my father. A film where I did not appear, and one where if I pointed the way of art. I wanted to go the way of art. Stop being a star and become actress, and that alone could do it in Mexico. I wanted to return to Mexico, a country that was mine and I did not know. I felt the need to return to my country...".[26]
[edit] Maria Candelaria and Del Río-Fernández Team
Since the late thirties, Dolores del Río was sought on several occasions by Mexican film directors. In 1938, the producer Pancho Cabrera asked Dolores to the Mexican film La Noche de los Mayas. Later, the director Chano Urueta considered it for a new version of Santa, but economic circumstances were not favorable for the entry of Del Río to the Mexican cinema.[29] She was friends with noted Mexican artists, such as Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, and maintained ties with Mexican society and cinema. After breaking off her relationship with Orson Welles, Del Río decided to try her luck in Mexico, disappointed by the "American star system".
Mexican director Emilio Fernández invitedher to film Flor silvestre (1942). Dolores del Río became the most famous movie star in her country filming in the Spanish language for the first time. The production group Del Río-Fernández, together with the cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa and the actor Pedro Armendáriz had international fame. Her most successful films was Maria Candelaria (winner at the Cannes Film Festival) in 1943. The movie was written by Emilio as a present for her birthday.[30] The film allowed Del Río to keep her international prestige. Fernández has said that he wrote an original version of the plot on 13 napkins while sitting in a restaurant. The film was first entitled Xochimilco and the protagonist was named María del Refugio.[31] In addition to the experienced team of producers, the film benefited from Del Río's success as an actress through the American star system.[32] On several occasions, Emilio's "bronco" temperament had surfaced violently and the actress had been about to leave the shooting, angry at what she considered ill treatment of her category. The pleas of his teammates and his high sense of professionalism had convinced her to return, but his relationship with the director had become distant. On Good Friday 1943, Del Río's onomastic, was the occasion chosen by the filmmaker to find the desired reconciliation. In addition to needing her as an actress, Fernández began to love her as a woman.
Other celebrated movies of the group were Las Abandonadas (1944, censored in México by six months),[33] and Bugambilia (1945). Dolores del Rio became the leading figure, par excellence, of all the Mexican film industry, which not only renewed her laurels that she had previously won in Hollywood, instead increased, reaching heights and unsuspected depths of drama and expression.[34]
In 1945 Dolores filmed the movie La selva de fuego directed by Fernando de Fuentes. According the Mexican diva María Félix in her autobiography (Todas mis Guerras México, 1993), cause of this movie, she and Dolores crossed paths. The film was written for Maria Félix but the messenger sent the film by mistake to Dolores. Félix finished filming the movie Vértigo (written for Del Río).[35]
Due to her work with Fernández, del Río was given the opportunity to work with the best film directors in Mexico. Roberto Gavaldon was the one who inherited from Fernández the privilege of creating stories for the flaunting of Del Rio. Under the Gavaldón direction, Dolores filmed the movies La Otra (1946), La Casa Chica (1949), Deseada (1950) and El Niño y la Niebla, (1953,which competes in the Cannes Film Festival).
Dolores worked in Argentina in 1947, in a film version of Oscar Wilde's Lady Windermere's Fan. She was affectionately received by Eva Peron, with whom Dolores had a close friendship.[36] Later, Dolores was called by John Ford, to film The Fugitive, based on the novel by Graham Greene with Henry Fonda in México. The film was co-produced by Emilio Fernandez, and Dolores played a kind of Maria Magdalene. Ford had planned to make a film about the life of the Empress Charlotte of Mexico and thought that she was the ideal actress for the role instead of Bette Davis, who starred in Juarez.[37]
In 1949, Dolores returned to work with Fernandez for the film La Malquerida. In the film Dolores represented for the first time the role of mother of another woman: Mexican actress Columba Dominguez who was having an affair with Fernandez. The resulting tension led to this film becoming the last time they worked together.[38]
In late 1949, in Acapulco Dolores met Lewis "Lou" Riley, a theatrical American businessman and a former member of the Hollywood Canteen. The couple immediately began an affair. In 1951, Dolores starred Doña Perfecta, in which she was acclaimed for her great dramatic representation. She won the Silver Ariel (Mexican Academy Award) as best actress four times.
Negotiations to bring Dolores del Rio back to the American screen in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Ferguson, opposite Cary Grant, in 1949 were unsuccessful. According to Arthur Freed, producer of the film, there is "nothing definite" on the deal as yet, Del Rio is wanted for the role.[39] The project was finally cancelled.
In 1954, del Río was slated to appear in the 20th Century Fox film Broken Lance. The U.S. government denied her permission to work in the US, accusing her of being a sympathizer of international communism. Claims of Del Rio “Aiding anti-Franco refugees from the Spanish Civil War” were interpreted as communist leanings.[40] Katy Jurado replaced her in the film and thus del Río became one of the victims of McCarthyism. Her situation with the U.S. was fixed in 1956 when the actress was able to return to the United States to perform in the theatrical production of Anastasia. The Cinema of Spain called her twice for the movies Señora Ama (1954, directed by Dolores's cousin Julio Bracho) and in La Dama del Alba in 1966.
In 1959, the director Ismael Rodriguez bring Dolores del Río and María Félix together in one film La Cucaracha. The newspapers speculated a strong rivalry between the two actresses.
In 1959, on November 24 she married Lewis Riley in New York.[41]
In 1960 Dolores del Río finally returned to Hollywood. She starred with Elvis Presley in Flaming Star directed by Don Siegel. Dolores had been out of Hollywood for eighteen years at this point. Her contemporaries from the Golden Age of Hollywood were surprised with her lasting beauty and youth. She was considered to be a sort of endangered species as a true Classic Hollywood Diva. Presley received her with a bouquet of flowers and said: "Lady, I know exactly who you are. It's an honor to work with one of the largest and most respected legends of Classic Hollywood. As you will be my mother in the film, I want to ask permission for my ophthalmologist make contact lenses that mimic the color of their eyes". Dolores immediately took to the young Presley and regarded him with maternal affection...[42]
Del Rio alternated between films in Mexico and the US, with both television and theater. In 1961 she filmed in Mexico El Pecádo de una Madre with the Argentinean Diva and Tango singer Libertad Lamarque. Her mother's death in 1961 forced her to cancel the Spanish movie Muerte en el otoño, directed by Juan Antonio Bardem.[43] She also received a proposal from Kirk Douglas to make a film about the conquest of Mexico.[44] Also Federico Fellini offered in Italy a project that never materialized.[45]
In 1964, she appeared in Cheyenne Autumn directed by John Ford, with a cast that included Richard Widmark, Carroll Baker, James Stewart, Gilbert Roland, Ricardo Montalbán and Sal Mineo, who was fascinated with the legendary star who played in the film the character of his mother. Del Rio was happy to participate in the last great movie of her friend John Ford.[46]
The last film that Del Rio held in Mexico was Casa de Mujeres where she played the role of madame of a brothel. The characterization of Del Río for this movie shocked the public, because out among all the young actresses who alternated. The film was not good, but had a huge box office success. The critic was surprised and wondered: Is the history of the Mexican cinema a long way from Santa to Casa de Mujeres?.[47]
In 1967, she performed for the first time in Italy, with Sophia Loren and Omar Sharif in the film More than a Miracle, produced by Carlo Ponti. Del Rio considered rejecting the film due to the brevity of her character, but the director, Francesco Rosi insisted she perform the role of mother of Shariff.[47] Del Rio still rivaled star Sophia Loren in the beauty department.[9]
The producer and film director Archibaldo Burns wrote the screenplay of the movie La Noche de las Flores at the request of Del Río in 1972. But, the actress declined to participate in the film because it contains lesbian scenes, which moved away to what until then had been Dolores del Rio in Mexican cinema. The project was conceived by Burns to mark the farewell of Del Río of the Mexican Cinema. Archibaldo Burns conceived the actress Diana Bracho as the woman with whom Dolores del Rio have lesbian scenes within the film. Four decades after the cancellation of the project, Burns's son, Adrian, it returned, now starring Diana Bracho. The film was released in the Cineteca Nacional, in Mexico City, on April 16, 2012.[48]
With the decline of Mexican cinema during the fifties and sixties, Dolores del Río moved to the theatre. Del Rio decided to prepare with acting teacher Stella Adler, who did not ordinarily give private lessons to anyone but with Del Rio agreed to do so. Dolores debuted in Broadway with the classic Anastasia (1956), directed by Boris Taumarin. Del Río debuted on the Mexican stage with Lady Windermere's Fan (1958).[49] In 1958, Del Rio star in The Road to Rome by Robert E. Sherwood, with Pedro Armendariz, but Armendariz abandoned the project and was replaced by Wolf Rubinski. The work was a flop.[44] Her next project was the stage play The Ghost Sonata (Espectros) by the Swedish playwright August Strindberg. The stage play was released in 1962 and was one of her most successful theater projects. Despite the death of her mother, Doña Antonia, she did not cancel any functions.[50] Her next project was Dear Liar:A Comedy of Letters by Jerome Kilty, based on the correspondence between George Bernard Shaw and actress Mrs. Patrick Campbell. Her co-star was Ignacio López Tarso. The play was a success when released in June 1963 at the Teatro de los Insurgentes in Mexico City.[51] In August 1964, Del Rio starred in the work La Vidente de Rousin with her husband Lew as director. Meanwhile, in France Edwige Feuillere was cast. Despite the success, the play only lasted a month in theaters.[52]
In 1967, Del Rio returned to the theater with the stage play La Reina y los Rebeldes by the Italian Hugo Betti, but the story took an unexpected turn and some newspapers published: Dolores del Rio in a Communist stage play. The stage play was destroyed by critics in the middle of the student movements in Mexico.[53]
Her next project was The Lady of the Camellias. For this stage play, Del Rio brought in Broadway director José Quintero, but the lack of professionalism of the director, brought a lawsuit that caused a scandal in the newspapers. In 1969, Dolores was finally able to do the stage play but caused a commotion when at the beginning of the work, Del Río appeared in a negligee quite bold and with a deep neckline. At 66 years of age, very few women in the world dared to do this.[54] The stage plays had great success in Mexico, Latin America and Europe.
She also participated in some American TV series. Her first project was in 1957, one episode of Schlitz Playhouse of Stars with Cesar Romero. In 1958 she starred The United States Steel Hour and in 1960 The Dinah Shore Chevy Show in the pisode Mexican Fiesta with Gilbert Roland, Ricardo Montalban and Tito Guízar. In 1963 appeared in Spectacular Show, with a soap opera named The Man who bought the Paradise acting with figures like Buster Keaton, Robert Horton and Paul Lukas.[55] In 1964 in England she starred in a BBC TV program along with Ben Lyon.[56] In 1965 she starred an episode of the TV Serie I Spy with Cesar Romero, and in 1966 she appeared in Branded, in the episode The Ghost of Murrietta.[57]
Her last appearance on American television was in Marcus Welby M.D. in the episode: The Legacy in 1970 with Robert Young, James Brolin and Janet Blair.[58] She never appeared on Mexican television. The newspapers claimed that Del Río, Cantinflas and María Félix demanded high salaries.[59]
From the fifties to the seventies, del Río collaborated in some international film festivals like Cannes Film Festival (1957), Berlin Film Festival (1962)[60] and San Sebastián Film Festival (1976).[61] Dolores promoted the Mexican Cinema in the Film Festivals "for the good of the country." For her, it was important that Virna Lisi knew Silvia Pinal, Gina Lollobrigida knew Fanny Cano, James Mason knew Fernando Soler and also were known Mexican and foreign producers. She thought that salvation of Mexican Cinema was the co-production.[62]
During the sixties and seventies, Dolores del Río became involved in actor union activities in her native country and was the founder of the group known as "Rosa Mexicano". In 1974, she was the founder of the Estancia Infantil: Dolores del Río of the Asociacion Nacional de Actores (A.N.D.A.) in México. Del Río served as president of the Estancia for several years, getting advice from the Montessori education method and system Summerhill[disambiguation needed 
]. She was accompanied in her work by Mexican actresses such as Carmen Montejo, Maria Elena Marques and Gloria Marín among others.[63] Del Rio’s understanding of child psychology was ahead of her time, “A babies first six years are the most important. We play Brahms and Bach to them. Teach them English, Folklorico dancing, and all the arts.”[40]
In 1966, she was founder of the "Sociedad Protectora del Tesoro Artistico de México" (Society for the Protection of the artistic treasures of Mexico), co-founded with the philanthropist Felipe García Beraza and responsible for protecting buildings, paintings and other works of art and culture in México.[64] In 1972, she helped found the Festival Cervantino in Guanajuato.[65]
Dolores del Río's last movie was The Children of Sanchez with Anthony Quinn and Katy Jurado in 1978, directed by Hall Bartlett. She realized only a special appearance as the Grandma.
In 1981, del Río was honored by the directors Francis Ford Coppola and George Cukor in the San Francisco Film Critics Circle. This was her last public appearance.[66]
She was a devout Roman Catholic. In 1921 Dolores del Río married Mexican socialite Jaime Martínez del Río, but the marriage came to end in 1928. Her former husband committed suicide in Berlin a year later. From 1930 to 1940 Dolores was married to MGM's Art Designer Cedric Gibbons.
Her relationship of four years with Orson Welles came to an end in 1943, and he married Rita Hayworth shortly afterwards. Rebecca Welles, the daughter of Welles and Hayworth, met Dolores in 1954 and said: "My father considered her the great love of his life", "She was a living legend in the history of my family".[67] Del Rio recalls Welles as “The most intense and volcanic passion I had in my life.”[9] Welles once remarked that he was incredibly impressed by her lingerie, which had been made by nuns in France.
In the late thirties, Dolores was also involved with Errol Flynn and the German writer Erich Maria Remarque.[68] Other rumors tried to involve her with Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich, with whom Dolores maintained a close friendship. In the forties, she was involved with the Mexican movie producer Archibaldo Burns and with the Dominican playboy Porfirio Rubirosa. In 1949, Dolores met Lewis A. Riley in Acapulco. Riley, a theatre producer, was member of the Hollywood Canteen in the 1940s. After ten years together, the couple married in New York in 1959. The house of Dolores in México, called "La Escondida" in Coyoacán, was very popular with Mexican and foreign celebrities, such as Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, María Félix, Merle Oberon, John Wayne, Cantinflas, the Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor and Wallis Simpson, Yvonne Blanche Labrousse and many more.[69]
Many anecdotes told about her rivalry with Lupe Velez. Dolores was terrified to meet her in public places because Lupe was shown biting and aggressive. She imitated Dolores openly, mocking with irony and wit about her refinement and elegance but the prestige of Dolores was notorious, and Lupe could not ignore this. Lupe resented the success of Dolores in her best years in Hollywood.[70]
The newspapers speculated about a strong rivalry between Dolores and Maria Felix, the other Diva of the Mexican Cinema.[71] About this "rivalry" María Felix said in 1993: " With Dolores I don't have any rivalry. On the contrary. We were friends and we always treated each other with great respect. We were completely different. She refined, interesting, soft on the deal, and i'm more energetic, arrogant and bossy".[72] The Mexican writer Oswaldo Diaz Ruanova described them thus: "Dolores del Rio was very feminine and social life, Maria Felix was very sullen and manly attitudes. Dolores del Rio was a breeze, Maria Felix, a hurricane. Dolores del Rio was cut aristocratic Maria Felix, a typical middle class".[73]
Since the 1960s, Del Río suffered severe pains in the bones. In 1978, she was diagnosed with osteomyelitis, and in 1981 she was diagnosed with Hepatitis B following an injection of expired vitamins. In 1982, Del Río was admitted to the Medical Center of La Joya[disambiguation needed ], where hepatitis led to cirrhosis.[74]
On April 11, 1983, Dolores del Río died from her liver disease at the age of 77, in Newport Beach, California. That day she had been invited to appear on the next Academy Awards Ceremony.[74] She was cremated and her ashes were interred in the Panteón de Dolores cemetery in Mexico City, Mexico.
In 2005, on the centenary of her birth, her remains were moved to the Rotonda de las Personas Ilustres in Mexico City. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 1630 Vine Street, in recognition of her contributions to the motion picture industry.
Tomb of Dolores del Río in Mexico City
She was considered one of the prototypes of the classic woman style of the 1930s: "I think", said Larry Carr (author of More fabulous faces), "that Dolores del Río's appearance at the beginning of the 30's influenced Joan Crawford. In 1930, when Crawford emerged as beauty personified in the entire world, but especially in Hollywood, the women imitated her style of dress and make-up. Gone was the style of heavy pancake and little heart shaped mouths. In its place the angular face, the sculptured look came into vogue. They produced a new type of beauty, of which Dolores del Río was the precursor. She left her 1920s look, loosened her hairdo, enlarged the shape of her lips and altered her eyebrows to underline her exquisite bone structure. She converted hers into one of the truly Great Faces".[75] Crawford said on a visit to Mexico in 1963: "Dolores became, and remains, as one of the most beautiful stars in the world".[76] "Glamour, said the filmmaker Josef von Sternberg, is the result of chiaroscuro, the play of light on the landscape of the face, the use of the surroundings through the composition, through the shaft of the hair and creating mysterious shadows in the eyes. In Hollywood, stars as far apart as Marlene Dietrich, Carole Lombard, Rita Hayworth and Dolores del Rio, own and acquire glamor, technology and willingness to refine the beauty of its own. Are indecipherable magic of the cinema, substance of the dreams of a generation and the admiration of the following meeting".[77]
Marlene Dietrich considered del Río "The most beautiful woman in Hollywood"[78][79] For many people "She has better legs than Dietrich and better cheekbones than Garbo".[80] On one occasion. at a meeting at the home of Dolores, Greta Garbo came to her and gently posing his little finger on the belly of Dolores and she exclaimed: That magnificent navel!, as if admiring a work of art, a sculpture.[17]
Some rumors said that her diet consisted of orchid petals and that she slept 16 hours in the day.[81] Author Salvador Novo gave a perfect, if unintended, eulogy a year before Del Rio’s death. “With Dolores Del Rio we are in the presence of a case in which extraordinary beauty is only the material form of talent. She has been gifted with grace, and fresh and vibrant nimbleness that, being natural, seems exotic.” Time caught up to the ageless beauty, which Del Rio, never a vain person, at no time worried about. “So long as a woman has twinkles in her eyes, no man notices whether she has wrinkles under them.”[9] In Paris, all the great fashion designers want to dress Dolores by the perfection of their actions. Were amazed at the fineness of her ankles and wrists, her small feet, her fragile neck, her arms long and thin, her face radiant. The fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli once said: "I have seen many beautiful women in here, but none as complete as Dolores del Rio!".[82]
George Bernard Shaw once said: "The two most beautiful things in the world are the Taj Mahal and Dolores del Rio".[83] the German writer Erich Maria Remarque, who compared her beauty with Greta Garbo, describing what a perfect woman would be a merger between the two actresses.[68]
Despite the passage of years, Dolores del Río continued until the end to present an image of an educated lady, elegant and sophisticated, that despite her age still remained pleasant and desirable in the eyes of the public. In 1978, Kevin Thomas of Los Angeles Times mentions her as "One of the reigning beauties of the XX century".[84]
Armando Montoya, a columnist for the diary El Universal summarized in a phrase which meant the star to her fans: "She was for years the image closer to a dream, a passion ..."[85]
Dolores del Rio was the first Mexican to succeed in Hollywood. The others are Lupe Velez, Katy Jurado and now, Salma Hayek.[86]
Dolores del río's career highlights the potencial for Latina agency and negotiation through Hollywood film, but is also sparked the myth of the Hollywood Latina as a racialized and sexualized mediator in Hollywood film. However limited Del Río´s roles, her career greatly impacted the star trajectories of each Hollywood Latina who followed, especially those closely aligned with cinematic whiteness like Rita Hayworth and Jennifer Lopez.[7] Current stars Salma Hayek, Eva Mendes, and Penélope Cruz follow in the footsteps of trailblazing Dolores del Rio.[9]
Dolores del Río has a statue at Hollywood-La Brea Boulevard in Los Angeles, designed by Catherine Hardwicke built to honor of multi-ethnic leading ladies of the cinema together with Mae West, Dorothy Dandridge and Anna May Wong.
In 1982, Del Rio was awarded The George Eastman Award, given by George Eastman House for distinguished contribution to the art of film.
In 1982, Dolores and María Félix were parodied in the Carlos Fuentes's script Orquídeas à la luz de la luna. Comedia Mexicana that was presented in Spain and at Harvard university. Since 1983, the Mexican Society of Film Critics has been giving the Diosa de Plata award "Dolores del Río" for the best dramatic female performance.
She was interpreted by the actress Lucy Cohu in the TV. film RKO 281 in 1999.
From September 2009 to January 2010, Dolores del Río was honored in the Soumaya Museum in Mexico City, with one of the most complete photography compilations of her career.[87]
- Anastacia (1956) ( New York (Broadway), USA)
- El abanico de Lady Windermere (1958) (México City, Teatro Virginia Fébregas; Buenos Aires, Argentina)
- Camino a Roma (1960) (México City, Teatro de los Insurgentes)
- Espectros (1961) (México City)
- Mi querido embustero (1961) (México City)
- La Vidente, de Roussin (1965) (México City)
- La Reina y los Rebeldes (1966) (México City)
- La Dama de las Camelias (1968) (México City, Monterrey)
- El Espectáculo Rosa Mexicano (1972) (México City)
- ^ Mary Beltrán, Latina/o stars in U.S. eyes: the making and meanings of film and TV stardom
- ^ colegio francés
- ^ Ramón (1997), vol. 1, p. 14
- ^ [1]: The First Latina to Conquer Hollywood
- ^ Eighty minutes long and starring Dorothy MacKaill and Jack Mullah, the film was based on Henry Leyford Gates' screenplay of his own story of a naïve flapper heiress whose true love is jeopardised by false friends pursuing her money [2]
- ^ Ramón (1997), vol. 1, p. 24-25
- ^ a b c Notable American women: a biographical dictionary, Volume 5, Susan Ware, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University Press, p281 2004 ISBN 978-0-674-01488-6
- ^ Ramón (1997), vol. 1, p. 25-26
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m [3]
- ^ Ramón (1997), vol. 1, p. 28
- ^ Mordaunt Hall, "An Indian Love Lyric", New York Times, 15 May 1928, accessed 1 February 2011
- ^ a b Ramón (1997), vol. 1, p. 34
- ^ Ramón (1997), vol. 1, p. 35
- ^ Ramón (1997), vol. 1, p. 37, 38-39
- ^ Ramón (1997), vol. 1, p. 38-39
- ^ "6 things you may not know about Oscar statuettes". forevergeek.com. http://www.forevergeek.com/2010/03/6_things_you_may_not_know_about_oscar_statuettes/. Retrieved 2011-06-15.
- ^ a b Ramón (1997), vol. 1, p. 56
- ^ Ramón (1997), vol. 1, p. 47
- ^ Ramón (1997), vol. 1, p. 49
- ^ Ramón (1997), vol. 1, p. 53-54
- ^ Ramón (1997), vol. 1, p. 48: She claimed "Mexican reasons".
- ^ Ramón (1997), vol. 1, p. 51-52
- ^ Ramón (1997),vol. 1, p. 55
- ^ Revista Somos: Katy Jurado:Estrella de Hollywood orgullosamente mexicana. Editorial Televisa S.A de C.V. 1999. pp. 85.
- ^ Revista Somos: Dolores del Río: El Rostro del Cine Mexicano. Editorial Televisa S.A de C.V. 1995. pp. 35.
- ^ a b c d Ramón (1997),vol. 1, p. 61
- ^ Ramón (1997),vol. 1, p. 58-59
- ^ Ramón (1997),vol. 1, p. 59
- ^ Ramón (1997), vol. 1, p. 56, 59
- ^ Ramón (1997), vol. 2, p. 16
- ^ Tuñón, Julia (2003). The Cinema of Latin America. Wallflower Press. pp. 45–46.
- ^ Tuñón, Julia (2003). The Cinema of Latin America. Wallflower Press. pp. 49.
- ^ Ramón (1997),vol. 2, p. 23: The film was banned by the Mexican army for describe the infiltration of the criminal gang "El Automovil Gris" in the Mexican Army in the 1910s
- ^ [4] Biografía de Dolores del Río
- ^ Félix, María (1994). Todas mis Guerras. Clío. pp. 84. ISBN 968-6932-08-9.
- ^ Ramón (1997), vol. 2, p. 29
- ^ Ramón (1997), vol. 2, p. 28-29
- ^ Ramón (1997), vol. 2, p. 30-31
- ^ [5]
- ^ a b [6] Dolores Del Río: The First Latina to Conquer Hollywood
- ^ Ramón (1997), vol. 2, p. 53-54
- ^ Ramón (1997), vol. 2, p. 56-57
- ^ Ramón (1997), vol. 3, p. 59-60: That in 1960 directed in México the movie Sonatas.
- ^ a b Ramón (1997), vol. 2, p. 59-60
- ^ Ramón (1997), vol. 2, p. 52
- ^ Ramón (1997), vol. 3, p. 14-15
- ^ a b Ramón (1997), vol. 3, p. 24-25
- ^ [7] Estrenarán filme que Dolores del Río rechazó por escenas lésbicas.
- ^ Ramón (1997), vol. 2, p. 48-51
- ^ Ramón (1997), vol. 2, p. 60-61
- ^ Ramón (1997), vol. 3, p. 12-13
- ^ Ramón (1997), vol. 3, p. 15-16
- ^ Ramón (1997), vol. 3, p. 24-29
- ^ Ramón (1997),vol. 3, p. 14,31,34,38
- ^ Ramón (1997),vol. 3, p. 11
- ^ Ramón (1997),vol. 3, p. 17
- ^ Ramón (1997),vol. 3, p. 23
- ^ Ramón (1997),vol. 3, p. 34-35
- ^ Ramón (1997),vol. 3, p. 21-22
- ^ "12th Berlin International Film Festival: Juries". berlinale.de. http://www.berlinale.de/en/archiv/jahresarchive/1962/04_jury_1962/04_Jury_1962.html. Retrieved 2010-02-01.
- ^ Ramón (1997),vol. 2, p. 49-50; vol. 3, p. 9-10, 48-49
- ^ Ramón (1997), vol. 3, p. 22
- ^ Ramón (1997),vol. 2, p. 49-50; vol. 3, p. 37-39
- ^ Ramón (1997), vol. 3, p. 20
- ^ Ramón (1997),vol. 3 p. 41-42: Realized in Guanajuato, México since 1972
- ^ Ramón (1997),vol. 2, p. 49-50; vol. 3, p. 54
- ^ Ramón (1997),vol. 3 p.11
- ^ a b http://www.takimag.com/site/article/all_quiet_on_the_k_street_front/
- ^ Ramón (1997), vol.2, p. 13: Located in the Santa Rosalía 37 street in Coyoacán, Mexico City
- ^ Corona, Moises (1999). Lupe Vélez: A medio siglo de ausencia. EDAMEX S.A de C.V. pp. 10. ISBN 968-409-872-3.
- ^ Ramón (1997),vol. 2, p. 51-52
- ^ Félix, María (1994). Todas mis Guerras. Clío. pp. 84. ISBN [[Special:BookSources/ef>9686932089|ef>9686932089]].
- ^ Taibo I, Paco Ignacio (1986). María Félix:47 Pasos por el cine. Editorial Planeta. pp. 286–287. ISBN [[Special:BookSources/ef>9684062834.|ef>9684062834.]].
- ^ a b Ramón (1997),vol. 2, p. 58-59
- ^ Carr. (1979), p. 229: ": Cited by Carlos Monsivais and Jorge Ayala Blanco in the Huelva Iberoamerican Film Festival in 1981
- ^ Ramón (1997), vol. 3, p. 19-20
- ^ [8]Buena suerte viviendo:Dolores del Río
- ^ Ramón (1997), vol. 1, p. 53
- ^ Riva, Maria (1994). Marlene Dietrich. Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-38645-0.
- ^ Ramón (1997), vol. 3, p. 44-45
- ^ María Idalia "Dolores del Río se retira del cine" Cinema Reporter no. 290 pp. 11 (1948)
- ^ SOMOS:Dolores del Río: El Rostro del Cine Mexicano. Editorial Televisa. 1995. pp. 26.
- ^ [9]Dolores del Río
- ^ Ramón (1997), vol. 3, p. 50
- ^ Torres, Jose Alejandro (2004). Los Grandes Mexicanos: Dolores del Río. Editorial Tomo, S.A. de C.V.. pp. 96. ISBN 970-666-997-3.
- ^ Revista Somos: Katy Jurado:Estrella de Hollywood orgullosamente mexicana. Editorial Televisa S.A de C.V. 1999. pp. 19.
- ^ http://www.soumaya.com.mx/BoletinesPrensa/DoloresDelRio/PrensaDelrio_web.pdf
- Shipman, David (1995). The Great Movie Stars: The Golden Years. Little Brown and Co.. ISBN 0-316-78487-7.
- Hershfield, Joanne (2000). The invention of Dolores del Río. University of Minnesota. ISBN 0-8166-3410-6.
- Agrasánchez Jr., Rogelio (2001). Bellezas del cine mexicano/Beauties of Mexican Cinema. Archivo Fílmico Agrasánchez. ISBN 968-5077-11-8.
- Dolores del Río, el rostro del cine mexicano (Dolores del Río: The Face of the Mexican Cinema) (1995). In SOMOS. México: Editorial Televisa, S. A. de C. V.
- Dolores del Río, la mexicana divina (Dolores del Río: The Divine Mexican) (2002). In SOMOS. México: Editorial Televisa, S. A. de C. V.
- Torres, Jose Alejandro (2004). Los Grandes Mexicanos: Dolores del Río. Grupo Editorial Tomo, S.A. de C.V.. ISBN 970-666-997-3.
| Persondata |
| Name |
Río, Dolores del |
| Alternative names |
Negrete, Dolores Martínez Asúnsolo y López |
| Short description |
|
| Date of birth |
August 3, 1905 |
| Place of birth |
Durango, Mexico |
| Date of death |
April 11, 1983 |
| Place of death |
Newport Beach, California |
![MACKLEMORE X RYAN LEWIS - OTHERSIDE REMIX FEAT. FENCES [MUSIC VIDEO]](http://web.archive.org./web/20130606144938im_/http://i3.ytimg.com/vi/fvDQy53eldY/default.jpg "MACKLEMORE X RYAN LEWIS - OTHERSIDE REMIX FEAT. FENCES [MUSIC VIDEO]")
_2.jpg)
.jpg){kind=link}
