Dolores del Rio was the first
Mexican movie star with international appeal and had a meteoric career in
1920s Hollywood (an extraordinary accomplishment for an Hispanic female on those years). She came from an aristocratic family in
Durango. In the
Mexican revolution of
1916, however, the family lost everything they had and emigrated to
Mexico City, where
Dolores became a socialite. In
1921 she married Jaime Del Río (also known as Jaime Martínez Del Río), a wealthy Mexican, and the two became friends with Hollywood producer/director
Edwin Carewe. In a somewhat unorthodox manner, for those years, the couple moved to Hollywood where they expected to launch careers in the movie business (she as an actress, he as
a screenwriter). Eventually they were divorced after Dolores made her first film,
Joanna (1925). THe film was a success and Dolores was hailed as a female
Rudolph Valentino. Her career rose until the arrival of sound in 1928. After a number of forgettable films, she married
Cedric Gibbons, the well-known art director and production designer at
MGM studios. Dolores returned to
Mexico in
1942. Her Hollywood career was over, and a romance with
Orson Welles--who later called her "the most exciting woman
I've ever met"--caused her second divorce. Mexican director
Emilio Fernández offered her the lead in his film
Flor silvestre (
1943), with a wholly unexpected result: at age 37, Dolores Del Río became the most famous movie star in her country, filming in
Spanish for the first time. Her association with
Fernández' team (cinematographer
Gabriel Figueroa, writer Mauricio Magdaleno and actor
Pedro Armendáriz) was mainly responsible for creating what has been called the
Golden Era of
Mexican Cinema. With such pictures as
María Candelaria (
Xochimilco) (
1944),
The Abandoned (
1945) and
Bugambilia (1945), Del Río became the prototypical Mexican beauty in foreign countries. Her career included film, theater and television. In her last years she received accolades because of her work for orphaned children. Her last film was
The Children of Sanchez (1978). She died from liver failure on
April 11th,
1983 at the age of 78. Two movies of Dolores' Films that are included in this video are
Bird of Paradise (1932) &
In Caliente (1935),
I Do not own the clips of the films the copyright holders own the rights to Dolores's films. No copyright intended in the making of this video.
- published: 30 Dec 2015
- views: 74