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- Actress
- Producer
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Nichelle Nichols was one of 10 children born to parents Lishia and Samuel Nichols in Robbins, Illinois, a Chicago suburb. She was a singer and dancer before turning to acting and finding fame in her groundbreaking role of Lt. Nyota Uhura in the Star Trek (1966) series.
As long as she could remember, she wanted to do nothing but sing, dance, act and write despite no one else in her family following any of those tracks; although her father could tap dance. He not only became mayor of their town, Robbins, IL, but also a magistrate. On stage, Nichelle was twice nominated for the Sarah Siddons Award as Best Actress of the Year; while on film she danced with Sammy Davis, Jr. in Porgy and Bess, and opposite James Garner in Mister Budwing (1965). In a complete changearound soon after the Star Trek television series came to an end, she played a blousey madam, then co-starred with Lynn Redgrave n Antony and Cleopatra. She was been married twice and had a son, Kyle Johnson, from her first marriage to a tap dancer.- Writer
- Actor
- Script and Continuity Department
"I am too old to die young, and too young to grow up," Marty Feldman told a reporter -- a week before he died.
This beloved comedian, who poked fun at himself, as well as others, was born Martin Alan Feldman on July 8, 1934, in London, England. His parents were of Ukrainian Jewish heritage (from Kiev). He was the son of Cecilia (née Crook) and Myer Feldman, a gown manufacturer. Marty spent his childhood in the poverty-stricken London East End and left school at the age of 15, hoping for a career as a jazz trumpeter (his appearance in a Variety show earned him the title "the worst trumpeter in the world"). He had just started his comedy career, as a writer for BBC radio programs and TV shows in the late 1950s, when he married Lauretta Sullivan in January 1959 (they would stay married until his death in 1982). There's a saying: "Your face is your fortune"; Marty had received a double-whammy. His nose was mangled in his youthful years in a boxing match; his walleyed orbs were the result of both a hyperactive thyroid and a botched operation after a car accident before his 30th birthday, in 1963. American audiences first saw Marty in Dean Martin Presents the Golddiggers (1968), where he did comedy skits with Susie Ewing and the Golddiggers. He appeared in a number of movies, his most-remembered role being that of Igor (pronounced Eye-Gor) in Young Frankenstein (1974). Besides acting, he made his directorial debut in The Last Remake of Beau Geste (1977). Beloved and popular, it seemed Marty was to enjoy a long career in the entertainment field. However, he died of a massive heart attack, caused by shellfish food poisoning, while filming Yellowbeard (1983) in Mexico City, on December 2, 1982... he was only 48.- Writer
- Director
- Actor
The father of cinematic Surrealism and one of the most original directors in the history of the film medium, Luis Buñuel was given a strict Jesuit education (which sowed the seeds of his obsession with both religion and subversive behavior), and subsequently moved to Madrid to study at the university there, where his close friends included Salvador Dalí and Federico García Lorca.
After moving to Paris, Buñuel did a variety of film-related odd jobs in Paris, including working as an assistant to director Jean Epstein. With financial assistance from his mother and creative assistance from Dalí, he made his first film, the 17-minute Un chien andalou (1929), in 1929, and immediately catapulted himself into film history thanks to its shocking imagery (much of which - like the sliced eyeball at the beginning - still packs a punch even today). It made a deep impression on the Surrealist Group, who welcomed Buñuel into their ranks.
The following year, sponsored by wealthy art patrons, he made his first feature, the scabrous witty and violent L'Age d'Or (1930), which mercilessly attacked the church and the middle classes, themes that would preoccupy Buñuel for the rest of his career. That career, though, seemed almost over by the mid-1930s, as he found work increasingly hard to come by and after the Spanish Civil War he emigrated to the US where he worked for the Museum of Modern Art and as a film dubber for Warner Bros.
Moving to Mexico in the late 1940s, he teamed up with producer Óscar Dancigers and after a couple of unmemorable efforts shot back to international attention with the lacerating study of Mexican street urchins in The Young and the Damned (1950), winning him the Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival.
But despite this new-found acclaim, Buñuel spent much of the next decade working on a variety of ultra-low-budget films, few of which made much impact outside Spanish-speaking countries (though many of them are well worth seeking out). But in 1961, General Franco, anxious to be seen to be supporting Spanish culture invited Buñuel back to his native country - and Bunuel promptly bit the hand that fed him by making Viridiana (1961), which was banned in Spain on the grounds of blasphemy, though it won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
This inaugurated Buñuel's last great period when, in collaboration with producer Serge Silberman and writer Jean-Claude Carrière he made seven extraordinary late masterpieces, starting with Diary of a Chambermaid (1964). Although far glossier and more expensive, and often featuring major stars such as Jeanne Moreau and Catherine Deneuve, the films showed that even in old age Buñuel had lost none of his youthful vigour.
After saying that every one of his films from Belle de Jour (1967) onwards would be his last, he finally kept his promise with That Obscure Object of Desire (1977), after which he wrote a memorable (if factually dubious) autobiography, in which he said he'd be happy to burn all the prints of all his films- a classic Surrealist gesture if ever there was one.
- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Cantinflas, born Mario Moreno as the son of a Mexican postal employee, was a prolific and productive Mexican comedian/producer/writer/singer who also knew a fair bit about agriculture and medicine. He was married to Valentina Ivanova from 1936 until her death. He appeared in more than 55 films, including (as Passepartout) Around the World in 80 Days (1956).- Writer
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Major Latin-American author of novels and short stories, a central figure in the so-called magical realism movement in Latin American literature. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1982. Studied law and journalism in Bogotá and Cartagena. He began his career as a journalist in 1948, was a foreign correspondent in Europe during the late 1950s, Cuba and N.Y. early 1960s, and a screenwriter, journalist and publicist in Mexico City during the 1960s. During the 1980s he moved to Mexico when restrictions where imposed on his continued traveling due to his left-view political views.- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Doubtlessly the most famous Mexican movie star, María Félix created a larger-than-life character: herself. La Doña, as the star was known after the character of her 1943 movie Doña Bárbara, starred in 47 movies, most of them forgettable except for her presence in them. More a star than an actress, she constructed an image of a tough woman, a sort of one-liner she-male that went beyond the traditional role of Latin American women. Her marriage to Agustín Lara the most popular Latin composer from the 30s to the 60s, was a great event itself. Her fame went beyond Mexico to Latin America, Spain, France and Italy. She always refused to learn English, so she never acted in any English language movie. That's the main reason why her fame was related almost exclusively to Latin countries. After her last film, she was linked to a number of film projects, but never came back to the screen. Her last performance was on a Mexican historic soap opera, in 1970.- Rosenda Monteros was born on 31 August 1935 in Veracruz, Mexico. She was an actress, known for The Magnificent Seven (1960), She (1965) and Rapiña (1975). She was married to Julio Bracho. She died on 29 December 2018 in Mexico City, Mexico.
- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
María Elena Marqués was born on 14 December 1926 in Mexico, Distrito Federal, Mexico. She was an actress, known for The Pearl (1947), The Rebel (1943) and El jardín de los cerezos (1978). She was married to Miguel Torruco. She died on 11 November 2008 in Mexico City, Mexico.- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Emilio "El Indio" Fernandez Romo is the most famous person in the history of Mexican movies. For an era he symbolized Mexico due to his violent machismo, rooted in the Revolution of 1910-17, and because of his staunch commitment to Mexican cultural nationalism. Born to a Mexican (Mestizo) father and a Native American Kickapoo mother, Emilio was himself the "mestizaje" (mestizo) that his films would later glorify.
The teenaged Fernandez abandoned his studies to serve as an officer in the Huertista rebellion, which broke out on 12/4/1923, led by Gen. Adolfo de la Huerta. On July 20th of that year, Pancho Villa had been ambushed and murdered; one theory was that the killing was done by agents of Mexican President Álvaro Obregón. Obregon, when he served as a general during the revolution, had defeated Villa in four successive battles collectively known as the Battle of Celaya, which was the largest military confrontation in Latin-American history before the 1982 Falklands War.
Under the Constitution of 1917 that Obregon himself helped write, Mexican presidents could not succeed themselves (Obregon would later have the constitution amended so he could serve a second, non-consecutive term; after winning the presidential election of 1928, he was assassinated before his inauguration). Obregon had won the presidency in 1920 after inciting a successful military revolt against President Venustiano Carranza, who had planned on naming Ignacio Bonillas as his successor instead of Obregon, who believed that he deserved it. The revolt began when the governor of the state of Sonora, Gen. Huerta, broke with President Carranza and declared the secession of Sonora. This was a signal for the beginning of the successful uprising against Carranza, led by Obregon and supported by Gen. Plutarco Elías Calles. After Carranza was killed in an ambush, Huerta served as provisional president of Mexico from 6/1/1920 to 12/1/1920, until elections could be held. When Obregon won the federal election, Huerta became Minister of Finance in the new government.
Huerta considered himself the natural successor to President Obregon, just as Obregon had considered himself Carranza's natural successor. The murdered Villa was seen as an ally of Huerta, who had publicly announced his candidacy for the presidency. Obregon, however, planned to remain in power by handpicking his successor, a tradition that lasted throughout 20th-century Mexican politics. When he named his anti-clerical Minister of the Interior, the former Gen. Calles, as his heir, Huerta rose up in a rebellion that eventually affected half of the Mexican army. Like Huerta a native of Sonora and a former general in the Mexican army, Calles had preceded him as governor and military ruler of their home state from 1915-16. Huerta thought his service and loyalty to Obregon should have brought him the presidency, but Mexican presidents, not allowed to succeed themselves and limited (mostly) to one term, tried to extend their power by naming political puppets as successors (Calles would outdo Obregon by controlling the Mexican presidency outright or through puppets from 1924-34).
The rebellion was a serious threat to Obregon, but he was able to quash it by using loyal army units, battalions of workers and farmers and intervention by the US. By the time the revolt ended in March 1924, 54 generals and 7,000 soldiers were gone, either killed in battle, executed, exiled or dismissed. Obregon banished Huerta to exile in the US (where he lived in Los Angeles, supporting himself as a music teacher). This was the cauldron of violence and nationalism in which the young Fernandez came into his manhood. He received a 20-year prison sentence for his participation in the rebellion on the losing side. Escaping prison by following Huerta into exile in Los Angeles, Fernandez absorbed the rudiments of filmmaking as a bit player and extra working in Hollywood in the 1920s and early 1930s. With the election of Lázaro Cárdenas as president in 1934, the Huertista rebels were granted an amnesty (Huerta himself was recalled from exile by Cardenas in 1935 and served in several posts, including Inspector General of Foreign Consulates and Director General of Civil Pensions). Fernandez returned to Mexico in 1934 and began working in the Mexican movie industry as a screenwriter and actor. His Indian looks, which gave him his nickname "El Indio," also brought him his first lead role, playing an Indian in Janitzio (1935). Due to his imposing physical presence and Indian countenance, El Indio was cast as bandits, charros (cowboys) and revolutionaries.
The Cardenas government of 1934-40 established the framework in which the "Golden Age of Mexican Cinema" could be realized. The political system that dominated Mexico for over half a century was consolidated during his regime. The government incorporated trade unions, campesino (peasant) organizations and middle-class professionals and office workers into the ruling Party of the Mexican Revolution (later the Party of the Institutional Revolution, or PRI). Cardenas oversaw the redistribution of millions of acres of land to peasants and the expansion of collective bargaining rights and wage increases to workers.
Cardenas and all subsequent PRM/PRI presidents (all presidents of Mexico in the 20th century beginning with Calles were PRM/PRI members; Vicente Fox was the first from outside the party in three-quarters of a century) maintained political control of Mexico by granting favors and concessions to their constituencies inside the corporatist party structure in exchange for worker and campesino organizations delivering votes and suppressing discontent among their constituencies. The PRM/PRI itself created an organizational structure for the government that allowed citizens access to the political realm, in the sense that they could interface with government agencies. Once inside the government machine, seeking redress, favors, etc., the non-connected citizen was led through a maze of layers of bureaucracy that never permitted a satisfactory result. Citizens caught in the maze were eventually frustrated and discouraged, but the ingenious if disingenuous system worked as it gave them input--just no guaranteed output. By frustrating them within an institutional structure, the PRM/PRI governments--both federal and state--took the fight out of them. The PRM/PRI sought to control frustration that had led to violence in the past, particularly among the generals who had the power to destabilize the society and economy. That government structure thus served as a homeostatic device for the people's frustration, relieving it and never allowing it to build up again into a revolutionary situation.
Cardenas' most notable achievement arguably was the nationalization of Mexico's oil industry. After unsuccessfully trying to negotiate better terms with Mexican Eagle--the holding company owned by Royal Dutch/Shell and Standard Oil of New Jersey--Cardenas nationalized Mexico's petroleum reserves and expropriated the equipment of the foreign oil companies on 3/18/38. A spontaneous six-hour parade broke out in Mexico City to celebrate the event. Unlike Fidel Castro's nationalization of foreign assets in Cuba, Shell and SONJ were compensated for their expropriated assets. Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) and the Mexican model became a beacon for other oil-producing nations seeking to gain control over their own energy resources from foreign companies. Cardenas was the only PRM/PRI president who did not enrich himself while in office. After retiring as Minister of Defense in 1945--the post he took after relinquishing the presidency--he assumed a modest lifestyle. He spent the last years of his life supervising irrigation projects and promoting education and free medical care for the poor. This was the man who set the tone of the modern Mexico that arose from the revolution and civil wars of the 1920s, who cleared the ground for the economic boom of the 1940s in which the "Golden Age of Mexican Cinema" reached its apogee. Classic Mexican cinema has mostly been ignored in the US due to the language barrier and a colonialist mindset suffused with racism. When Mexican cinema has been addressed by those north of the border, the primary focus fell on the brilliant cinematography of Gabriel Figueroa, who shot films for John Ford and John Huston, or on former Hollywood star Dolores Del Río. Fernandez's reputation was so great that he was even appreciated in the US in his lifetime, but his notoriety as a sort of wildman of the Mexican movie industry and his appearance as an actor in Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch (1969) overshadowed his greatness as a director. While Mexico has often served as a locale for American films--the genres of sweet (white) young things imperiled by swarthy Mexican bandits and of Americans in revolutionary Mexico, to say nothing of Zorro and The Cisco Kid--have been part of the Yankee cinema since the East Coast-based film companies began relocating to southern California in the early 1910s. Gringo Warner Baxter won the second Oscar ever awarded for Best Actor playing The Cisco Kid in a role originally intended for Raoul Walsh, of all people. Mexico has been the site of such blockbuster films as Viva Villa! (1934), Juarez (1939), Viva Zapata! (1952), Vera Cruz (1954), The Professionals (1966) and "The Wild Bunch," but except for La caza del oro (1972), a Johnny-Come-Lately to the genre, they seldom featured Mexican actors in anything other than bit parts, if at all, with the exception of Anthony Quinn, one of the few Mexican-Americans to achieve superstar status. Mexican performers taken up by Hollywood --such as Ramon Novarro, Rita Hayworth, John Gavin and Raquel Welch--were, like half-Mexican baseball great Ted Williams (born in San Diego), de-ethnicized in a sort of cultural ethnic cleansing. Salma Hayek, who is of mixed Mexican and Lebanese parentage, is arguably the first Mexican since Lupe Velez and Dolores del Rio to cross over as a Hollywood superstar and remain identifiably Mexican (even at the dawn of a new millennium, she was urged by her Hollywood agents to play up her Arabic ethnicity, even with anti-Arab feeling rife in Hollywood and the US at large--their "reasoning" was that no one would go see a Mexican in movies since their cleaning ladies were Mexican),
Until the 1990s, with Like Water for Chocolate (1992) ("Like Water for Chocolate"), Mexican films themselves seldom strayed in the Yankee consciousness, except for the rare one like The Pearl (1947), based on a novel by Californian John Steinbeck and a prize-winner at the Venice Film Festival. "La Perla" was directed by Fernandez, the greatest director to come out of Mexico's golden age of cinema. The first Mexican feature was released in 1906, though production often was eclipsed by political and economic conditions. There were documentaries made about the Mexican Revolution in the 1910s, but very few films were made in the 1920s. Sergei Eisenstein's trip to Mexico in the early 1930s to make Que Viva Mexico (1979), which remained unfinished due to his problems with his American backer, Upton Sinclair, injected a new enthusiasm into the Mexican movie industry.
While most American film historians place the Golden Age firmly in the 1940s--some specifically assigning it to the period 1943-46 and others extending it until the mid-'50s--the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema properly stretches back to 1936, peaks in the mid-'40s (when the Mexican cinema receives international recognition; two of Fernandez's films won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival and were nominated for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festivals) and terminates in the mid-'50s, with the end of Fernandez's 25-film collaboration with cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa. Figueroa, the Mexican movie industry's first great director, inaugurated the Golden Age in 1936 with two hits, Out on the Big Ranch (1936) ("Out at Big Ranch") and Let's Go with Pancho Villa (1936) ("Let's Go with Pancho Villa"). Both were "political message" movies addressing the social and cultural issues lying at the heart of Mexican Revolution. "Vamonos con Pancho Villa" has the distinction of being the first feature produced at the Mexican government-subsidized studio Cinematografica Latino Americana S.A., while "Allá en el Rancho Grande" made Tito Guízar a star. Guizar eventually became the Mexican movie industry's first superstar by playing in the "comedias rancheras" (ranch comedies) genre that was the most popular type of film in Mexico in the 1930s. A hit with audiences throughout Latin America, "comedias rancheras" were set in an idyllic, pre-revolutionary Mexico. The vaudevillian Mario Moreno, who became a Latin-American superstar under the name Cantinflas, made his short-subject debut in 1936 and would soon become the Latin-American film industry's leading comedian when he made his feature-film debut in You're Missing the Point (1940) ("There is the Detail"). The Cantinflas character is rooted in the image of the "pelado," or poor white trash, and his character deflates respectable society through his sharp repartee. Peace--i.e., a lack of overt domestic political turmoil--laid the groundwork for the development of a truly popular indigenous cinema in the 1930s and '40s. The comedias rancheras and Cantinflas comedies helped make the Mexican cinema commercially viable. With Hollywood distracted by turning out propaganda and military training films during World War II, there was an opening in Latin America that the Mexican industry filled. Without competition from Hollywood, the Mexican movie industry dominated Latin-American cinemas for most of the decade. Movie production tripled in the 1940s compared to the previous decade. The Mexican film industry underwent a consolidation and developed a star system, some of whom crossed over to achieve international recognition. The peak of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema came in the 1940s, spurred by rapid industrialization and a resulting affluence--although inequitably distributed--caused by trade with the US, as World War II boosted American demand for Mexican raw materials. The Mexican movie industry became the world's largest producer of Spanish-language films, helped by the fact that the other large producers, Argentina and Spain, were headed by fascist governments. Though the Mexican government was conservative and repressive in the 1940s, it encouraged the production of nationalist films that helped articulate a Mexican identity. During the 1940s Mexican movie stars and directors became popular icons, and some even became public figures with effective political influence. Among the movie stars blossoming during the decade were Dolores del Rio, Pedro Infante, Jorge Negrete, Joaquín Pardavé and María Félix, while Fernandez and Figueroa became globally known. Luis Buñuel moved to Mexico and would direct some of the country's major movies in the following decade.
Mexican movies typically were genre pictures, melodramas, romances, musicals, comedies and horror, which addressed all aspects of Mexican society, from love stories about the "lumpen proletariat" to dramas about the Indians. Mexican movies are a mirror of Mexican society, including history (19th-century dictator Porfirio Díaz and his court, The Revolution and Villa and Emiliano Zapata), obsessions (both familial and erotic) and mythology (Indian and big-city culture). Mexican cinema did this using the classic genres of the the melodrama, the comedy (in its romantic, musical and ranchera versions, and slapstick and farce) and even the horror film. With its proximity to Hollywood, and the fact that many leading lights of the Mexican cinema were familiar with Hollywood production values, the indigenous movie industry set a high standard for itself, as it had to measure up to Hollywood product.
Fernandez made his motion picture debut as an actor in Chano Urueta's El destino (1928), but his early work in movies was in American westerns churned out by Monogram director John P. McCarthy, including the Bob Steele programmers The Oklahoma Cyclone (1930), The Land of Missing Men (1930), Headin' North (1930), The Sunrise Trail (1931) and the Tim McCoy "hoss opera" The Western Code (1932). After a supporting role in Enrico Caruso Jr.'s La buenaventura (1934), he made his return to Mexican pictures in 1934, starring in Heart of a Bandit (1934) and director Fernando de Fuentes' Cruz Diablo (1934).
Fernandez's first film as a director was La isla de la pasión (1942), in 1941, which he also wrote and in which he played a bit part. The movie starred Pedro Armendáriz, who Fernandez would cast in many of his films. Another favorite collaborator was his wife Columba Domínguez. El Indio rapidly gained a reputation as Mexico's premier director making populist dramas. His Maria Candelaria (1944) put Mexican film on the map when it won the Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1946. It has been variously praised as "the highest triumph of Mexican plastic arts on celluloid" and as "a titanic promise for strictly patriotic [Mexican] cinema." French film critic Georges Sadoul, in his 1954 book "Histoire General du Cinema," praised the film for its "authentic" portrayal of rural Mexican life and for addressing race relations.
The film remains controversial in Mexico due to El Indio's aesthetic choices, which emphasized the exotic and primitive, and his representation of Mexican Indians, which some critics believed was inauthentic or "touristy." The nationalistic Fernandez wanted to articulate an idea of what it meant to be Mexican that was uniquely Mexican, and not influenced by Hollywood, whose films he felt were Americanizing Mexican cinema audiences. Terming his films "autos sacramentales [passion plays] of mexicanidad," Fernandez wanted to create a Mexican cinema that Mexicanized Mexicans. The film stars Dolores del Rio, the Hollywood movie star who had returned to Mexico after becoming disillusioned with the American movie industry, as the daughter of a prostitute trying to survive just before the Revolution. Set in the floating gardens of Xochimilco in Mexico City, del Rio's character is shunned by the locals, who are indigenous people. Her great desire is to marry her lover, played by Pedro Armendariz, but their romance proves to be star-crossed. Fernandez's direction was flawless, and Figueroa's black-and-white cinematography was masterful. The collaborators created one of the classics of not just Mexican movies but of world cinema. When El Indio and Figueroa were making "Maria Candelaria," they were part of a movement in which Mexican filmmakers were consciously attempting to create an indigenous art cinema that could compete with Hollywood product while simultaneously articulating a vision of Mexicans that was rooted in the "indigenismo" and "mestizophilia" of Mexican intellectuals. José Vasconcelos, the Minister of Education during the Obregon administration, was particularly influential due to his concepts of "mexicanos en potencia" and the cosmic race. In Vasconcelos' philosophy, the "barbarous" Indian was redeemed by a modernization program based on education, and by the assimilation of the Indians with the Caucausian Europeans into "la raza" of mestizos ("mestizaje"). Gabriel Figueroa was conscious of the fact that he and Fernandez, a creative team that became known as "Epoca de Oro," invented an idea of rural Mexico that did not actually exist. Figueroa established himself as the leader in imagining a new, post-revolutionary Mexican consciousness, through the vehicle of the visual image. A "painter in light," Figueroa learned his craft from Gregg Toland and Eduard Tisse, Eisenstein's cinematographer. Figueroa is credited with creating the classic Mexican film aesthetic in collaboration with El Indio and other film directors. In over 200 movies, he developed the classic imagery and aesthetic of Mexican cinema, which also influenced and was influenced by contemporary Mexican artists. Figueroa pioneered an indigenous visual vernacular that affected the muralist movement, and he has been referred to as the fourth of the most important Mexican muralist after Orozco, Diego Rivera and David Siqueiros. Siqueiros himself called Figueroa's cinematography "murals that travel."
In their 25 films together between 1942-58, El Indio and Figueroa created the idea of "mexicanidad" cinema while elevating the mestizaje (mixed-race) identity, as well as the status of the pre-Columbian culture. The epic visual style they developed was indebted to Eisenstein's unfinished "Que viva Mexico." Their style fetishized the Mexican landscape through beautiful, carefully composed, stationary long shots. For two decades Mexican art cinema was identified with the films resulting from the Fernandez-Figueroa collaboration. Their films not only affected Mexican audiences' collective identity, but they affected how their audiences, both domestic and global, viewed Mexico and its history.
The climax of "Maria Candelaria" was an homage to Carlos Navarro's classic "indigenista" film Janitzio (1935). The movie is evocative of the anti-clerical struggles engendered by the Revolution. The secularization of the Mexican state was begun with the 1910 Revolution, continued with the 1917 Constitution, and reached a violent apotheosis in the Cristero Rebellion of 1926-29, when the President tried to crack down on the Roman Catholic church. However, the anti-clericalism of the revolutionaries had to co-exist with the cult of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the symbol that has proved the most powerful and enduring in creating a Mexican national consciousness. Our Lady has served as a symbol for political struggles from the 19th-century wars of independence to the Cristero wars. On one level, "Maria Candelaria" is a paean to the cult of the Virgin Mary, a phenomenon present in much of classical Mexican cinema, which likely is one of the reasons the films Fernandez and Figueroa and others of the 1940s and 1950s proved so popular all over Latin America.
In 1946 Fernandez filmed an adaptation of John Steinbeck's novella "The Pearl," in Spanish- and English-language versions. Shot by Figueroa and starring El Indio's favorite actor, Pedro Armendariz, "La perla" won El Indio a nomination for Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, further solidifying his notoriety as a director and publicizing the Mexican movie industry. The film also won him the Golden Ariel for Best Picture at the 1948 Ariel Awards (the Mexican equivalent of the Oscars), and Fernandez, Figueroa, Armendariz and Juan García won Silver Ariels for Best Direction, Cinematography, Actor and Supporting Actor, respectively. Figueroa won a Golden Globe for Best Cinematography in 1949 from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
In 1948 Salón México (1949) was released, written and directed by Fernandez with cinematography by Figueroa. An urban melodrama, the film was groundbreaking in that it helped usher in a new genre, the "cabaretera" (cabaret) film, racier and just as commercial as the familiar genre of rancheras, which was then fading in popularity. The movie recreates the atmosphere of the famous Mexico City dance hall and won Marga López an Ariel Award for her role as the taxi dancer Mercedes. The movie featured a sensual soundtrack performed by the Afro-Cuban music group Son Clave de Oro. By the end of the 1940s Emilio Fernandez was the most famous and prestigious director in all of Latin America. He would continue his reign as Mexico's premier director into the mid-'50s, when his powers began to decline and Spanish amigra Luis Buñuel took over the title. As the most famous directors and biggest stars aged or died, Mexican cinema began to decline commercially, and the Golden Age of Mexican cinema came to an end (ironically, Bunuel's Mexican oeuvre strengthened as the national cinema went into decline and L'age d'or went into eclipse).
Although Fernandez and Figueroa last worked together in El puño del amo (1958), which starred El Indio's half-brother Jaime Fernández, the collaboration was essentially over by the mid-'50s when they made La rosa blanca (1954) and La Tierra del Fuego se apaga (1955). Their last great film together was La rebelión de los colgados (1954) (based on B. Traven's "Rebellion of the Hanged," it's English-language title), which starred Pedro Armendariz and Emiolio's half-brother Jaime Fernández, both of whom were nominated for Silver Ariel awards as Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, respectively. Jaime Fernandez won the Ariel, as did Amanda del Llano for Best Supporting Actress, Gloria Schoemann for editing and José B. Carles for sound. Antonio Díaz Conde was nominated for a Silver Ariel for Best Score. As his collaboration with Fernandez waned, Figueroa's professional relationship with Bunuel waxed. Figueroa first served as director of photography on Bunuel's classic The Young and the Damned (1950), which won 11 Ariels in 1951, including the Golden Ariel as Best Picture in 1951 and awards for Best Cinematography for Figueroa and Best Director and Original Story for Bunuel. Their other films together were Nazarin (1959) ("This Strange Passion"; winner of the International Prize at the 1959 Cannes Film Festival), Fever Mounts at El Pao (1959); The Young One (1960), (which won a Special Mention at the 1960 Cannes Film Festival); The Exterminating Angel (1962), ("The Exterminating Angel"); and Simon of the Desert (1965) ("Simon of the Desert"). Of the Golden Age output, "New York Times" movie critic A.O. Scott said, "There is a frankness in these films that would never have passed muster with the Hays Office." The Golden Age had peaked in the 1940s, bolstered by the economic boom caused by the World War II alliance with the US, government support for the industry via state-funded studios, the maturation of a star system, and the rationalization of distribution and exhibition. Aside from Bunuel's pictures, the post-Golden Age era saw indigenous cinema suffer through the 1960s, as the industry became more dependent on formulaic pictures and such popular genres as the "Santo the Wrestler" series. During the 1960s and 1970s many low-grade horror and action movies were produced with professional wrestler Santo and Hugo Stiglitz being the biggest stars. However, the moribund 1960s led to a revival of government support for the industry in the 1970s, which established the base for a revival of Mexican art cinema in the 1980s and 1990s. El Indio continued directing films until 1979, but when his collaboration with Figueroa ended in 1958, his reputation suffered as the artistry of his pictures declined. He began acting more, though he directed a picture every few years. Gradually, the notoriety of his life began overtaking his reputation as a filmmaker. El Indio lived out the fantasy of perhaps every director when he shot a critic, who had dissed one of his movies, in the testicles. A violent man, he shot and killed a farm laborer, which he claimed was in self-defense. Convicted of manslaughter in 1976, he served six months of a 4-1/2-year sentence. By the 1960s Fernandez's off-screen reputation as a violent man led to his typecasting as brutal villains in many Mexican and American films. As an actor, Fernandez appeared with his brother, singer/actor Fernando Fernández, in John Ford's The Fugitive (1947), on which he also served as associate producer. Other American films he appeared in were John Huston's The Unforgiven (1960) (on which he also served as second unit director) and The Night of the Iguana (1964), the John Wayne pictures The War Wagon (1967) and Chisum (1970) (on which he also served as second unit director), Sidney J. Furie's The Appaloosa (1966) in support of Marlon Brando, and Burt Kennedy's Return of the Seven (1966). After assaying the role of renegade Mexican Gen. Mapache in the classic "The Wild Bunch", Fernandez appeared in two other Peckinpah films, as Paco in Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973) and as El Jefe, who gives the order to Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974). He was reunited with John Huston in Under the Volcano (1984) and appeared in Roman Polanski's Pirates (1986).
El Indio's last two films as a writer-director were México Norte (1979) and Erótica (1979), in which he also starred. In all, El Indio directed 43 pictures from 1942-79. He was the credited screenwriter on 40 pictures, starting with Beautiful Sky (1936) in 1936. He also served as second-unit director, both credited and uncredited, on such American pictures shot in Mexico as The Magnificent Seven (1960), in which he was attached to the American crew by the Mexican government to ensure that the depictions of Mexicans were not racist or demeaning. Fernandez died in Mexico City on 8/6/86.
Government sponsorship of the industry and the creation of state-supported film helped create the phenomenon known as the "Nuevo Cine Mexicano" ("New Mexican Cinema") that catapulted Mexican movies into prominence on the global market in the 1990s. Amores Perros (2000), And Your Mother Too (2001) and The Crime of Padre Amaro (2002) are just three of the most recent Mexican films that have featured prominently in American art cinemas. The spirit of El Indio lives on!
In 2002 "La Perla" was named to the National Film Preservation Board's National Film Registry, which is maintained by the US Library of Congress. Fernandez and his collaborator Gabriel Figueroa were honored on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of El Indio's birth at the inaugural Puerto Vallarta Film Festival of the Americas held in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, in November 2004.- Actress
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Isela Vega was born in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico on November 5, 1939. The young beauty was named Princess of the 1957 Carnaval in Hermosillo, and parlayed that into work as a model. She also had some success as a singer before turning to acting. (Her composition "Bennie's Song" was used in Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974), which features her singing.)
She made her film debut in the Pedro Armendáriz movie Verano violento (1960). From her beginning in small roles in Mexican films in the early 1960s, her career grew and Isela became very popular as a sex symbol in the late 1960s. (She would appear nude in a multi-page feature in Playboy Magazine's July 1974 issue.) In addition to her Mexican films, TV shows, and stage appearances, she also worked in a number of foreign films, most famously in Sam Peckinpah's Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974), for which she received a Best Actress Ariel Award nomination in 1975. (Previously, Vega had been nominated for a Best Actress Ariel for her turn in Las reglas del juego (1971) in 1972.) She had made her United States film debut the year previously in The Deadly Trackers (1973) (the U.S.-Mexico horror cheapie Fear Chamber (1968) doesn't really count) and continued to appear occasionally in small parts in American films and TV until the late 1990s.
In addition to her work as an actress, Vega produced, wrote and directed Lovers of the Lord of the Night (1986), and has written and produced other films. She has a son whose father is Alberto Vázquez, and a daughter (Shaula, an actress) whose father is Jorge Luke.- Pina Pellicer was, and still is, one of the most beloved Mexican actresses of all time. She set a standard for realism in a time when "melodrama" and "artificial" acting still ran rampant. She was best known for her groundbreaking performance in One-Eyed Jacks (1961) with Marlon Brando. She is greatly missed. Fans still wonder why she left us so soon. Perhaps next of kin will continue her magnificent tradition.
- Carmen Salinas was born on 5 October 1939 in Torreon, Coahuila, Mexico. She was an actress, known for Man on Fire (2004), Carnival Nights (1978) and Bellas de noche (1975). She was married to Pedro Plascencia and Carlos Paulín. She died on 9 December 2021 in Mexico City, Mexico.
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Legendary masked Mexican wrestler / actor who achieved icon status via his highly colorful wrestling career and starring appearances in nearly 60 motion pictures. Born Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta on September 23rd, 1917 in Hidalgo, Mexico, he was the fifth of seven children and the family moved to Mexico City in the 1920s where Rodolfo became keenly interested in several sports including baseball, gridiron and eventually wrestling. Wrestling took off in the early 1930s in Mexico after several promoters had witnessed events in Texas, and in Mexico the sport eventually became known as "Luche Libre", literally "free fight," Mexico's version of professional wrestling. Rodolfo's first wrestling appearance was alleged to have been at Arena Peralvillo Cozumel on June 28th, 1934, and he soon became an active figure on the Mexican wrestling circuit under various names including "El Hombre Rojo", "Rudy Guzman", "El Demonio Negro" and "El Murcielago II". After initially competing as a "rudo" ( bad or "heel" wrestler ), Rodolfo became a "técnico" (good or "babyface" wrestler) and that's the way he remained for the next fifty years.
In 1942, his manager, Don Jesus Lomeli, was assembling a team of masked silver wrestlers, and wanted Rodolfo to join the ensemble. He was given the choice of three stage names, "El Diablo" (The Devil), "El Santo" (The Saint) or "El Angel" (The Angel). Rodolfo chose "El Santo" and first wrestled under that name at Arena Mexico on June 26th, 1942. During the 1950s, a Mexican artist named Jose Guadalupe Cruz seized upon Santo's popularity with the local populace and began a "fumetti" style "Santo" comic book that was to run for over 35 years and had Santo fighting villains both real and supernatural!
Santo had resisted previous advances to appear in serials or motion pictures, however he finally reneged and his first film appearance's were in the ultra low budget Santo vs. the Zombies (1962), Santo vs. the Evil Brain (1961) and Santo vs. Infernal Men (1961), all shot in Cuba just prior to Fidel Castro seizing power! The Mexican fans flocked to see Santo in his role as a crime fighting super hero on the cinema screen, and his movie career literally exploded overnight! Over the next three decades Santo starred in dozens of films, often teaming to fight evil with fellow masked wrestler the Alejandro Cruz (aka "Blue Demon). Santo's most popular films include Santo vs. the Vampire Women (1962), Santo and Blue Demon vs. the Monsters (1970) and Santo and Blue Demon vs. Dr. Frankenstein (1974).
However, their was a change of power in Mexican government in 1976, and the new administration frowned upon the masked wrestler genre, and film funding was canceled which effectively spelled the demise of the genre.
Santo's final film appearance was in The Fury of the Karate Experts (1982) filmed in Florida, and Santo officially retired from wrestling/acting on July 26th, 1982 (at the age of 65!). After nearly fifty years years of never being seen without his trademark mask, Santo appeared on the Mexican TV talk show "Contrapunto" on January 26th 1984, and without warning, he unmasked and revealed his face. Sadly, Santo passed away from a heart attack less than two weeks later on February 5th, 1984. The Mexican people were shattered by the death of their idol, and his funeral was attended by tens of thousands of fans, plus many wrestling identities, and Santo was finally laid to rest at a mausoleum in Mexico City wearing his beloved silver mask.
Santo had married twice during his life. Firstly to Maria de los Angeles Rodriguez Montano and then secondly to Eva Enriquetta Vallejo Vadager, and he fathered eleven children. More than an actor or wrestler, he was a much loved and venerated cultural icon to the Mexican people and beyond.- Actress
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The daughter of Vogue's editor-in-chief for 40 years, Edna Woolman Chase, Ilka was named for a Hungarian friend of her mother. She went to school in France and later acted in stock with Rube Miller in New York. Her first appearance on Broadway was as a maid in 'The Red Falcon' in 1924.
After co-starring in her next play, the mystery "Shall we Join the Ladies?" (with Leslie Howard, 1925), she established a reputation as an intelligent leading lady of the stage. She went on to have further successes in prestigious plays by Philip Barry ("The Animal Kingdom", 1932, as Grace Macomber), Thomas Mitchell ("Forsaking all Others", 1933, with Tallulah Bankhead), Eugene O'Neill ('Days Without End', 1934, as Lucy Hillman) and Clare Boothe Luce ("The Women", 1936, as Sylvia Fowler). In 1944, she starred in her adaptation of her novel "In Bed we Cry", playing an actress somewhat inspired by, or modeled upon, her own experiences and personality.
Although she appeared in several motion pictures, few came close to showcasing her caustic personality. The exception was, perhaps, The Big Knife (1955), in which she portrayed a Hedda Hopper-like newspaper columnist. An earlier role of note included Now, Voyager (1942). Bosley Crowther thought her 'cool' in Ocean's Eleven (1960).
Chase was known as much for her acting ability, as for her acidulous wit and sometimes scathing criticism, leveled at her contemporaries in general and her peers in particular. A member of the social elite herself, she used her insight in her best-selling autobiography, 'Past Imperfect', written in 1942. The book brought her nationwide fame, taking gratuitous pot-shots at writers, actors and socialites alike. It eventually led to her hosting a radio program, "Luncheon at the Waldorf". She was also actively involved in a number of charities and a staunch advocate of wildlife preservation and protection.- Actress
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Born in interwar Prague as Miroslava Stanclová, her father died and she was adopted by a Jewish doctor, the psychoanalyst Dr. Oskar Leo Stern (1900-1972) who married her mother, Miroslava (née Becka; 1898-1945). Dr. and Mrs. Stern had a son, Ivo (1931-2011), the actress's half-brother. The family was, at one point, interned in a concentration camp after they fled their native Czechoslovakia in 1939. They sought refuge in various Scandinavian countries before emigrating to Mexico in 1941.
After winning a beauty contest in Mexico City, young Miroslava spent some time in Los Angeles studying acting. Due to her European features and accent, she rarely found roles other than mysterious women or foreign beauties. She was eventually offered a role in what would become her last and most remembered film: Luis Buñuel's The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz (1955).
Soon after the film wrapped, she committed suicide reportedly because the man she loved married another woman. In a macabre coincidence, the premiere of The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz (1955), in which a mannequin in her likeness is incinerated, was released during her own cremation in a Mexican graveyard. Her short, tragic life inspired a short story in 1990, and a film, Miroslava (1993).- Thelma Dorantes was born on 30 September 1949 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico. She was an actress, known for La secta del sargón (1990), Amorcito corazón (2011) and Juventud rebelde (1987). She died on 10 April 2024 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico.
- Miguel Ángel Fuentes was born on 29 September 1953 in Tlacotepec, Oaxaca, Mexico. He was an actor, known for The Pumaman (1980), Fitzcarraldo (1982) and The Mexican (2001). He died on 28 December 2023 in Mexico City, Mexico.
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René Cardona was born on 8 October 1906 in Havana, Cuba. He was an actor and director, known for Santa Claus (1959), Night of the Bloody Apes (1969) and Don Juan Tenorio (1937). He was married to Julieta Zacarías. He died on 25 April 1988 in Mexico City, Mexico.- Magdalena Carmen Frieda Kahlo y Calderon was born on July 6, 1907 in Mexico City, Mexico. She was the seventh daughter of Guillermo Kahlo (born Carl Wilhelm Kahlo), a successful German photographer who emigrated to Mexico from Pforzheim, and of a mestiza mother, Matilde Calderón y González. Her father encouraged her interest in art, photography and archaeology; her mother was not so well educated, and also very religious.
At the age of 6, Frida suffered an attack of poliomyelitis, which left her with a deformed leg, although exercise and determination helped her to make a good recovery. At 14, she enrolled into one of Mexico's best schools hoping to forge a career in medicine; however, on September 17, 1925, she suffered serious injury in a traffic accident in Mexico City, breaking her spinal column and pelvis in three places, as well as her collar bone and two ribs. Her right leg, already deformed by polio, was shattered and fractured in 11 places and her right foot was dislocated. Frida spent the next month in hospital, and another 2 months at home recuperating, followed by 32 operations during her life-time. Her first prolonged hospitalization gave her the opportunity to rethink her life and become a painter, in spite of constant pain and discomfort.
She met her future husband, painter Diego Rivera, when he painted a mural at her school in 1923; they re-met in 1927 and began an affair. Although her mother objected to Frida dating Diego mostly because of their age differences (he was exactly 20 years older) and their awkward appearance together (she was 5' 3" tall and weighed only 100 lbs, he was 6' and weighed nearly 300 lbs), they were married in a traditional Catholic civil ceremony in 1929.
Melancholia, illness, separation, divorce, and re-marriage marked their relationship; Diego Rivera was a womanizer and their marriage was stormy. Frustrated by his philandering, Frida (a closet lesbian/bisexual) had affairs with both men and women, including a fling with exiled Russian revolutionary Lev Trotskiy in 1938. Her career as an artist was highly successful and took her around Mexico, New York and Europe.
Frida and Diego divorced early in 1940, and soon after, Frida's health deteriorated. Her moderate to heavy drinking, chain-smoking, and a steady diet of candy exacerbated her infirmity. In the early 1930s, she developed an atrophic ulcer on her right foot, from which several gangrenous toes were amputated in 1934.
Frida and Diego Rivera reconciled and were re-married on his 54th birthday, in December 1940, in San Francisco, California. Following the amputation of her right leg in 1953, Frida became a recluse and more deeply depressed, finally losing the will to live. She was found dead at home in Mexico City on July 13, 1954, allegedly from kidney, liver and heart failure, although some believe she committed suicide by taking an overdose of pills. - Actress
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Edith Gonzalez was born in Mexico in 1964, as part of a well-off middle-class family. From an early age, Edith showed a passion for acting. She was discovered at the age of 5 when her mother took her to see a popular Sunday show. The producer of a show was looking for a blond girl with blue eyes and saw her sitting in the crowd. Her first role was playing Cossette in "Los Miserables" at age 5. She was offered the role of the quintessential spoiled daughter in the Mexican telenovela Los ricos también lloran at the age of 15 which made her a known figure in Mexico and made people start to recognize her in the streets.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, she kept busy taking part in numerous telenovelas, most notably Bianca Vidal and Rosa Salvaje, and a few movies filmed in Mexico City. In 1993, when she got the offer to play Monica in the seminal Corazon salvaje, a role she meant to decline, but accepted after much convincing from her brother. The series was seen across the world to much acclaim and became an instant classic.
After she finished filming Corazon salvaje, she became a bit selective of the roles she was offered, having appeared in a small number of TV series and films. Unfortunately, none of the follow up soaps or telenovelas she did after Corazon Salvaje were as successful. Her 1995 drama La Sombra Del Otro was one of the most undervalued telenovelas. Although the story and her performance are acclaimed by those who watched the novela, it did not receive the acceptance that was expected because it wasn't the traditional soft storyline. In 1997, Edith acted in La Jaula de Oro with Saul Lisazo, which again didn't have the rating it much deserved. The same year she became the lead in the successful musical "Aventurera", a live production lead by Carmen Salinas, where she interpreted a woman forced to prostitute herself after her mother abandons her at a young age. The musical is now in it's 13th year and has had many actresses in the lead role of Elena Tejero following Edith's exit, but Edith is considered by the public and the producer of the show as the best "Aventurera", and the one who sells the most. In 1999 she co-starred with Fernando Colunga in Nunca te Olvidare which was successful.
Afterwards, Edith took a break from acting, first by traveling to Paris, France to practice ballet and learn French, then from there to Los Angeles, California, USA to shoot a cosmetic ad campaign as well as learn English.
In 2001, Edith returned to Mexico to resume her acting career by taking part in the series Salomé in which she interpreted a cabaret dancer who falls in love with a wealthy married man and ends up pregnant with his child.
She attempted to get into American cinema, but had little success. Her only English-language film role was in 2003 where she played a Miami police detective alongside Eva Longoria Parker in the direct-to-video action thriller Señorita Justice which was filmed in Miami, Florida.
In 2004, Edith temporarily quit acting because of her pregnancy and choice to raise her infant daughter. From 2005 to 2007 she served as a judge in the successful dancing competition Bailando por un Sueno 1 and 2, Reyes de la pista, and Bailando por la boda de mi suenos. She also starred in two telenovelas. The first being Mundo de Fieras in which she interpreted the main villain, Jocelyn, who suffered from schizophrenia and was bipolar. Along with Mundo de Fieras she also starred once again in Aventurera, gaining the same popularity she had the first time (she starred in it from 2005-2008). The second soap opera was Palabra de Mujer (alongside Yadihra Carrillo, Ludwika Paleta, and Lydia Avila), in this she played TV producer Vanessa Noriega.
In 2008, Edith moved to Colombia where she starred in the production of Dona Barbara for Telemundo. The telenovela was based on the famous book, Dona Barbara, written by Venezuelan author Romulo Gallegos. It talks about the fight against barbarism, represented by Dona Barbara (Gonzalez), and civilization, represented by Santos Luzardo (character interpreted by Christian Meier). The soap opera broke records becoming Telemundo's most internationally sold soap opera ever.
In 2010, she returned to Mexico and co-starred in the juvenile telenovela Camaleones, starring Belinda and Alfonso Herrera. She later starred in the play Buenas Noches, Mama (Mexican version of Night Mother, written by Marsha Norman) alongside Rosa Maria Bianchi. The play was originally programmed to run for 10 weeks, but due to its success was extended and ended on June 4. In July she announced that she was engaged to economist Lorenzo Lazo, and that they were expecting a child. Unfortunately, with five months of gestation and a week before their wedding she lost the baby (later revealed that it was to be a girl). A month later they happily got married.
In October that same year, she surprised the public and the media when she announced that she had moved to the TV Azteca network (competitor of the largest television network in Mexico, Televisa, for which she worked more than 30 years). She signed a three year contract for 5 million dollars. She is also the new Hispanic figure for the Got Milk campaign, she posed with the famous milk mustache along with her 6 year old daughter, Constanza.- Actor
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Germán Valdés was born on 19 September 1915 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico. He was an actor and producer, known for Three and a Half Musketeers (1957), Chanoc en las garras de las fieras (1970) and Chanoc contra el tigre y el vampiro (1972). He was married to Rosalía Julián, Micaela Vargas and Magdalena Martínez. He died on 29 June 1973 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico.- Born in Mexico City on the 18th of August, 1944, Helena Rojo has an extensive career in theater, film and television acting, in both domestic and international productions (notably collaborating with Werner Herzog in "Aguirre, the Wrath of God", as well as Arturo Ripstein in "Fox Trot").
She began her career in the 60's as a model whilst studying drama, and in 1968 made her cinematic debut in "El Club de los Suicidas" ("The Suicide Club"), followed in the same year with "Los Amigos" ("Friends"). In 1974 she made her first television appearance as Isaura in the telenovela "Extraño en su Pueblo" ("Stranger in Your Town").
Throughout the 70's and 80's she worked with some of the most renowned and prolific directors in Mexico, including Jorge Fons, Rafael Corkidi, Marcela Fernández Violante and Alberto Bojórquez.
The role that garnered her the most national acclaim was that of Luciana Duval in "El Privilegio de Amar" ("The Privilege of Love"), as well as Juliana in "Abrazame Muy Fuerte" ("Big Hug"), for which she also won a TV y Novelas award for Best Supporting Role. She also appeared prominently in "Ramona", which was widely regarded as the telenovela of the year in 1999.
More recently, in 2006 she appeared in "Vidas de Fuego", a show-within-a-show featured on the US comedy/drama series "Ugly Betty", portraying Patricia Rivera. - Actor
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Alfonso Zayas was born on 30 June 1941 in Tulancingo, Hidalgo, Mexico. He was an actor and producer, known for Transplante a la mexicana (1990), La presidenta municipal (1975) and El sexo me divierte (1988). He died on 8 July 2021 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico.- Actor
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Jorge Luke was born in Mexico City. His career started with a movie called "There's always a first time" where he was a day player but soon after he caught the eyes of Mexican Directors and Producers and had an uninterrupted acting career as a leading man in film and television for over three decades. He worked in Hollywood and his breakthrough role was Kenitai in Ulzana's Raid with Burt Lancaster, he also co-starred in Clear and Present Danger with Harrison Ford, La Chevre with Franco Nero and played Col. Julio Figueroa in Oliver Stone's film El Salvador. He was married to actress Isela Vega with whom he had one daughter, Shaula Obscura Vega. Their marriage was short-lived and he never married again. He raised his only daughter as a single father and never stopped working. He also starred in the musical comedy West Side Story as Bernardo and in "So spoke Zarathustra" Directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky. His last feature film was "Erase una vez en Durango".- Music Artist
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Born in Villanueva, Zacatecas, to Jesús Aguilar y Aguilar and Ángela Márquez Barraza Valle, Antonio Aguilar is one of the most iconic actor-singers of Mexican cinema. He began his singing career in the 1940's and then debuted in national Mexican cinema in 1952, during its Golden era. Later in his acting career, Aguilar was noted for his brilliant portrayals of revolutionary and folk-song heroes in historical films. He won the "Premio ACE" Award for Best Actor for his performance in Zapata (1970). Aguilar married frequent co-star Flor Silvestre in 1959.- Begoña Palacios married the film director Sam Peckinpah (1925-1984) when he was filming Major Dundee (1965) in Mexico. A very young and beautiful actress and dancer became the second wife of this controversial movie maker. They had a daughter Maria Guadalupe Peckinpah Palacios (better known as Lupita Peckinpah). When Begoña died on March 1st 2000, she requested that her ashes were thrown to Malibu beach where Peckinpah's remains are.
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Rebecca Jones was born on 21 May 1957 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico. She was an actress and producer, known for Cuna de lobos (1986), Días de combate (1994) and Amorosos fantasmas (1994). She was married to Alejandro Camacho. She died on 22 March 2023 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico.- Actor
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Ramón Valdés was a Mexican actor of film and television best known for his portrayal of Don Ramón in the popular sitcom El Chavo. Prior to becoming a television star, Valdés was an extra in many films.
Valdés participated in more than 50 Mexican films, specializing in hyperactive underdog characters. He is likely best-remembered for playing Don Ramón in the hit television show El Chavo. Valdés also appeared on Chespirito's other hit show, El Chapulín Colorado, usually as Chapulín's antagonist, the famous Tripaseca ("Dry Gut"). In some episodes, he portrayed a character named Super Sam, an English-speaking, money-thirsty superhero dressed as Superman, clearly mocking Uncle Sam and the relatively wealthy situation of United States, when compared to average Latin American countries, as well as criticizing the American colonialism. Valdés also played El Peterete, the original partner of El Chómpiras in early versions of the Los Caquitos sketches.
Both El Chavo and El Chapulín became major international hits across Latin America, Spain, the United States and other non-Spanish speaking countries, giving their entire cast international fame.
On 9 August 1988, Valdés died at age 63 after a battle with stomach cancer.- Actor
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Joaquin Cordero was born in the city of Puebla in Mexico. Shortly after his birth his family moved to Mexico City, and in the following years he studied in a seminary and even considered becoming a priest, but eventually he decided to pursue a law career. By the mid forties, after three years of law classes, against his family's wishes he decided to become an actor. He initially appeared in bit parts, but by the early fifties he was getting larger parts. Eventually he became one of the most prolific and popular actors in Mexican cinema, he also went on to do theatre, television and throughout his career won numerous awards, and even today, into his early eighties, he is still as active as ever.- Actress
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Irán Eory was born on 21 October 1937 in Teheran, Iran. She was an actress, known for The Blancheville Monster (1963), Rubí (1970) and La verbena de la Paloma (1963). She was married to Carlos Monden. She died on 10 March 2002 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico.- Manuel Ojeda was born on 4 November 1940 in La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico. He was an actor, known for Romancing the Stone (1984), Alborada (2005) and El infierno de todos tan temido (1981). He died on 11 August 2022 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico.
- Blonde younger sister of Lorena Velázquez, Teresa Velázquez made her first film in 1957. Often cast as a frivolous young woman, she worked steadily on screen and theater with Alejandro Jodorowsky through the 1970s, then retired from acting for a number of years. She made a comeback and was working on the stage and on TV when stricken with cancer in 1996. She died the following year after a well-publicized and valiant battle with the disease. Teresa Velázquez first married Venezuelan actor Espartaco Santoni (they had two children, one of whom is actress Paola Santoni) and then producer Carlos Vasallo.
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- Director
- Producer
Carlos Enrique Taboada was born on 18 July 1929 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico. He was a writer and director, known for Poison for the Fairies (1986), La guerra santa (1979) and La telaraña (1986). He was married to María del Rocío Amezquita. He died on 15 April 1997 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico.- Rogelio Guerra was born on 8 October 1936 in Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes, Mexico. He was an actor, known for Mañana es para siempre (2008), Las pecadoras (1968) and Ha llegado una intrusa (1974). He was married to Maribel Robles and Otilia Larrañaga. He died on 28 February 2018 in Mexico City, Mexico.
- Born in England, Jacqueline Voltaire has lived in Africa, France, Germany, the United States and Mexico. She was a model, a singer and dancer as well as an accomplished actress. Most recently she also has done work as an image consultant. She is very well known in Mexico, where she has lived for thirty years.
- Actress
- Writer
- Director
Multitalented María Elena Velasco is Mexico's greatest comedienne. La India María, the hilarious, likable indigenous woman she created and played, is the most successful female movie character in the history of Mexican cinema; her comedies broke box office records and remain widely popular. She also had her own comic book, recorded a couple of albums, starred in a stage show and a sitcom.
María Elena Velasco Fragoso was born in the Mexican city of Puebla. Her family moved to Mexico City to get medical help for her father, who became seriously ill. After her husband passed away, Mrs. Velasco decided to stay in the Mexican capital. María Elena and her younger sister, Susy Velasco, eventually found work in show business.
The beautiful and curvaceous María Elena began her career as a dancer in variety shows. She then started working as an actress on stage, playing the serious counterparts to comedians Fernando Soto "Mantequilla", Adalberto Martínez "Resortes", Manuel Medel, and José Jasso. Around the same time, she married actor Julián de Meriche and made her debut on the big screen with small roles in México de mis recuerdos (1963), Los derechos de los hijos (1963), and El revólver sangriento (1964).
La India María, the character that finally made her a star, was inspired by the indigenous street vendors who sold fruit on San Juan de Letrán Avenue in central Mexico City. María Elena's new comedy sketch based on those women was overwhelmingly popular at the Teatro Blanquita. The highly amusing character successfully transitioned to television. Her frequent appearances in TV shows such as Domingos espectaculares (1969) and Siempre en Domingo (1970) led to a film career.
Fernando de Fuentes hijo produced her first blockbuster, Tonta, tonta, pero no tanto (1972). María Elena returned to television as the main star and host of the variety program Revista musical Nescafe (1972). La India María continued to triumph at the box office with her adventures as a vendor of healing water in Pobre, pero honrada! (1973), a troublesome nun in La madrecita (1974), a mayor of a small town in La presidenta municipal (1975), and the guardian of a rich Shih Tzu dog in El miedo no anda en burro (1976).
La India María often finds herself in zany situations. She flies a helicopter in Sor Tequila (1977), is seen as a good luck charm in Duro pero seguro (1978), and masquerades as a rich society woman in La comadrita (1978). Her character travels to the US for the first time in Okey, Mister Pancho (1981). She won Mexico's equivalent of the Golden Globe Award for her performance in ¡El que no corre... vuela! (1982), her final collaboration with Fuentes.
In the early 1980s, María Elena signed a new contract with Antonio Matouk. Matouk gave her more artistic freedom and produced El coyote emplumado (1983) and Ni Chana, ni Juana (1984), the first India María movies she directed. Her son, Iván Lipkies, produced her first independent feature film, Ni de aquí, ni de allá (1988). Six years later, she found theatrical success reprising her India María role in the stage comedy México canta y aguanta (1994), for which she won the Mexican Theatre Critics Association's Celia Montalván Award.
After a long absence from the small screen (she had been blacklisted for many years for joking about the expensive vacations of Mexican presidents), La India María came back with her own sitcom, ¡Ay María qué puntería! (1998), and several guest appearances. She wrote the screenplay for her penultimate screen comedy, Las delicias del poder (1999), a political satire in which she plays twin sisters. It was directed by her son and produced by her daughter, Ivette Lipkies.
Las delicias del poder was such a success that María Elena planned another India María movie, but the project was eventually postponed. In the meantime, the Lipkies-Velasco family adapted William Shakespeare's Othello as Huapango (2004). Iván was the director and María Elena and Ivette (credited as Ivette Lipkies) played supporting roles. The script earned the three of them an Ariel Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
La India María made her long-awaited comeback in the comedy La hija de Moctezuma (2014), a thrilling adventure fantasy. Eduardo Manzano, another iconic Mexican comedian, was cast as her grandfather and the two sang the movie's theme song, which she also wrote. Sadly, María Elena passed away several months after the premiere and this movie turned out to be her final work.- Actress
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Evangelina Elizondo was born on 28 April 1929 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico. She was an actress, known for A Walk in the Clouds (1995), Días de otoño (1963) and ¿Nos traicionará el presidente? (1988). She was married to José Luis Paganoni. She died on 2 October 2017 in Mexico City, Mexico.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Claudio Brook was born on 28 August 1927 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico. He was an actor, known for The Exterminating Angel (1962), Licence to Kill (1989) and Simon of the Desert (1965). He was married to Mercedes Pascual, Alicia Bonet and Eugenia Avendaño. He died on 18 October 1995 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico.- Actor
- Writer
Axel Jodorowsky was born on 24 July 1965. He was an actor and writer, known for Santa Sangre (1989), Miss Bolero (1994) and Pubertinaje (1971). He died on 15 September 2022 in Mexico City, Mexico.- Jorge Martínez de Hoyos was born on 25 September 1920 in Mexico City, Mexico. He was an actor and writer, known for The Magnificent Seven (1960), Lonesome Dove (1989) and Cronos (1992). He was married to Alicia Caro. He died on 6 May 1997 in Mexico City, Mexico.
- Gonzalo Vega was born on 29 November 1946 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico. He was an actor, known for Lo que importa es vivir (1987), Las poquianchis (De los pormenores y otros sucedidos del dominio público que acontecieron a las hermanas de triste memoria a quienes la maledicencia así las bautizó) (1976) and El juicio de Martín Cortés (1974). He was married to Leonora Sisto. He died on 10 October 2016 in Mexico City, Mexico.
- Actor
- Director
Enrique Lizalde was born on 25 April 1936 in Mexico, Distrito Federal, Mexico. He was an actor and director, known for Si Dios me quita la vida (1995), Corazón salvaje (1993) and The Scapular (1968). He was married to Tita Grieg. He died on 3 June 2013 in Mexico City, Mexico.- Ernesto Gómez Cruz was born on 7 November 1933 in Veracruz, Veracruz, Mexico. He was an actor, known for The Realm of Fortune (1986), Midaq Alley (1995) and The Crime of Padre Amaro (2002). He died on 6 April 2024 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico.
- Actor
- Director
- Writer
He was a Spanish actor; his father was from Puerto Rico and his mother from Catalonia. His debut in theater was in 1943 and in cinema in 1944. At the end of the fifties he lived in South America. He committed suicide with a gunshot while living in Mexico City, Mexico.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Gabriel Figueroa was born on 24 April 1907 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico. He was a cinematographer, known for The Pearl (1947), The Young and the Damned (1950) and Maria Candelaria (1944). He died on 27 April 1997 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico.- Actress
- Make-Up Department
One of the quintessential vamps of Mexican cinema from the late 1950s through the early 1970s, Lorena Velázquez was the daughter of character actor Víctor Velázquez, and the older sister of actress Tere Velázquez. She made her screen debut in 1955, and her role as Thorina, queen of the vampires, in Santo vs. the Vampire Women (1962), elevated her to the status of cult icon.- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Director
Gustavo Rojo was born on 5 September 1923 in Montevideo, Uruguay. He was an actor and director, known for Caesar Against the Pirates (1962), The Valley of Gwangi (1969) and The Evil Forest (1952). He was married to Erika Remberg, Mercedes Castellanos and Carmela Stein. He died on 22 April 2017 in Mexico City, Mexico.- Eduardo Noriega was born on 25 September 1916 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico. He was an actor, known for Zorro: The Gay Blade (1981), Rose of Santa Rosa (1947) and High Risk (1981). He died on 14 August 2007 in Mexico City, Mexico.
- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Adalberto Martínez was born on 25 January 1916 in Mexico, Distrito Federal, Mexico. He was an actor and writer, known for Los albañiles (1976), El rey de México (1956) and La presidenta municipal (1975). He was married to Meche Constanzo, Gloria Ríos and Josefina Flores Santacruz. He died on 4 April 2003 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico.- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Fernando Almada was born on 26 February 1929 in Mexico, D.F., Mexico. He was an actor and writer, known for El hechizo del pantano (1978), Un mulato llamado Martín (1975) and Pasaporte a la muerte (1988). He died on 30 October 2023 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico.