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Dolores del Río

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Dolores del Río

Dolores del Rio
Born María de los Dolores Asúnsolo López-Negrete
August 3, 1904(1904-08-03)
Durango, Mexico
Died April 11, 1983 (aged 77)
Newport Beach, California,
United States
Years active 1925–1978
Spouse(s) Jaime Martínez del Río (1921-1929)
Cedric Gibbons (1930-1940)
Lewis Riley (1959-1983)

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, becoming an important actress in Mexican films later in her life. She was generally thought to be one of the most beautiful actresses of her generation. Dolores del Río was the first Latin American movie star with international appeal, and she made an extraordinary career in 1920s and 1930s Hollywood. She was the Mexican female star with most international appeal until Salma Hayek.

Was considered the female version of Rudolph Valentino in her silent films ages. With the arrival of the talkies she was considered one of the principal Art-Decó symbols of beauty.

In the early 40's she began a polemic romance with Orson Welles and that was the key reason why she decided to return to Mexico.

Dolores was the principal star of Mexican films from the Golden age of Mexican cinema in the 1940s and 1950s. She was one of the the greatest examples of Latin American cinema, with a huge industry comparable to the Hollywood of those years. She was frequently referred as the "Princess of México".


Contents

[edit] Early life

Born María de los Dolores Asúnsolo y López Negrete in Durango, Mexico, del Río was the second cousin of actor Ramón Novarro and the actress Andrea Palma. She was born into a Mexican family of Spanish-Basque descent. Her parents were Jesus Leonardo Asúnsolo Jacques, director of the Bank of Durango and Antonia Lopez-Negrete, members of the Porfiriato (which refers to members of the productive class during the period from 1876-1911 when Porfirio Diaz 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 Dolores to follow a career as an actress.

She studied at a French college in Mexico City. From childhood she had shown a great passion for dancing and was a fan of the Russian dancer Anna Pavlova. She would dance for gatherings of rich Mexicans, and at one of these dances she met Jaime Martinez del Rio, a representative of one of Mexico's most important families. Despite being 18 years older than her, Jaime and Dolores fell in love. In 1921, at the age of 16, she married him. The couple spent three years in Europe. In Europe, Dolores met the Kings of Spain, Alfonso XIII and Victoria Eugenia of Battenberg, which dealt with some frequency, impressed particularly the king.[1]. In 1924, they returned to Jaime's ranch in Durango. The couple moved to Mexico City, where del Río was discovered by movie producer Edwin Carewe at a soireè organized by Adolfo Best Maugard in Salvador Novo's house. Struck by the beauty of Dolores, Carewe gave the couple work in Hollywood, she as an actress and he as a screenwriter.

[edit] Career in Hollywood

[edit] Silent cinema

With the surname of her husband, del Río made her debut in the film Joanna, directed by Carewe in 1925 and released on 14 December of that year.[2] Hollywood first noticed her appeal as a sex siren, but she struggled against the "Mexicali Rose" image initially pitched to her by Hollywood executives. Despite her brief appearance, Carewe performed an exhaustive publicity for the actress. In her second film High Steppers, Del Rio took the second female credit after Mary Astor. These films were not blockbusters, but helped increase del Río's popularity. Carewe's true intention was to transform her into a female version of Rudolph Valentino.

In late 1926, director Raoul Walsh called del Río to give her a role in What Price Glory. With the character of Charmaine, del Río achieved her desired success. Later, she was selected as one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars in 1926 (along with fellow newcomers Joan Crawford, Fay Wray, Janet Gaynor, and Mary Astor). She came to be admired as one of the most beautiful women on screen. After she gained fame, Carewe produced Resurrection, which was a box office hit.

In 1927, Raoul Walsh called del Río for the second version of Carmen. The first was with Theda Bara in 1917, but Walsh thought del Río it best interpret of all the "Hollywood's Carmen" for his authentic Latin origin: "The Miss Del Río interpretation of Carmen does seem all the others very conservative"[3]. In 1928, Dolores replaces the actress Renée Adorée in the MGM's film The Trail of '98, directed by Clarence Brown. Her career flourished until the end of the silent era, with successful films such as Ramona (1928, for which she recorded the famous song Ramona with the RCA Victor), and Evangeline (1929). But while del Río's career was flourishing, her marriage declined. Jealous of his wife, Jaime moved to Germany, where he committed suicide in 1929. With the arrival of the talkies, del Río left her working relationship with Carewe, who made several charges against her. The Carewe's revenge was filming a new version of Resurrection with the alleged Dolores rival Lupe Vélez. With the support of United Artists, she managed to escape Carewe and debuted in the talkies with The Bad One in 1930.

[edit] In the Thirties

In 1930, she married Cedric Gibbons, one of MGM's leading art directors and production designers, whom she met at a party organized by William Randolph Hearst and Marion Davies at Hearst Castle. Her presence in Hollywood of the 30's is not just limited to the world of cinema, also the high society circles. The Gibbons-Del Río house in Hollywood was a frequent meeting place from personalities like Greta Garbo, Errol Flynn, Lili Damita, Clark Gable and many more.[4].

With the advent of talkies, she was relegated to exotic and unimportant roles. The Hollywood executives sought "do not talk too much at her movies", because of her latin acent. She scored successes with Bird of Paradise (1932, directed by King Vidor. The film was produced by David O'Selznick that request the scrpit to King Vidor and say: "I want Del Rio in a love story in the South Seas. I don't care the script, but in the end, Del Rio should be thrown into a volcano". [5] 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 launched the careers of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers) (1933) and Madame DuBarry (1934) and Wonder Bar (1934). In this movie, del Río shifting severaly to the Warner's exclusive star Kay Francis, who jealous, threatened to leave the film[6]. Later, Dolores starred the Busby Berkeley comedies In Caliente (1935) and I Live for Love (1935). In 1934, she refuses to participate in the film Viva Villa! (filmed finally by Fay Wray)[7].

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. This would have consequences later in the career of the actress[8].

In the late thirties, del Río's career declined. With the support of Warner Bros. she made a series of police films (such as Lancer Spy in 1937 and International Settlement). But del Río's career in the later 1930s unfortunately suffered from too many exotic, two-dimensional roles designed with Hollywood's cliched ideas of ethnic minorities in mind. "When the film is bad, the wardrobe is good" said Dolores.[9] She was marked as "box office poison", along with actresses such as Marlene Dietrich, Joan Crawford, Katharine Hepburn and others.

Dolores del Río with Orson Welles at the premiere of Citizen Kane in 1941

In 1940, Dolores met Orson Welles, who at that time was coming up in Hollywood. Feeling a mutual attraction, the pair began a romance. Welles fell madly in love with her, although he was 10 years younger. The affair was reported to have been the cause of her divorce from Gibbons in 1941. Dolores del Río was with Welles for two years, during which he left his career. 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[10]. The film directed by Norman Foster was realized later by the mexican actress Esther Fernández. Dolores also accompanying Welles in a vaudeville shows in all the United States.[11] 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.

[edit] Career in México

Since the late thirties, Dolores del Río was sought on several occasions by the Mexican film directors. 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 asked her to star in Flor Silvestre (1942) and the miracle happened: at 37, 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-Fernandez, together with the cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa and the actor Pedro Armendariz had international fame. One of her most successful films was Maria Candelaria (1943, winner at the Cannes Film Festival). The movie was written by Emilio as a present for her birthday[12]. Other celebrated movies of the group were Las Abandonadas (1944, censored in México by six months[13]), Bugambilia (1945), The Fugitive (1947, directed by John Ford), and La Malquerida (1949). The Cinema of México found in Del Rio a perfect representation of the Mexican female face. Dolores del Río became the prototype of Mexican beauty in foreign countries.

Dolores del Río in Maria Candelaria in 1943

Over her colaborations with Fernández , del Río was given the opportunity to work with the best film directors in Mexico. Other important Mexican movies include La Selva de Fuego (1945), La Otra (1946), Doña Perfecta (1951), El Niño y la Niebla (1953), and others. In 1947 she filmed in Argentina a version of the Oscar Wilde's Lady Windermere's Fan. In 1954, the Cinema of Spain called del Río to film Señora Ama under the direction of Julio Bracho and in La Dama del Alba in 1966. In 1959, she married theatrical American businessman Lewis "Lou" Riley (a former member of the Hollywood Canteen), who she met in Acapulco ten years before. The house of Dolores in México called "La Escondida" in Coyoacan was very popular inside Mexican and foreign celebrities[14]. She won the Silver Ariel (Mexican Academy Award) as best actress in four times.

In 1959, the director Ismael Rodriguez achieved the impossible: bring Dolores del Río and María Félix together in one film La Cucaracha. The newspapers speculated a strong rivalry between the two actresses.[15] María Felix speaks: " With Dolores i don't have any rivalry. On the contrary. We were friends and we always treat them with great respect, each with its own personality".[16].

In 1954, del Río appeared in the 20th Century Fox film Broken Lance. The U.S. government denied her permission to work in the USA, accusing her of being a sympathizer of international communism. Because del Río did not get permission, and the film was made by Katy Jurado. Dolores 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 America to perform in the theater production of Anastacia with Lily Darvas.

[edit] Later years

Dolores del Río with Elvis Presley in Flaming Star in 1960

In 1960 Dolores del Río returned to Hollywood. She starred with Elvis Presley in Flaming Star directed by Don Siegel. Del Rio alternated between films in Mexico and the USA, with both television and theater. In 1961, before returning to Hollywood, she worked in Mexico with the Argentinan diva Libertad Lamarque. Her mother's death in 1961 forced to cancel the Spanish movie Muerte en el otoño, directed by Juan Antonio Bardem[17].

In 1964, she appeared in Cheyenne Autumn directed by John Ford, with a cast that included Richard Widmark, Carroll Baker, James Stewart, Gilbert Roland and Ricardo Montalbán. In 1967, she performed for the first time in Italy, with Sophia Loren and Omar Shariff in the film More than a Miracle, produced by Carlo Ponti.

From the 1950s until the 1960s, Dolores del Río starred in theater classics like Anastasia (1956), Lady Windermere's Fan (1958) and The Lady of the Camellias (1968)[18], with great success in Mexico, Latin America and Europe. She also participated in some American TV series, acting with figures like Buster Keaton, Cesar Romero, Bill Cosby and others. In England she starred in a BBC tv program along with Ben Lyon[19]. Dolores del Río's last movie was The Children of Sanchez, alongside Anthony Quinn.

From the fifties to the seventies, del Río collaborated in some international film festivals like Cannes Film Festival (1957), Berlin Film Festival (1963) and San Sebastián Film Festival (1976)[20].

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 of the Asociacion Nacional de Actores in Mexico. 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.[21]. In 1972, she helped found the Festival Cervantino[22].

In 1981 Dolores del Río was an honoree in the San Francisco Film Critics Circle.

[edit] Personal life

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. She met Orson Welles in 1938, and feeling a mutual attraction, the pair began a romance. Welles fell madly in love with her, although he was 10 years younger. The affair was reported to have been the cause of her divorce from Gibbons in 1940. Her relationship of four years with Welles come to end in 1943, and Orson married Rita Hayworth shortly after. Rebecca Welles, the daughter of Welles and Hayworth, met Dolores in 1954 and she said: "My father considered her the great love of his life", "She was a living legend in the history of my family".[23]

In 1949, Dolores met Lewis A. Riley in Acapulco. Riley, a theatre producer, was member of the Hollywood Canteen in the 1940's. After ten years together, the couple married in Mexico City in 1959.

[edit] Death and memorials

On April 11, 1983, Dolores del Río died from liver disease at the age of 77, in Newport Beach, California.

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 1620 Vine Street, in recognition of her contributions to the motion picture industry.

[edit] Legacy

Dolores del Río was considered in the thirties like one of the most perfect representations of the female beauty. She was the first hollywood movie star to introduce the two-pieces swimwear imitated later by other stars like Jean Harlow, Constance Bennett and Carole Lombard[24]. In 1936, she was called "the second most beautiful woman of Hollywood" (only after Greta Garbo) in the movie magazine Photoplay.

She was considered one of the prototypes of the classic woman style of the 30: " I think-say Larry Carr- 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 it's place came into vogue the angular face, the sculptures look. They produced a new type of beauty, of which Dolores del Río was the precursor. She left her 1920's 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".[25].

Marlene Dietrich considered Dolores "The most beautiful woman in Hollywood"[26].[27]. "She has better legs than Dietrich and better cheekbones than Garbo".[28] Some rumors said that her diet consisted of orchid petals and that she slept 16 hours in the day.[29]

When del Río returned to México in 1943 her face experimented a change to become a prototype of the Mexican female beauty foreign countries: "Art Deco beauty of Dolores sympathizes with the Mexican Bronze Race and embodies to a perfect ideal".[30] She was model and muse of notable Mexican painters like Diego Rivera and Jose Clemente Orozco.

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 century".[31]

Gus Khan and Edward Eliscu inspired her to compose the song Orchids in the Moonlight (from Flying Down to Rio) in 1933.

The soundtrack of Ramona (recorded in 1928) gave profits to the actress for the rest of her life.

She was interpreted by the actress Lucy Cohu in the TV. film RKO 281 in 1999.

In Durango, México (her place of birth) Dolores have a theatre, street and museum.

Dolores del Río have an statue in the 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, Dolores and María Félix were parodies in the Carlos Fuentes's script Orquídeas a la luz de la luna. Comedia Mexicana that was representated in Spain and in Harvard university.

Since 1983, the Mexican Society of Film Critics gives the Diosa de Plata award "Dolores del Río" from the best dramatic female performance.

[edit] Filmography

Main article: Dolores del Río filmography

[edit] Stage credits

  • 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)

[edit] Radio

Notable appearances include:

[edit] References

[edit] Bibliography

  • Shipman, David (1995). The Great Movie Stars: The Golden Years. Little Brown and Co.. ISBN 0316784877. 
  • Hershfield, Joanne (2000). The invention of Dolores del Río. University of Minnesota. ISBN 0816634106. 
  • 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 (1995). In SOMOS. México: Editorial Televisa, S. A. de C. V.
  • Dolores del Río, la mexicana divina (2002). In SOMOS. México: Editorial Televisa, S. A. de C. V.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Ramón (1997), vol. 1, p. 14
  2. ^ 80 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[1]
  3. ^ Ramón (1997), vol. 1, p. 32
  4. ^ Ramón (1997), vol. 1, p. 56
  5. ^ Ramón (1997), vol. 1, p. 47
  6. ^ Ramón (1997), vol. 1, p. 48,49
  7. ^ Ramón (1997), vol. 1, p. 48: She claimed "mexican reasons".
  8. ^ Ramón (1997), vol. 1, p. 51-52
  9. ^ Ramón (1997),vol. 1, p. 54
  10. ^ Ramón (1997),vol. 1, p. 58-59
  11. ^ Ramón (1997),vol. 1, p. 61
  12. ^ Ramón (1997), vol. 2, p. 16
  13. ^ 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
  14. ^ Ramón (1997),vol.2, p. 13: Located in the Santa Rosalía 37 street in Coyoacan, México City
  15. ^ Ramón (1997),vol. 2, p. 51-52
  16. ^ Félix, María (1994). Todas mis Guerras. Clío. pp. 84. ISBN 9686932089. 
  17. ^ Ramón (1997), vol. 3, p. 59-60: That in 1960 directed in México the movie Sonatas
  18. ^ Ramón (1997),vol. 3, p. 14,31,38: Directed originally by José Quintero, later dismissed by the actress
  19. ^ Ramón (1997),vol. 3, p. 17
  20. ^ Ramón (1997),vol. 2, p. 49-50; vol. 3, p. 9-10, 48-49
  21. ^ Ramón (1997), vol. 3, p. 20
  22. ^ Ramón (1997),vol. 3 p. 41-42: Realized in Guanajuato, México since 1972
  23. ^ Ramón (1997),vol. 3 p.11
  24. ^ Carr (1979), p. 227
  25. ^ Carr. (1979) , p. 229: ": Cited by Carlos Monsivais and Jorge Ayala Blanco in the Huelva Iberoamerican Film Festival in 1981
  26. ^ Ramón (1997), vol. 1, p. 53
  27. ^ Riva, Maria (1994). Marlene Dietrich. Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-38645-0. 
  28. ^ Ramón (1997), vol. 3, p. 44-45
  29. ^ María Idalia "Dolores del Río se retira del cine" Cinema Reporter no. 290 pp. 11 (1948)
  30. ^ Agrasánchez Jr. (2001), p. 239
  31. ^ Ramón (1997), vol. 3, p. 50

[edit] External links


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