Sara Montiel

Sara Montiel was a Spanish film actress and singer who was born on March 10, 1928 in Campo de Criptana, Ciudad Real, Spain. Her real name was María Antonia Abad Fernández, but she adopted the stage name Sara Montiel as a tribute to the actress Carmen Montiel. She was known as one of the most internationally popular and highest paid stars of Spanish cinema in the 1960s. She appeared in nearly fifty films and recorded around 500 songs in five different languages. Montiel started her career in movies at sixteen in her native Spain, where she appeared in a secondary role in her first movie, Te quiero para mí (I want you for myself) in 1944, followed by a leading role in Empezó en boda (It Began with a Wedding) also in 1944. She then starred in films such as Mariona Rebull (1946), Don Quixote (1947) and Madness for Love (1948). In 1950, she moved to Mexico and starred in a dozen films there in less than five years, including Women's Prison (1951), Red Fury (1951) and Cinnamon Skin (1953). She then moved to Hollywood and worked in three English-language films: Vera Cruz (1954), directed by Robert Aldrich; Serenade (1956), directed by Anthony Mann, whom she married; and Run of the Arrow (1957), directed by Samuel Fuller. She refused the standard seven-year contract at Columbia Pictures, afraid of being typecast for Hispanic roles. She returned to Spain to star in the musical films The Last Torch Song (1957) and The Violet Seller (1958). These two films netted the highest gross revenues ever recorded internationally for films made in the Spanish-speaking movie industry during the 1950s 60s and made her immensely popular. She then established herself also as a singer thanks to the songs she performed in her films and combined filming new musical films, recording songs and performing live. Some of her most famous songs are La violetera, Bésame mucho ,El relicario and Fumando espero. She recorded songs in Spanish, French, Italian, German and English. She also wrote several books and comics in the genre of horror and romance. Montiel's personal life was the subject of constant media attention in the Spanish-speaking world. She was married four times and adopted two children. She also claimed to have had affairs with celebrities such as James Dean, Ernest Hemingway, Severo Ochoa and Miguel Mihura. She published two memoirs: Memories: To Live Is A Pleasure (2000) and Sara and Sex (2003). Montiel died of congestive heart failure on April 8, 2013 at her home in Madrid, Spain at the age of 85. She was buried at the Sacramental de San Justo cemetery in Madrid. She left behind a legacy of artistic excellence and passion for cinema and music that inspired many fans and filmmakers around the world.