Dolores Del Rio

Dolores Del Rio was one of the first Mexican actresses to achieve international fame and recognition in Hollywood and Mexican cinema. She was born into a wealthy and aristocratic family in Durango, Mexico, but lost her fortune during the Mexican Revolution. She married a banker, Jaime Martínez del Río, and moved to Mexico City, where she became a socialite and met the American filmmaker Edwin Carewe, who invited her to Hollywood. She made her film debut in Joanna (1925) and soon became a leading lady in silent films, such as Resurrection (1927), Ramona (1928) and Evangeline (1929). She was considered a female version of Rudolph Valentino, a "female Latin Lover". With the advent of sound, she transitioned to different genres, such as musicals, comedies and dramas. Some of her most successful films of that period were Bird of Paradise (1932), Flying Down to Rio (1933), Madame Du Barry (1934) and The Fugitive (1947). She also married Cedric Gibbons, the art director of MGM, and became part of the Hollywood elite. However, her career declined in the early 1940s, and she divorced Gibbons after a turbulent affair with Orson Welles. She returned to Mexico and joined the Mexican film industry, which was experiencing its golden age. She worked with some of the most acclaimed directors, such as Emilio Fernández, Julio Bracho and Luis Buñuel, and starred in films that are considered classics of Mexican cinema, such as María Candelaria (1944), Las abandonadas (1945), Bugambilia (1945) and The Young and the Damned (1950). She became a symbol of Mexican beauty and culture, and was admired for her elegance and talent. She also ventured into theater and television, and continued to appear in some American films, such as Cheyenne Autumn (1964) and The Children of Sanchez (1978). She was also involved in humanitarian causes, such as helping orphaned children and supporting the arts in Mexico. She died of liver failure in Newport Beach, California, in 1983, and her ashes were taken to Mexico, where she was honored with a state funeral and a place in the Rotonda de las Personas Ilustres. She is regarded as one of the most influential and iconic actresses of all time, and a pioneer of Latin American cinema.