Acquanetta (born Mildred Davenport; July , â€" August , ),[a]
nicknamed "The Venezuelan Volcano," was an American B-movie actress
during the s and s. Acquanetta was most known for her "exotic"
beauty.The facts of Acquanetta's origins are not known with certainty.
Although accounts differ (some giving her birth-name as Mildred
Davenport, from Norristown, Pennsylvania), Acquanetta claimed she was
born Burnu Acquanetta, meaning "Burning Fire/Deep Water", in Ozone,
Wyoming. Orphaned from her Arapaho parents when she was two (or
three), she lived briefly with another family before being taken in by
an artistic couple with whom she remained until she made the choice to
live independently at the age of fifteen. Other accounts suggest her
ethnicity was African American; her career was followed closely by the
African American press. In , LIFE magazine noted her mysterious
origins, but reported that she had lived with a Spanish family in
Spanish Harlem posing as a Venezuelan before moving to Mexico, then
Venezuela to obtain citizenship. The article suggests that the Arapaho
orphan story was invented because she was unable to produce any
identification for the Screen Actors Guild.According to the US
Census, she had five siblings, including a sister, Kathryn Davenport,
and a brother, Horace Davenport, who was, according to the
Pennsylvania Bar Association, "the first African-American judge in
Montgomery County."
nicknamed "The Venezuelan Volcano," was an American B-movie actress
during the s and s. Acquanetta was most known for her "exotic"
beauty.The facts of Acquanetta's origins are not known with certainty.
Although accounts differ (some giving her birth-name as Mildred
Davenport, from Norristown, Pennsylvania), Acquanetta claimed she was
born Burnu Acquanetta, meaning "Burning Fire/Deep Water", in Ozone,
Wyoming. Orphaned from her Arapaho parents when she was two (or
three), she lived briefly with another family before being taken in by
an artistic couple with whom she remained until she made the choice to
live independently at the age of fifteen. Other accounts suggest her
ethnicity was African American; her career was followed closely by the
African American press. In , LIFE magazine noted her mysterious
origins, but reported that she had lived with a Spanish family in
Spanish Harlem posing as a Venezuelan before moving to Mexico, then
Venezuela to obtain citizenship. The article suggests that the Arapaho
orphan story was invented because she was unable to produce any
identification for the Screen Actors Guild.According to the US
Census, she had five siblings, including a sister, Kathryn Davenport,
and a brother, Horace Davenport, who was, according to the
Pennsylvania Bar Association, "the first African-American judge in
Montgomery County."
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