MarÃa Antonia Abad Fernández MML (10 March 1928 â€" 8 April 2013),
known professionally as Sara Montiel, and as Sarita Montiel, was a
Spanish singer and actress. She has been called a "sexual, feminist,
and gay icon for Francoist Spain."Montiel was born in Campo de
Criptana in the region of Castileâ€"La Mancha in 1928. She worked in
Europe, Latin America and United States. Her films The Last Torch Song
and The Violet Seller netted the highest gross revenues ever recorded
for films made in the Spanish-speaking movie industry during the
1950s/60s.She was portrayed in the Pedro Almodóvar film Bad Education
by a male actor in drag (Gael GarcÃa Bernal) as the cross-dressing
character Zahara, and a film clip from one of her movies was used, as
well.Montiel started in movies at 16 in her native Spain, where she
appeared in a secondary role in her first movie, Te quiero para mà (I
want you for myself) in 1944, immediately followed by a leading role
in Empezó en boda (It Began with a Wedding) also in 1944. In April of
1950, accompanied by her mother, she moved to Mexico, starring in a
dozen films in less than five years. It was in Mexico that she first
learned how to read and write, taught by the poet León Felipe.
Hollywood came calling afterwards, and she was introduced to United
States moviegoers in the film Vera Cruz (1954), directed by Robert
Aldrich. She was offered the standard seven-year contract at Columbia
Pictures, which she refused, afraid of Hollywood's typecasting
policies for Hispanics. Instead she freelanced at Warner Bros. in
Serenade (1956), directed by Anthony Mann, and at RKO in Samuel
Fuller's Run of the Arrow (1957).
known professionally as Sara Montiel, and as Sarita Montiel, was a
Spanish singer and actress. She has been called a "sexual, feminist,
and gay icon for Francoist Spain."Montiel was born in Campo de
Criptana in the region of Castileâ€"La Mancha in 1928. She worked in
Europe, Latin America and United States. Her films The Last Torch Song
and The Violet Seller netted the highest gross revenues ever recorded
for films made in the Spanish-speaking movie industry during the
1950s/60s.She was portrayed in the Pedro Almodóvar film Bad Education
by a male actor in drag (Gael GarcÃa Bernal) as the cross-dressing
character Zahara, and a film clip from one of her movies was used, as
well.Montiel started in movies at 16 in her native Spain, where she
appeared in a secondary role in her first movie, Te quiero para mà (I
want you for myself) in 1944, immediately followed by a leading role
in Empezó en boda (It Began with a Wedding) also in 1944. In April of
1950, accompanied by her mother, she moved to Mexico, starring in a
dozen films in less than five years. It was in Mexico that she first
learned how to read and write, taught by the poet León Felipe.
Hollywood came calling afterwards, and she was introduced to United
States moviegoers in the film Vera Cruz (1954), directed by Robert
Aldrich. She was offered the standard seven-year contract at Columbia
Pictures, which she refused, afraid of Hollywood's typecasting
policies for Hispanics. Instead she freelanced at Warner Bros. in
Serenade (1956), directed by Anthony Mann, and at RKO in Samuel
Fuller's Run of the Arrow (1957).
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