Dolores del Rio

Born Dolores Martínez Asúnsolo y López Negrete in Durango, Mexico, del Río was the second cousin of actor Ramón Novarro. Her wealthy family lost all their assets during the Mexican Revolution, and a desire to restore her comfortable lifestyle inspired her to follow a career as an actress.In 1921 at the age of 16, she married Jaime Martinez del Rio, and through a Hollywood friend the couple emigrated to the USA with the plan of establishing show business careers for themselves: as screenwriter and actress, respectively. The marriage ended in divorce, but del Río retained her married name, continued to pursue a career as an actress, and made her first film appearance in Joanna (1925) in which Hollywood first noticed her appeal as a sex siren, but struggled against the "Mexicali Rose" image initially pitched to her by Hollywood executives.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), but initially overcame prejudice that same year in one of that year's biggest screen successes, What Price Glory. She came to be admired as one of the most beautiful women on screen (compared with other newcomers like Marlene Dietrich or Greta Garbo), and her career flourished until the end of the silent era with successful films such as Resurrection, Ramona, and Evangeline (1929).In 1930, she married Cedric Gibbons, one of MGM's leading art directors and production designers. With the advent of talkies she was usually relegated to exotic and unimportant roles, but scored successes with Bird of Paradise (1932) (directed by King Vidor), Flying Down to Rio (the film that launched the careers of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers) (1933),Madame DuBarry (1934), Wonder Bar (1934),In Caliente (1935) and Acussed (1936) (in England). Divorced from Gibbons in 1941, Orson Welles fell madly in love with her although he was 10 years younger. The affair with Orson Welles was reported to have been the cause of her divorce from Gibbons in 1941. She collaborated with Welles in the film, Journey Into Fear (1942). She returned to Mexico in 1942. She was soon approached by director Emilio ''el Indio'' Fernández, and she began making Spanish-language films that brought her great success in Mexico and Hispanic America over the next twenty years.Dolores with ''el Indio'' Fernandez, the actor Pedro Armendariz and the photograph Gabriel Figueroa, formed a group of international fame. Among her most successful films were Flor Silvestre (1943) Maria Candelaria (1943,a first mexican movie in Cannes), Bugambilia, Las Abandonadas (1944), The Fugitive (1947, directed by John Ford), La Otra, La Malquerida (1949),Doña Perfecta (1950), El Niño y la Niebla (1953), La Cucaracha (1958). She was nominated for Mexico's Silver Ariel Award many times, winning four awards for her performances.Dolores married with Lewis ''Lou''Riley in 1951.In 1960 she returned to Hollywood, starred with Elvis Presley in Flaming Star directed by Don Siegel. In 1964 she appeared in Cheyenne Autumn directed by John Ford, and in 1967, appeared in ''More than a miracle'', in Italy, along Sophia Loren. During the 60's, she starring in the theater classics like ''Road to Roma'', ''Camille'' or ''Lady Windermere's Fan'', traveling to Europe and Latin America.She was member of the ''Rosa Mexicano'' (founded by the mexican actress Fanny Schiller), a group of mexican women dedicated to the charity and fighters for the rights of the actors.She was founder of the children foundation of the Mexican National Actors Society (ANDA). In 1978 she realizes his last cinematographic work in the mexican-american movie ''The Children of Sanchez''. When she dies, (april/11/1983) the mexican and international cinema world lament the loss. In 2005, on having be celebrated the centenary of his born, his mortal remains are deposited in the Mausoleum of Ilustrated People in Mexico City. Dolores del Río has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 1620 Vine Street, in recognition of her contributions to the motion picture industry.