He was born in a place in La Mancha whose name he always wanted to remember Maria Antonia Abad Fernándezbetter acquainted with that Stage name of Sara Montielthen March 1928. Daughter of a farmer and a barber at home, he knew poverty from the cradle. So much so that she and her sister came to eat roots to satisfy their hunger. Sara seemed destined to be a submissive and devoted housewife, but when she was discovered by the magazine’s director, everything changed for her. triumph, Angel Ezcurra. After hearing her sing a saeta during Holy Week in Orihuela, the journalist decided to convince Sara’s parents to let her take part in a young talent competition organized by film producer Cifesa in Madrid’s Retiro Park.
“He represented Valencia with a song of his idols Argentine Empire, My copla’s brunetteemphasizes Daniel María in the illustrated biography saritisima (Variety Editions). “Despite the fact that he had a minor mishap during his performance, falling as soon as he entered the stage, he beat the thirty contestants and won a stipend of five hundred pesetas a month for a year. This allowance enabled him to settle in a boarding house in Madrid with a nurse provided by the Ezcurras. He enrolled in declamation courses at the conservatory and took his first steps into the world of cinema.
Sara made her film debut when she was just sixteen with a small role in the film Ladislao Vajda i want you for me (1944). The following year he would meet his representative, Enrique Herreros, whose sense of smell was crucial to initiate the transformation of the original María Alejandra into Sara Montiel. “Herreros made a decisive contribution to changing the young woman’s appearance,” says María. “Her image, which oscillated between naive and malicious, what was then called a ‘Topolino girl’, seemed more mature with her blond hair and the good nature of her gait.” But the young woman, like Rocinante, needed a loud, sonorous and meaningful names. Sara likes her grandmother and Montiel likes the neighboring fields of her hometown of Criptana. The merger hit the mark has created a beautiful, alluring and graceful name. A star had just been born.
The jump to Mexico
“La Manchega” chained supporting characters and co-stars The friend has gone (1945), in which he collaborated with Fernando Fernán Gómez, The clipper’s mysterious traveller (1945) year for the grand prize (1946). However, on the advice of her first boyfriend, the intellectual, she was denied relevant roles Michael Mihurawho, by the way, was twenty-two years older than her, He agreed to try his luck across the pond. In MexicoMontiel began acting in theaters, formed an artist couple with stars like Pedro Infante and she made fourteen films in all, practically one a month, making her a recognized star across the continent.
Sara’s inner circle began to fill with personalities from the Spanish exile and the Mexican intelligentsia. The diva commented on this in her memoirs Leon Philip He encouraged her to practice studying and reading. The poet fell in love with her and, upon learning about her, hit her at least once Relationship with communist leader Juan Plaza. Apparently this Spanish exile maintained one She had a long romance with La Mancha and became pregnant. Years later, hairstylist José de la Rosa gave an interview to a magazine commenting that his friend Sara had told him that when she was very young, she had had a daughter from an important Mexican man: “The girl was born from a very long and complicated cesarean section. . When Sara woke up from the anesthetic, she was told that she had given birth to a stillborn baby girl. Another version says that after her daughter was born, someone stole her and gave her to a couple in Valencia to raise her.
A new book entitled Sara Montiel. The woman and the star beyond myth (Almuzara) provides more details about this Juan Plaza who tried to control Sara’s life and career, which eventually led her to flee their home together in Morelos state, Mexico. “Late 1955”, the author, the writer Israel Rolon-Barada“One day, very early in the morning, with her bags already packed and ready to embark on the journey to Madrid via Los Angeles, accompanied by her mother, Sarita said goodbye to her husband at their home in Cuernavaca, but not without explaining it to him that they were only going on vacation for a few weeks. What Plaza didn’t know was that He was gone forever, leaving home, never to return. They had only bought one-way tickets. Completely enraged, Plaza threatened to kill her and spent time chasing her. According to Enrique Herreros Jr., the guy stopped by one day Guayaquilwhere Sara performed He carried a pistol with which he intended to fire several shots (but the representative of La Mancha dissuaded him from his intention).
Knowing that her ex could not enter the United States due to her communist exile status, Sara Montiel settled in Hollywood, where he made three feature films. with the first Veracruz, directed by Robert Aldrichshared the bill with actors the stature of Gary Cooper j Burt Lancaster. Thank you to another of them. serenadeshe met her first husband, the American director anthony man. After the premiere of this film, Sara traveled to Spain solely for filming the last coupleta feature film that, thanks to word of mouth, conquered the Spanish box office and, incidentally, too He revealed to the public a model of a singer that had not existed until then. “When Sara turns the coo into a whisper, she gives real meaning to the lyrics,” says her biographer. Pedro Villara.
control of your career
It was precisely at this time that the producer Max Arnoldout of Columbia, offered the Manchega a seven-year contract. But signing meant she would be bound for a long time to the will of a giant who would control her freedoms, her will, and her career, so Sara turned it down. “Instead, he accepted the counter offer warner, a two-year contract in which he imposed a termination clause,” writes María in her book. “La Montiel was aware of this at all times His future in the film industry was to be shaped by the interpretation of his body and accent that Hollywood made of it. They would cast her in supporting roles, she would just be a Latina supporting actress and they would take advantage of her carnal and erotic side. They would not respect your decisions or listen to your suggestions. He would have no control over his career.
Sara decided to sign with Warner Spanish highest-grossing actress and universal actress, which allowed him to return to Spanish cinema some time later and change the way a film is made. Since then, Sara started producing her own film projects and set a series of conditions: from the fact that he was the absolute protagonist of his feature films, to having the last word in choosing the director of the film, personal supervision of aspects such as the list of songs on the soundtrack and the costumes and not returning to fetch get up early to attend a shoot.
Like any fine icon of freedom worth her salt, the diva embodied pioneering behaviors and decisions in Spain at the time. “The censorship apparatus, despite its determined attempts, could not abolish censorship free and independent woman who, despite her sentimental and emotional nuances, represented Sara‘ adds Mary. “No one could interpret Montiel’s characters as she did, and indeed no one did, because they were far different from the submissive archetype of female characters in Spanish cinema of the time.”
After the discreet premiere in 1974 by Five pillows for one night, her last film, Sara came to the conclusion that her cinema was no longer keeping up with the times. “I retired because of the breakout movies‘ he would say later. “They went into the kitchen in a beautiful evening dress to rant and then came out naked. I didn’t like it at all, it didn’t suit me.” Luckily for his followers, his professional life didn’t end with his retirement from cinema, and indeed the trail of his fame lingered to the end of his days.
