Dolores del Rio

In the Mexican revolution of 1916, however, the family lost everything and emigrated to Mexico City, where Dolores became a socialite.

Dolores del Rio was the one of the first Mexican movie stars with international appeal and who had meteoric career in the 1920s/1930s Hollywood. Del Rio came from an aristocratic family in Durango.

In 1921 she married Jaime Del Río (also known as Jaime Martínez Del Río), a wealthy Mexican, and the two became friends with Hollywood producer/director Edwin Carewe, who "discovered" del Rio and invited the couple to move to Hollywood where they launched careers in the movie business (she as an actress, Jaime as a screenwriter).

Eventually they divorced after Carewe cast her in her first film Joanna (1925), followed by High Steppers (1926), and Pals First (1926).

She had her first leading role in Carewe's silent version of Pals First (1926) and soared to stardom in 1928 with Carewe's Ramona (1928). The film was a success and del Rio was hailed as a female Rudolph Valentino.

She contributed money to a statue likeness of her as the title character in Evangeline (1929). Upon completion in 1930, the statue was placed beside St. Martin de Tours Catholic Church in St. Martinville, Louisiana. The statue rests on a spot marking the alleged burial place of Emmeline Labiche, who local lore claims was the inspiration behind Longfellow's tragic heroine. It has become a popular tourist attraction and is known as "The Evangeline Statue".

Her career continued to rise with the arrival of sound in the drama/romance Bird of Paradise (1932) and hit musical Flying Down to Rio (1933). She later married Cedric Gibbons, the well-known art director and production designer at MGM studios.

In February 1934, it was announced in the press that Dolores Del Rio was tired of playing native girl roles and has bobbed her hair, had a permanent and put on swanky clothes for her upcoming RKO Radio Picture Dance of Desire. The movie eventually never was made.

Dolores returned to Mexico in 1942. Her Hollywood career was over, and a romance with Orson Welles--who later called her "the most exciting woman I've ever met"--caused her second divorce.

Mexican director Emilio Fernández offered her the lead in his film Flor Silvestre (1943), with a wholly unexpected result: at age 37, Dolores del Río became the most famous movie star in her country, filming in Spanish for the first time. Her association with Fernández' team (cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa, writer Mauricio Magdaleno and actor Pedro Armendáriz) was mainly responsible for creating what has been called the Golden Era of Mexican Cinema.

With such pictures as María Candelaria (Xochimilco) (1944), Las abandonadas (1945) and Bugambilia (1945), del Río became the prototypical Mexican beauty. career included film, theater and television. In her last years she received accolades because of her work for orphaned children.

She won the Ariel Award (Mexican Academy Award) three times: in 1946 for Las abandonadas (1945); in 1952 for Doña Perfecta (1951) and in 1954 for El niño y la niebla (1953).

Member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1957

She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1630 Vine Street in Hollywood, California on February 8, 1960.

Member of the jury at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1962

Following her death, she was cremated and interred at Panteon Civil de Delores in Mexico City, Mexico, specifically on the Rotunda of Illustrious Persons. She passed away on April 11, 1983, four months away from what would have been her 79th birthday on August 3.

On August 19, 2020, she was honored with a day of her filmography during the Turner Classic Movies Summer Under the Stars.