Dolores Del Rio
About
Biography
Biography
Easily one of the most beautiful women of her era and one of the most gorgeous people ever to make it to the ranks of film stardom. Del Rio's career in the 1920s and 30s unfortunately suffered from too many exotic, two-dimensional roles designed with Hollywood's cliched ideas of ethnic minorities in mind. Her best-remembered film from this period is "Flying Down to Rio" (1933), which partnered Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers for the first time. One of her more interesting parts was her last American lead, in "Journey Into Fear" (1942), set up by and co-starring Del Rio's then paramour, Orson Welles. It took a return to the stage and screen in her native Mexico (where she won that country's equivalent of a Best Actress Oscar four times and was lauded as "the first lady of Mexican theater") and later Hollywood character parts (e.g., in John Ford's "The Fugitive" 1947 and his "Cheyenne Autumn" 1964) for her talent to be fully displayed.
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Cast (Short)
Life Events
1910
Family fled to Mexico City to escape Pancho Villa
1912
Began taking dancing lessons from noted dancer Felipa Lopez (date approximate)
1925
Painter friend Adolfo Best Maugard brought honeymooning director Edwin Carewe and his wife Mary Aiken and married film stars Claire Windsor and Bert Lytell to visit Del Rios; Carewe offered Del Rio a Hollywood contract
1925
Arrived in Hollywood August 27
1925
Film acting debut in "Joanna"
1926
Selected as one of 13 WAMPAS (Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers) "Baby Stars" of the year
1926
After small parts in four films, played first important lead in "What Price Glory?"
1929
Voice first heard on film in part-talkie, "Evangeline"
1932
Starred in film, "Girl of the Rio", which drew formal protest from the Mexican government for portraying the Mexican system of justice as "a reflection of who could pay the most for the verdict of their liking"
1934
Beauty ranked second only to Garbo's by famed photographer Baron George Hoyningen-Huene in August issue of Photoplay magazine
1936
Journeyed to England to star in "Accused"
1942
Last Hollywood lead, "Journey Into Fear"
1943
Returned to Mexico; signed contract giving her a percentage of the profits from her films
1947
One-shot return to Hollywood at John Ford's request; played opposite Henry Fonda in Ford's "The Fugitive"
1956
Debuted onstage in New England summer stock touring production of "Anastasia"
1957
Made US TV debut in "Old Spanish Custom", an episode of the "Schlitz Playhouse of Stars"
1958
Debuted on Mexican stage in Oscar Wilde's "Lady Windemere's Fan", which she had filmed in Buenos Aires in 1948
1960
Returned to Hollywood; played Elvis Presley's mother in "Flaming Star"
1978
Appeared in first American film in nearly a dozen years, opposite Anthony Quinn in "The Children of Sanchez"; also her last
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