Sara Montiel

Sara Montiel
Montiel in 1956.
Born	María Antonia Abad Fernández (1928-03-10)10 March 1928 Campo de Criptana (Ciudad Real), Spain
Died	8 April 2013(2013-04-08) (aged 85) Madrid, Spain
Nationality	Spanish
Occupation(s)	Singer, actress
Years active	1942–2012
Spouse(s)	Antonio Hernández (2002–2005; divorced) José Tous Barberán (1979–1992; his death; 2 children) José Vicente Ramírez Olalla (1964–1970; divorced) Anthony Mann (1957–1963; divorced)

María Antonia Abad Fernández (10 March 1928 – 8 April 2013) known professionally as Sara Montiel (also Sarita Montiel or Saritísima) was a Spanish singer and actress.

Montiel was born in Campo de Criptana in the region of Castile–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. Montiel's film Variety was banned in Beijing in 1973. She played the role of Antonia, the niece of Don Quixote, in the 1947 Spanish film version of Cervantes's great novel.

She was portrayed in the Pedro Almodóvar film Bad Education by a male actor in drag (Gael García Bernal) as the cross-dressing character Zahara, and a film clip from one of her movies was used, as well.

Acting career

Montiel started in movies at 15 in her native Spain where she filmed her first movie playing an Islamic princess in the 1948 film Madness for Love, released in the U.S. as The Mad Queen. Later worked in Mexico, starring in a dozen films in less than five years. Hollywood came calling afterwards, and she was introduced to United States moviegoers in the film Vera Cruz (1954) co-starring Gary Cooper and Burt Lancaster, and 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. with Mario Lanza and Joan Fontaine in Serenade (1956), directed by Anthony Mann, and at RKO in Samuel Fuller's Run of the Arrow (1957), opposite Rod Steiger and Charles Bronson.

From The Last Torch Song (1957) on she combined filming, recording songs in five languages and performing live. Almost all of her films earned high box office results. Among the films during the 1960s and early 1970s were The Violet Seller (1958), Carmen, la de Ronda (1959), Mi Último Tango (1960), Pecado de Amor (1961), La Bella Lola (a 1962 version of Camille), Casablanca, Nid d'espions (1963), Samba (1964), La Femme Perdue (1966), Tuset Street (1967), Esa Mujer (1969), Varietes (1971) and others. By then she had become dissatisfied with the movie industry when producers started offering her erotic roles in comedy films. In 1974 Montiel announced her retirement from movies but continued performing live, recording and starring on her own variety television shows in Spain.

In November 2009, Alaska from the Spanish pop group Fangoria invited Montiel to record a track sharing vocals with her for the re-release of the band's album Absolutamente. They recorded the title track "Absolutamente" as a duet. The music video for the song was released in early 2010. She had no plans to retire, and, in May 2011, after almost 40 years without making a movie, she accepted to perform in a feature film directed by Óscar Parra de Carrizosa. The film title is Abrázame and was shot on location in La Mancha.

Personal information

Montiel was born María Antonia Abad Fernández (complete name María Antonia Alejandra Vicenta Elpidia Isidora Abad Fernández) in 1928 in Campo de Criptana (Ciudad Real), Spain. She entered films after winning a beauty and talent contest at age 15. In her first movie she was credited as "María Alejandra" a shortened version of her real name. For her next film she changed her name to Sara, after her grandmother, and Montiel after the Montiel fields in the Castile–La Mancha region of her birth. She has been married four times:

• Anthony Mann (American actor, film director); 1957-1963 (divorced)
• José Vicente Ramírez Olalla (attorney); 1964-1978 (annulled)
• José Tous Barberán (attorney, journalist); 1979-1992 (Tous's death); this union produced two adopted children: Thais (born 1979) and José Zeus (born 1983)
• Antonio Hernández (Cuban videotape operator); 2002-2005 (divorced)

In 2000, Montiel published her autobiography Memories: To Live Is A Pleasure, an instant best seller with ten editions to date. A sequel Sara and Sex followed in 2003. In these books Montiel revealed other relationships in her past including one-night stands with writer Ernest Hemingway as well as actor James Dean. She also claimed a long-term affair in the 1940s with playwright Miguel Mihura and mentioned that science wizard Severo Ochoa, a Nobel Prize winner, was the true love of her life.

Montiel died in 2013 at her home in Madrid at the age of 85 from congestive heart failure.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Country	Notes
1943	Te Quiero Para Mí		Spain	Credited as "María Alejandra"
1944	Empezó en Boda		Spain
1945	Bambú		Spain
1945	Se le Fue el Novio		Spain
1945	El Misterioso Viajero del Clipper		Spain
1946	Por el Gran Premio		Spain
1946	Mariona Rebull	Lula	Spain
1947	Confidencia		Spain
1947	Don Quixote	Antonia	Spain	Released in the U.S. in 1949
1947	Alhucemas		Spain
1947	Vidas Confusas		Spain
1948	Madness for Love		Spain	Released in the U.S. in 1949 as The Mad Queen
1948	La Mies es Mucha		Spain
1949	Pequeñeces...		Spain
1951	Captain Poison		Spain
1951	Red Fury	María Stevens	Mexico / United States	Stronghold is its English version with Veronica Lake in Montiel's part
1951	Necesito Dinero		Mexico
1951	Women's Prison	Dora	Mexico
1951	Here Comes Martin Corona	Rosario	Mexico
1951	El Enamorado / Vuelve Martín Corona		Mexico
1952	Yo soy gallo dondequiera		Mexico
1953	That Man from Tangier	Aixa	Spain / United States
1953	She, Lucifer and I	Isabel	Mexico
1953	Reportaje		Mexico	She does not appear in the final cut
1953	Porque Ya No Me Quieres		Mexico
1953	Cinnamon Skin	Marucha	Mexico / Cuba
1954	Frente al Pecado de Ayer / Cuando se Quiere de Veras		Mexico / Cuba
1954	Yo no Creo en los Hombres		Mexico / Cuba
1954	Se solicitan modelos	Rosina	Mexico
1954	Where the Circle Ends	Isabel	Mexico	Circle of Death in the U.S.
1954	Vera Cruz	Nina	United States
1956	Serenade	Juana Montes	United States
1957	Run of the Arrow	Yellow Moccasin	United States
1957	The Last Torch Song	Maria Luján	Spain
1958	The Violet Seller	Soledad Moreno	Spain
1959	A Girl Against Napoleon	Carmen	Spain	The Devil Made a Woman in the U.S. and U.K.
1960	My Last Tango	Marta Andreu	Spain
1961	Pecado de Amor		Spain
1962	The Lovely Lola	Lola	Spain
1962	Queen of The Chantecler	La Bella Charito	Spain
1963	Casablanca, Nest of Spies	Teresa	Spain
1965	Samba	Belén / Laura Monteiro	Spain / Brazil
1965	La dama de Beirut	Isabel	Spain
1966	The Lost Woman	Sara Fernán	Spain
1967	Tuset Street	Violeta Riscal	Spain
1969	Esa Mujer		Spain
1971	Variety	Ana Marqués	Spain
1973	Cinco Almohadas para una Noche		Spain
1996	Asaltar los Cielos	Herself	Spain	Documental
2001	Sara Una Estrella	Herself	Spain	Documental
2002	Machin, Toda Una Vida	Herself	Spain	Documental
2003	A Thousand Clouds of Peace		Spain	Montiel's recording of "Nena" used as theme song
2004	Bad Education		Spain	Features a couple of Montiel's songs and film clips
2011	Abrázame		Spain

Discography

• Sara Montiel en Mexico
• Canciones de la Película "El Último Cuple" - London 5409
• La Violetera - Columbia - EX 5056
• Baile con Sara Montiel
• Carmen la de Ronda - Columbia EX 5020
• Besos de Fuego
• Mi Último Tango - Columbia EX 5048
• El Tango
• Pecado de Amor - Columbia EX 5092
• La Bella Lola
• Noches De Casablanca
• Samba
• La Dama de Beirut
• Canta Sarita Montiel
• Esa Mujer
• Sara
• Varietés
• Sara... Hoy
• Saritisima
• Anoche con Sara
• Purisimo Sara
• Sara De Cine
• Sara A Flor de Piel
• Amados Mios
• Todas Las Noches A Las Once
• Sara Montiel La Diva
• Sara Montiel La Leyenda
• Besame - Columbia EX 5077 (1962)
• Songs From The Film Besame - Columbia EX 5135

Awards

• 2012 - "Reina de la Belleza Honorífica".

External links

• Sara Montiel at IMDb
• Sara Montiel's InfoMontiel USA