Sara Montiel

Montiel started in movies at 16[8] in her native Spain, where she appeared in a secondary role in her first movie, Te quiero para mí (I want you for myself) in 1944,[6] immediately followed by a leading role in Empezó en boda (It Began with a Wedding) also in 1944.[9][10] In April 1950, accompanied by her mother, she moved to Mexico, starring in a dozen films in less than five years.[11] It was in Mexico that she first learned how to read and write, taught by the poet León Felipe.[11] Hollywood came calling afterwards, and she was introduced to United States moviegoers in the film Vera Cruz (1954), 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. in Serenade (1956), directed by Anthony Mann, and at RKO in Samuel Fuller's Run of the Arrow (1957).

In 1957 she returned to Spain and starred in El último cuplé (The Last Torch Song),[12] which was filmed with a very low budget, became a worldwide megahit, and made Montiel a film and singing superstar.[11][5] After The Last Torch Song, 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 - Her fee for this film was one million dollars, which was "something unheard of for a Spanish star in those days."),[2] 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 and what she saw as overt nudity in films.[13] Montiel's film Variety was banned in Beijing in 1973.

In 1974, Montiel announced her retirement from movies but continued performing live, recording, and starring on her own variety television shows in Spain, including MTV[14][15][16]

In November 2009, the performer 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 on 18 December 2009.[17] Well into her 80s, he had no plans to retire, and continued working in various projects.[9] In May 2011, after almost 40 years without making a movie, she performed in a feature film directed by Óscar Parra de Carrizosa. The film title is Abrázame and was shot on location in La Mancha.

She is considered "one of the most important actresses in the history of Spain",[8] and has been described by Spain's press as a "myth of Spanish cinema."[18] Montiel has also been characterized as "the most beautiful woman of 20th century Spain."[19] She appeared in nearly 50 films and recorded around 500 songs.[8]

Monument to Montiel in Campo de Criptana.

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.[2] She entered films after winning a talent contest at age 15.[11][20] 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 was married four times,[21][11] and was ex-communicated by the Catholic Church in Spain for the civil-wedding ceremony of her first marriage:[11]

• 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)[22]
• 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 10 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[11] as well as actor James Dean.[23] She also claimed a long-term affair in the 1940s with playwright Miguel Mihura[11] and mentioned that science wizard Severo Ochoa, a Nobel Prize winner, was the true love of her life.[11][24]

In her later years, Montiel became an iconic figure to the gay community, and noted "Cuando voy a actuar a alguna ciudad de EE UU allí están todos los gays de la ciudad" (Whenever I perform in any city in the USA, all the gays from that city show up).[13] Montiel died in 2013 at her home in Madrid at the age of 85 from congestive heart failure,[25][20] and was buried in the San Justo Cemetery in Madrid.[9]

• 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

• Gold Medal of Merit in Labour (Kingdom of Spain, 5 December 2008).[26]

• 2012 - "Reina de la Belleza Honorífica".[27]

• Sara Montiel at IMDb
• Sara Montiel's InfoMontiel USA
• Video of Sara Montiel singing "La Violetera"