Sara Montiel

Excelentísima Señora Doña Sara Montiel MML
Montiel in 1955
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
Citizenship	Spain, Mexico
Occupation	Singer, actress
Years active	1943–2013
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 MML (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 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), 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).

After The Last Torch Song (1957), 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.^[1]

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.^[2] She had no plans to retire, and 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.

Personal information

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. 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)^[3]
• 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 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.^[4]

Filmography

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

Honours

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

Awards

• 2012 - "Reina de la Belleza Honorífica".^[6]

References

External links

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