Dolores del Río
María de los Dolores Asúnsolo y López Negrete, known professionally as Dolores del Río, was a Mexican actress. With a career spanning more than 50 years, she is regarded as the first major female Latin American crossover star in Hollywood. Along with a notable career in American cinema during the 1920s and 1930s, she was also considered one of the most important female figures in the Golden Age of Mexican cinema, and one of the most beautiful actresses of her era.
After being discovered in Mexico, she began her film career in Hollywood in 1925. She had roles in a string of successful films, including Resurrection, Ramona and Evangeline. Del Río came to be considered a sort of feminine version of Rudolph Valentino, a ‘female Latin Lover’, in her years during the American silent era.
With the advent of sound, she acted in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to musical comedies and romantic dramas. Her most successful films of that decade include Bird of Paradise, Flying Down to Rio and Madame Du Barry. In the early 1940s, when her Hollywood career began to decline, Del Río returned to Mexico and joined the Mexican film industry, which at that time was at its peak, during the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema.
When Del Río returned to her native country, she became one of the more important stars of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema. A series of Mexican films starring Del Rio are considered classic masterpieces and helped boost Mexican cinema worldwide. Of them stands out the critically acclaimed María Candelaria. Del Río remained active mainly in Mexican films throughout the 1950s. In 1960 she returned to Hollywood. During the next years she appeared in Mexican and American films. From the late 1950s until the early 1970s she also successfully ventured into theater in Mexico and appeared in some American TV series.
Del Río is considered a quintessential representation of the female face of Mexico in the world.
Early life and education
María de los Dolores Asúnsolo y López Negrete was born in Victoria de Durango, Mexico on 3 August 1904, daughter of Jesús Leonardo Asúnsolo Jacques, son of wealthy farmers and director of the Bank of Durango, and Antonia López Negrete, who belonged to one of the richest families in the country, whose lineage went back to Spain and the viceregal nobility. Antonia Negrate's first cousin was Agustín López-Negrete who was wounded in the foot September 1894 by Pancho Villa.Her parents were members of the Mexican aristocracy that existed during the Porfiriato. On her mother's side, she was a cousin of the filmmaker Julio Bracho and of actors Ramón Novarro and Andrea Palma. On her father's side, she was a cousin of the Mexican sculptor Ignacio Asúnsolo and the social activist and model María Asúnsolo. Additionally, she was the aunt of the actress Diana Bracho.
Del Río's family lost all its assets during the Mexican Revolution that spanned from 1910 to 1920. Durango aristocratic families were threatened by the insurrection that Pancho Villa was leading in the region. The Asúnsolo family decided to escape, her father to the United States, and she and her mother to Mexico City on a train, disguised as peasants. In 1912, the Asúnsolo family reunited in Mexico City and lived under the protection of then-president Francisco I. Madero, who was a cousin of Mrs. Asúnsolo.
Del Río attended the Collège Français de Saint-Joseph, a college run by French nuns and located in Mexico City. She also developed a great taste for dance, that awakened in her when her mother took her to one of the performances of the Russian dancer Ana Pavlova, where she was fascinated by seeing her dance and decided to become a dancer herself. She confirmed her decision later when she witnessed the performances of Antonia Mercé "La Argentina" in Mexico City. She then persuaded her mother to allow her to take dance lessons with the respected teacher Felipita López. However, she suffered from great insecurity and felt like an ‘ugly duckling’. Her mother commissioned the renowned painter Alfredo Ramos Martínez to paint a portrait of her daughter. The portrait helped her overcome her insecurities. In 1921, aged 17, del Río was invited by a group of Mexican women to dance in a party to benefit a local hospital. At this party, she met Jaime Martínez del Río y Viñent, son of a wealthy family. Jaime had been educated in the United Kingdom and had spent some time in Europe. After a two-month courtship, the couple wed on 11 April 1921. It was from him that she inherited her artistic surname.
Her honeymoon with Jaime lasted two years and they carried it out traveling through Europe, where in a stop at Spain, Del Río danced for the king and queen of Spain, who were fascinated to see her perform a dance for the soldiers of the war in Morocco. The king and queen thanked her deeply, and the queen gave her a photograph. Returning to Mexico, Jaime decided to dedicate himself to growing cotton at his ranch called Las Cruces, in Nazas, Durango. However, a fall in the world cotton market in 1924, caused an economic crisis for both and had to settle in Mexico City under the economic protection of their respective families. For her part, she had to sell her jewelry to try to recover some of the fortune she had lost with her husband. In addition to this, Dolores arrived pregnant when they returned to the country and had complications that could not be overcome, which caused a miscarriage and after which the doctors recommended not to get pregnant again since it would be very dangerous, taking away the possibility of having children.
Career
1925–1929: Silent film stardom
In early 1925, the painter Adolfo Best Maugard, close friend of del Río and her husband, visited their home and with him was an American filmmaker Edwin Carewe, an influential director at First National Pictures, who was in Mexico for the wedding of actors Bert Lytell and Claire Windsor. Carewe was fascinated with del Río and became determined to have her, so he invited the couple to work in Hollywood. He convinced Jaime, saying he could turn his wife into a movie star, “The female equivalent of Rudolph Valentino.” Jaime thought that this proposal was a response to their economic needs. Deep down, he could also fulfill his old dream of writing screenplays in Hollywood. Breaking with all the canons of Mexican society at that time and against their families wishes, they journeyed by train to the United States to start a career in film within that country. They arrived in Hollywood on 27 August of that year, where del Río was contracted by Carewe and he began to act as her agent, manager, producer and director. Her name was shortened to ‘Dolores Del Rio’. Seeking to get her wide public attention, Carewe made a report dedicated to del Río in the major magazines in Hollywood which said:She made her film debut in Joanna, directed by Carewe and released that year. In the film del Río plays the role of Carlotta De Silva, a vamp of Spanish-Brazilian origin, but she appeared for only five minutes. While continuing with his advertising campaign for del Río, Carewe cast her in a secondary role in the film High Steppers, starring Mary Astor. In the same year, Carl Laemmle, the head of Universal Studios, cast del Río in the comedy The Whole Town's Talking. These films were not big hits, but helped increase her profile with the movie-going public. Del Rio got her first starring role in the comedy Pals First also directed by Carewe.
In 1926, the filmmaker Raoul Walsh called del Río to cast her in the war film What Price Glory?. The film was a commercial success, becoming the second highest-grossing title of the year, grossing nearly $2 million in the United States alone. That same year, thanks to the remarkable progress in her career, she was selected as one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars of 1926, along with fellow newcomers Joan Crawford, Mary Astor, Janet Gaynor, Fay Wray and others.
In 1927, United Artists became interested in del Río's career and signed a contract with her and Carewe. Under the production of the studio, the film Resurrection, was filmed. Rod La Rocque was chosen to play her co-star. Due to the success of the film, del Río quickly began shooting The Loves of Carmen, again directed by Raoul Walsh.
In 1928, del Río filmed No Other Woman, directed by Lou Tellegen. When actress Renée Adorée began to show symptoms of tuberculosis, del Río was selected for the lead role of the MGM film The Trail of '98, directed by Clarence Brown. The film was a huge success and brought favorable reviews from critics. Also in 1928, she was hired again by United Artists for the third film version of the successful novel Ramona, directed again by Carewe. The success of the film was helped by the same name musical theme, written by L. Wolfe Gilbert and recorded by del Río. Ramona was the first United Artists film with synchronized sound and it is also one of the first Hollywood films to feature a soundtrack.
In late 1928, Hollywood was concerned with the conversion to sound films. On 29 March, at Mary Pickford's bungalow, United Artists brought together Pickford, del Río, Douglas Fairbanks, Charles Chaplin, Norma Talmadge, Gloria Swanson, John Barrymore, and D. W. Griffith to speak on the radio show The Dodge Brothers Hour to prove they could meet the challenge of talking movies. Del Río surprised the audience by singing ‘Ramona’ proving to be an actress with the skills needed for sound cinema.
Although her career blossomed, her personal life was turbulent. Her marriage to Jaime Martínez ended in 1928. After a brief separation, Dolores filed for divorce. Six months later, she received news that Jaime had died in Germany. As if this were not enough, del Río had to suffer incessant harassment from her discoverer, Edwin Carewe, who did not cease in his attempt to conquer her. Del Río never felt attracted to Carewe. She only felt gratitude for his support and his romantic advances began to bother her. In the same year, del Rio made her third film with Raoul Walsh, The Red Dance.
Her next project was Evangeline a new production of United Artists also directed by Carewe and inspired by the epic poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The film was accompanied again by a theme song written by Al Jolson and Billy Rose and played by del Río. Like Ramona, the film was released with a Vitaphone disc selection of dialogue, music and sound effects.
Edwin Carewe still had ambitions to marry del Río, with the intent that they become a famous Hollywood couple. Carewe prepared his divorce from his wife Mary Atkin and seeded false rumors about a romance with del Río in campaigns of his films. During the filming of Evangeline, del Río considered separating professionally from Carewe, seeking support and advice from United Artists lawyers, since Carewe had an exclusivity contract signed by her.
In New York, following the successful premiere of Evangeline, and upon recommendation of the firm's lawyers, del Río declared to the reporters: "Mr. Carewe and I are just friends and companions in the art of the cinema. I will not marry Mr. Carewe." Eventually, she canceled her contract with him. Furious, Carewe filed criminal charges against del Río alleging breach of contract. Advised by United Artists lawyers, del Río reached an agreement with Carewe out of court, paying compensation. In spite of this settlement, Carewe started a campaign against her. In order to eclipse her, he filmed a new sound version of Resurrection starring Lupe Vélez, another popular Mexican film star and with whom the public assumed that del Río had a rivalry.
Having finally broken off professionally from Carewe, del Río was prepared for the filming of her first talkie: The Bad One, directed by George Fitzmaurice. The film was released in June 1930 with great success. Critics said that del Río could speak and sing in English with a charming accent. She was a suitable star for the talkies.