- Born
- Died
- Birth nameDolores Martínez Asúnsolo y López Negrete
- Nickname
- Lolita
- Height5′ 3½″ (1.61 m)
- Dolores Del Rio was the one of the first Mexican movie stars with international appeal and who had meteoric career in 1920s/1930s Hollywood. Del Rio came from an aristocratic family in Durango. In the Mexican revolution of 1916, however, the family lost everything and emigrated to Mexico City, where Dolores became a socialite. In 1921 she married Jaime Del Río (also known as Jaime Martínez Del Río), a wealthy Mexican, and the two became friends with Hollywood producer/director Edwin Carewe, who discovered Del Rio and invited the couple to move to Hollywood where they launched careers in the movie business (she as an actress, Jaime as a screenwriter). Eventually, they divorced after Carewe cast her in her first film Joanna (1925), followed by High Steppers (1926), and Pals First (1926). She had her first leading role in Carewe's silent version of Pals First (1926) and soared to stardom in 1928 with Carewe's Ramona (1928). The film was a success and Del Rio was hailed as a female Rudolph Valentino. Her career continued to rise with the arrival of sound in the drama/romance Bird of Paradise (1932) and hit musical Flying Down to Rio (1933). She later married Cedric Gibbons, the well-known art director and production designer at MGM studios.
Dolores returned to Mexico in 1942. Her Hollywood career was over, and a romance with Orson Welles--who later called her "the most exciting woman I've ever met"--caused her second divorce. Mexican director Emilio Fernández offered her the lead in his film Wild Flower (1943), with a wholly unexpected result - at age 37, Dolores Del Río became the most famous movie star in her country, filming in Spanish for the first time. Her association with Fernández' team (cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa, writer Mauricio Magdaleno and actor Pedro Armendáriz) was mainly responsible for creating what has been called the Golden Era of Mexican Cinema. With such pictures as Maria Candelaria (1944), Las abandonadas (1945) and Bugambilia (1945), Del Río became the prototypical Mexican beauty. Her career included film, theater and television. In her last years she received accolades because of her work for orphaned children. Her last film was The Children of Sanchez (1978).- IMDb Mini Biography By: Maximiliano Maza
- SpousesLewis Riley(November 24, 1959 - April 11, 1983) (her death)Cedric Gibbons(August 6, 1930 - January 17, 1941) (divorced)Jaime Del Rio(April 11, 1921 - June 7, 1928) (divorced)
- ParentsJesús Leonardo Asúnsolo JacquesAntonia López-Negrete
- RelativesJulio Bracho(Cousin)Ramon Novarro(Cousin)Andrea Palma(Cousin)Adam Del Rio(Niece or Nephew)
- When asked for his autograph later in life, Vincent Price would often sign her name. When asked why, Price would say that he promised her on her deathbed he would do his best to keep her name alive.
- Friends with Marlene Dietrich, who considered Dolores "the most beautiful woman in Hollywood".
- She contributed money to a statue likeness of her as the title character in Evangeline (1929). Upon completion in 1930, the statue was placed beside St. Martin de Tours Catholic Church in St. Martinville, Louisiana. The statue rests on a spot marking the alleged burial place of Emmeline Labiche, who local lore claims was the inspiration behind Longfellow's tragic heroine. It has become a popular tourist attraction and is known as "The Evangeline Statue".
- Reportedly slept for 16 hours a day to maintain her beauty.
- In February 1934, it was announced in the press that Dolores Del Rio was tired of playing native girl roles and has bobbed her hair, had a permanent and put on swanky clothes for her upcoming RKO Radio Picture Dance of Desire. The movie eventually never was made.
- [in the 1920s] Hollywood, what a place it is! It is so far away from the rest of the world, so narrow. No one thinks of anything but motion pictures or talks of anything else. And, I, too, am getting like the rest. I have not read anything for a year. I do not know what is happening in the world.
- Take care of your inner beauty, your spiritual beauty, and that will reflect in your face. We have the face we created over the years. Every bad deed, every bad fault will show on your face. God can give us beauty and genes can give us our features, but whether that beauty remains or changes is determined by our thoughts and deeds.
- When I returned to Mexico, I joined with people eager to create the Mexican cinema. We were full of dreams and had no money whatsoever, but we were able to achieve something and open markets for our films all over the world.
- [on the transition from silent to sound films] Many big stars didn't survive. Their voices were too high, or they didn't speak English well enough. I survived, but it was difficult. I had to work very, very hard at my English.
- My first beauty rule is to relax completely for 20 minutes each day without interruption-no matter what! I lie flat on the floor and "let go", relaxing completely from the toes up. Consequently, at 5 o'clock, when everyone else is tired out I'm full of energy.
- The Bad One (1930) - $9,000 /week
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