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IMDbPro

Lupe Velez(1908-1944)

  • Actress
  • Soundtrack
IMDbProStarmeter
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Lupe Velez
Lupe Velez was born on July 18, 1908, in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, as Maria Guadalupe Villalobos Velez. She was sent to Texas at the age of 13 to live in a convent. She later admitted that she wasn't much of a student because she was so rambunctious. She had planned to become a champion roller skater, but that would change. Life was hard for her family, and Lupe returned to Mexico to help them out financially. She worked as a salesgirl for a department store for the princely sum of $4 a week. Every week she would turn most of her salary over to her mother, but she kept a little for herself so she could take dancing lessons. With her mature shape and grand personality, she thought she could make a try at show business, which she figured was a lot more glamorous than dancing or working as a salesclerk. In 1924 Lupe started her show business career on the Mexican stage and wowed audiences with her natural beauty and talent. By 1927 she had emigrated to Hollywood, where she was discovered by Hal Roach, who cast her in a comedy with Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Douglas Fairbanks then cast her in his feature film The Gaucho (1927) with himself and wife Mary Pickford. Lupe played dramatic roles for five years before she switched to comedy. In 1933 she played the lead role of Pepper in Hot Pepper (1933). This film showcased her comedic talents and helped her to show the world her vital personality. She was delightful. In 1934 Lupe appeared in three fine comedies: Strictly Dynamite (1934), Palooka (1934) and Laughing Boy (1934). By now her popularity was such that a series of "Mexican Spitfire" films were written around her. She portrayed Carmelita Lindsay in Mexican Spitfire (1940), Mexican Spitfire Out West (1940), The Mexican Spitfire's Baby (1941) and Mexican Spitfire's Blessed Event (1943), among others. Audiences loved her in these madcap adventures, but it seemed at times that she was better known for her stormy love affairs. She married one of her lovers, Johnny Weissmuller, but the marriage only lasted five years and was filled with battles. Lupe certainly did live up to her nickname. She had a failed romance with Gary Cooper, who never wanted to wed her. By 1943 her career was waning. She went to Mexico in the hopes of jump-starting her career. She gained her best reviews yet in the Mexican version of Naná (1944). Bolstered by the success of that movie, Lupe returned to the US, where she starred in her final film as Pepita Zorita, Ladies' Day (1943). There were to be no others. On December 13, 1944, tired of yet another failed romance, with a part-time actor named Harald Maresch, and pregnant with his child, Lupe committed suicide with an overdose of Seconal. She was only 36 years old.
BornJuly 18, 1908
DiedDecember 13, 1944(36)
BornJuly 18, 1908
DiedDecember 13, 1944(36)
IMDbProStarmeter
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  • Awards

Photos171

Gary Cooper and Lupe Velez in Wolf Song (1929)
Gary Cooper and Lupe Velez in Wolf Song (1929)
Lupe Velez in Honolulu Lu (1941)
Oliver Hardy, Stan Laurel, and Lupe Velez in Hollywood Party (1934)
Gary Cooper and Lupe Velez in Wolf Song (1929)
Gary Cooper and Lupe Velez in Wolf Song (1929)
Gary Cooper and Lupe Velez in Wolf Song (1929)
Edmund Lowe, Victor McLaglen, and Lupe Velez in Hot Pepper (1933)
Lew Ayres and Lupe Velez in East Is West (1930)
Ramon Novarro and Lupe Velez in Laughing Boy (1934)
Melvyn Douglas and Lupe Velez in The Broken Wing (1932)
Lupe Velez in Lady of the Pavements (1929)

Known for

Lupe Velez and Donald Woods in The Girl from Mexico (1939)
The Girl from Mexico
6.5
  • Carmelita Fuentes
  • 1939
Leon Errol, Lupe Velez, and Donald Woods in Mexican Spitfire (1940)
Mexican Spitfire
6.1
  • Carmelita Lindsay
  • 1940
William Boyd and Lupe Velez in Lady of the Pavements (1929)
Lady of the Pavements
6.9
  • Nanon del Rayon
  • 1929
Bruce Bennett, Leo Carrillo, Forrest Tucker, and Lupe Velez in Honolulu Lu (1941)
Honolulu Lu
6.3
  • Consuelo Cordoba aka Honolulu Lu
  • 1941

Credits

Edit
IMDbPro

Actress

  • Naná (1944)
    Naná
  • Leon Errol and Lupe Velez in Mexican Spitfire's Blessed Event (1943)
    Mexican Spitfire's Blessed Event
  • Michael Duane and Lupe Velez in Redhead from Manhattan (1943)
    Redhead from Manhattan
  • Lupe Velez in Ladies' Day (1943)
    Ladies' Day
  • Leon Errol, Marion Martin, and Lupe Velez in Mexican Spitfire's Elephant (1942)
    Mexican Spitfire's Elephant
  • Leon Errol, Minna Gombell, Elisabeth Risdon, Charles 'Buddy' Rogers, and Lupe Velez in Mexican Spitfire Sees a Ghost (1942)
    Mexican Spitfire Sees a Ghost
  • Leon Errol, Marion Martin, and Lupe Velez in Mexican Spitfire at Sea (1942)
    Mexican Spitfire at Sea
  • John Barrymore, Kay Kyser, Ginny Simms, and Lupe Velez in Playmates (1941)
    Playmates
  • Bruce Bennett, Leo Carrillo, Forrest Tucker, and Lupe Velez in Honolulu Lu (1941)
    Honolulu Lu
  • Leon Errol, Marion Martin, and Lupe Velez in The Mexican Spitfire's Baby (1941)
    The Mexican Spitfire's Baby
  • Leon Errol, William Frawley, Eddie Quillan, Lupe Velez, and Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams in Six Lessons from Madame La Zonga (1941)
    Six Lessons from Madame La Zonga
  • Leon Errol and Lupe Velez in Mexican Spitfire Out West (1940)
    Mexican Spitfire Out West
  • Leon Errol, Lupe Velez, and Donald Woods in Mexican Spitfire (1940)
    Mexican Spitfire
  • Lupe Velez and Donald Woods in The Girl from Mexico (1939)
    The Girl from Mexico
  • Wallace Ford and Lupe Velez in Stardust (1938)
    Stardust

Soundtrack

  • John Barrymore, Kay Kyser, Ginny Simms, and Lupe Velez in Playmates (1941)
    Playmates
  • Bruce Bennett, Leo Carrillo, Forrest Tucker, and Lupe Velez in Honolulu Lu (1941)
    Honolulu Lu
    • (uncredited)
  • Lupe Velez and Donald Woods in The Girl from Mexico (1939)
    The Girl from Mexico
    • ("She'll be Coming 'Round the Mountain")
  • Wallace Ford and Lupe Velez in Stardust (1938)
    Stardust
    • (uncredited)
  • Lupe Velez in La zandunga (1938)
    La zandunga
  • Lupe Velez, Bert Wheeler, and Robert Woolsey in High Flyers (1937)
    High Flyers
    • (uncredited)
  • Alfred Rode and Lupe Velez in Gypsy Melody (1936)
    Gypsy Melody
  • Jimmy Durante and Lupe Velez in Strictly Dynamite (1934)
    Strictly Dynamite
    • (uncredited)
  • Jimmy Durante and Stuart Erwin in Palooka (1934)
    Palooka
    • (uncredited)
  • Lee Tracy and Lupe Velez in The Half-Naked Truth (1932)
    The Half-Naked Truth
    • (uncredited)
  • Lawrence Tibbett and Lupe Velez in The Cuban Love Song (1931)
    The Cuban Love Song
    • ("The Cuban Love Song" (1931), uncredited)
  • Edward G. Robinson, Lew Ayres, and Lupe Velez in East Is West (1930)
    East Is West
    • (uncredited)
  • Gary Cooper and Lupe Velez in Wolf Song (1929)
    Wolf Song
    • ("Mi Amado")
  • William Boyd and Lupe Velez in Lady of the Pavements (1929)
    Lady of the Pavements

Personal details

Edit
    • July 18, 1908
    • San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí, Mexico
    • December 13, 1944
    • Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA(suicide)
    • Johnny WeissmullerOctober 8, 1933 - 1939 (divorced)
  • Other works
    Active on Broadway in the following productions:
  • Publicity listings
    • 6 Print Biographies
    • 2 Portrayals
    • 1 Interview
    • 11 Articles
    • 2 Pictorials
    • 25 Magazine Cover Photos

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    Pregnant at the time of her death, in her suicide note she named Austrian actor Harald Maresch as the father.
  • Quotes
    The first time you buy a house you think how pretty it is and sign the check. The second time you look to see if the basement has termites. It's the same with men.
    • Vibrant personality
    • Wolf Song
      (1929)
      $2,500 /week

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