Dolores del Río
Subtitle: beauty in light and shade
By: Linda B. Hall
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Published: 2013
Language: eng
Number of pages: 358
ISBN-13: 9780804784078; 9780804799461
Copyright date: 2013
Subjects: Motion pictures; Motion picture actors and actresses; Biography; History
Description: Dolores del Río's enormously successful career in Hollywood, in Mexico, and internationally illuminates issues of race, ethnicity, and gender through the lenses of beauty and celebrity. She and her husband left Mexico in 1925, as both their well-to-do families suffered from the economic downturn that followed the Mexican Revolution. Far from being stigmatized as a woman of color, this Mexican star was acknowledged as the epitome of beauty in the Hollywood of the 1920s and early 1930s. While she insisted upon her ethnicity, she was nevertheless coded white by the film industry and its fans, and she appeared for more than a decade as a romantic lead opposite white actors. Returning to Mexico in the early 1940s, she brought enthusiasm and prestige to the Golden Age of Mexican cinema, becoming one of the great divas of Mexican film. With struggle and perseverance, she overcame the influence of men in both countries who hoped to dominate her, ultimately controlling her own life professionally and personally.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 337-342), filmography, and index.
Table of contents: title: Beauty, celebrity, and power in two cultures; title: Mexican princess; title: Hollywood baby beauty; title: Unwelcome triangle; title: Pushing the envelope; title: Fame and its perils; title: Second chance; title: Affair; title: Return; title: Resurrection; title: Diva; title: Icon.