List of the best Spanish vedettes of the twentieth century.
The best singers and beautiful actresses of the musical comedy and the magazine in Spain.
List activity
387 views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
45 people
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Celia Gámez was born on 25 August 1905 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She was an actress, known for Rápteme usted (1941), Las Leandras (1969) and Mi hijo no es lo que parece (1974). She was married to José Manuel Goenaga Alfaro. She died on 10 December 1992 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Raquel Meller was born in Tarazona, Zaragoza, Aragón (Spain) from a very poor family. Since her parents could not afford her education she was sent to live with an aunt who was a nun at a convent. At age 12 she returned with her parents who were then residing in Barcelona and shortly after began working as a seamstress in a shop that catered to many show business personalities. In 1907 she left the shop to start singing "cuplés" ("couplets") using the name "La Bella Raquel". Although these songs were considered indecent and were initially performed in venues attended by men only, Raquel with her beauty and charismatic presence raised the "cuplé" genre to a more respectable art making it acceptable to families. After a love affair with a German named Moeller, Raquel adopted his last name changing it to Meller to make it sound Spanish.
The quality of her voice was a source of debate, but for her fans and theater-goers in general Meller could do no wrong. "Raquel Meller is a genius." exclaimed at one point Sarah Bernhardt. Songs such as "La Violetera", "El Relicario", "Flor de Te", "Mimosa", "Flor del Mal", etc., became standards thanks to her interpretation. She was the first Spanish popular singer to succeed in Europe and the Americas including the United States where her recordings enjoyed great popularity and her live concerts in 1926 broke box-office records in the most important American cities. At the height of her popularity she endorsed several products as well as backing many articles named after her from dolls, to perfume, all of which supplemented her already high income making her one of the wealthiest women in the world.
She was also a hit on the big screen, starring in important films such as_Violettes impériales (1923)_and Carmen (1926). Meller filmed mostly in France but in 1927 she starred in a short sound feature for Movietone Fox in New York in which she sang four of her hits. Charles Chaplin, a big Meller fan, offered her the part of Josephine de Beauharnais in a film he was planning based on life of Napoleon Bonaparte but Raquel could not find time for the project. A few years later Chaplin wanted her for the part of the blind girl in _City Lights (1931)_but Raquel was now involved in a play written especially for her by Maurice Rostand in which she could achieve her dream of becoming a serious stage actress in a respectable Paris theater. Chaplin replaced her with Virginia Cherrill but he kept Raquel's theme "La Violetera" in the film music score taking credit for its composition which resulted in a law suit by the song's composer Jose Padilla.
Raquel continued performing and was a big draw in vaudeville circuits well into the 1940s. Her private life was followed with great interest by the media and the public. She was imperious, ruthless (especially with the competition), lovable, funny, temperamental, generous, witty and totally egomaniac. Her love life was not as turbulent as many believed but among her many admirers there were royalty, heads of state, intellectuals, painters and assorted VIPs. In 1919 she married celebrated Guatemalan journalist diplomat Enrique Gomez Carrillo and adopted a baby girl in Buenos Aires naming her Elena. However after a couple of years of honeymoon bliss came a collision of both temperaments and they divorced in 1922. She had another short lived marriage in 1940 this time to a French businessman named Edmond Sayac and they were together long enough to adopt a baby boy whom they named Jordi Enric.
By then Raquel Meller's career was over, only to surface again in 1957 in the wake of Sara Montiel's box-office success in the films_El último cuplé (1957)_ and_La violetera (1958)_,in which Montiel revived Raquel's greatest hits. As with other rivals in the past, Meller became Montiel's nemesis, but by then a new generation that simply did not know her just plain ignored her. She attempted several comebacks but all were critical and commercial failures. Bitterly, she retired and stayed out of the public eye until her death in Barcelona on July 26, 1962. A plan to film her story starring Sara Montiel (of course) was foiled by Meller's relatives, but some of her story made it to the big screen anyway in Montiel's vehicle La reina del Chantecler (1962).
Most of Raquel's recordings, considered lost for years, have been trickling out on CDs. However her films remain unedited in home video formats and are seldom shown in silent films revivals or festivals. Raquel Meller has been the subject of many books and articles in Europe. There are streets named after her in France and Spain, while her statue commands a plaza with her name in Barcelona. It is inexcusable that film preservationists and the cinemateques of France, Spain and the United States have shown little or no interest in Meller's filmography. Without these films it is impossible to assess Raquel's personal charisma which was the source of her enormous success and fame.- Actress
- Costume and Wardrobe Department
- Amparo Miguel Ángel is known for Salga de la cocina (1931).
- Raquel Daina was born on 27 June 1929 in Madrid, Madrid, Spain. She was an actress, known for An Angel Has Appeared (1961), Juana la Loca... de vez en cuando (1983) and Paco l'infaillible (1979). She died on 5 May 2018 in Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
- Irene Daina was born in Madrid, Madrid, Spain. She is known for Estudio 1 (1965), Carmen nue (1984) and Historias para no dormir (1966).
- She are a dancer and actress of TV, theathre and cinema. She Began in 1970s with her sister dancer. She formed in The Mussully English dancer spectacles in Spain. She actued in the theathre Martín in 1975, theathre Calderón of Madrid in 1976, Paralelo of Barcelona 1978, El gallo Rojo of Benidorm in 1983...
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Esperanza Roy was born on 22 November 1935 in Madrid, Spain. She is an actress, known for Vida/Perra (1982), Carne apaleada (1978) and Si volvemos a vernos (1968). She was previously married to Javier Aguirre.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Norma Duval was born on 4 April 1956 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. She is an actress, known for Victòria! La gran aventura d'un poble (1983), Victòria! 3: El seny i la rauxa (1984) and Victòria! 2: La disbauxa del 17 (1983). She was previously married to José Frade and Marc Ostarcevic.- Amparo Taberner is known for Don Viudo de Rodríguez (1936).
- Queta Claver was born on 24 June 1929 in València, València, Comunitat Valenciana, Spain. She was an actress, known for Los buenos días perdidos (1975), El vikingo (1972) and Mala yerba nooo (2001). She died on 3 May 2003 in Alcorcón, Madrid, Spain.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Lina Morgan was born on 20 March 1936 in Madrid, Spain. She was an actress, known for Hostal Royal Manzanares (1996), Hermana, pero ¿qué has hecho? (1995) and Compuesta y sin novio (1994). She died on 19 August 2015 in Madrid, Spain.- Tania Doris is known for Crónicas fantásticas (1974), Las alegres chicas de Colsada (1984) and El edén (1987).
- Gogó Rojo was born on 7 December 1942 in Santiago del Estero, Argentina. She was an actress, known for El apartamento de la tentación (1971), Esa pícara pelirroja (1963) and Sin código (2004). She was married to Oscar Otranto, Clóvis de Azevedo and Adolfo Waitzman. She died on 26 July 2021 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- Perla Cristal was born on 29 September 1937 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She is an actress, known for The Avenger of Venice (1964), Novela (1963) and Espionage in Tangiers (1965).
- Addy Ventura is known for Don Lucio y el hermano Pío (1960), Cine de barrio (1995) and 30 minuts (1984).
- Carmen de Lirio was born on 31 October 1926 in Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain. She was an actress, known for Operación Mata Hari (1968), La pecadora (1956) and The Evil Forest (1952). She died on 4 August 2014 in Barcelona, Spain.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Rosita Fornés was born in New York City on February 11, 1923. She was taken to Cuba by her Catalonian-Spanish parents when she was two. Her birth name was Rosalía Lourdes Elisa Palet Bonavia. Fornés became her surname at age 15 at the request of her step-father, who helped raise her from the age of 2. Fornes first won critical acclaim as a singer after winning the best prize at a widely-known Cuban talent contest (La Corte Suprema del Arte) in 1938.
After this, Fornés became one of Cuba's most prolific performers, both admired and maligned. She was at the center of certain personal and political controversies. Her visit to the United States from May to September of 1996, for instance, generated politically heated press overage in Miami. She was for many years regarded as a sex symbol, as the unchallenged blonde goddess of Cuban show business, although her true weapons in this field were a spell-binding stage presence, unbending professionalism and a beautiful singing voice.
In her twenties, already famous in Cuba, she traveled to Mexico where she became an overnight and lasting sensation. Rosita Fornés was labeled in Mexico as "La Primera Vedette de las Américas". In the 1940s and 1950s, she toured throughout Latin America, the USA, and Europe. In the latter part of the 1950's she became Spain's most popular stage diva, rivaling Spanish stars such as Celia Gamez and Sarita Montiel. In Cuba, her sold-out theatre performances and countless TV appearances made Fornés the country's top female superstar. Fornés has received numerous artistic awards in Cuba and abroad. She declared herself apolitical and a devout Catholic, and has remained in Cuba despite and since the 1959 Revolution.
At the peak of the AIDS crisis in Cuba (when AIDS sufferers where forcibly isolated into a state-run health institution), she would visit the sick and perform for them freely. In several occasions, she has regarded her film career as an "accident", and has declared in no uncertain terms that she deplores her earlier filmography, which she considers too flawed and commercial. Fornés's first husband was Mexican actor Manuel Medel with whom she had her only child, Rosa María Medel, who is also an actress. Her second husband, Cuban actor Armando Bianchi, died in 1981 in a drowning accident after 28 years of marriage.
Fornés is associated throughout the Hispanic world with other great Latin names of the period: Jorge Negrete, Emilio Tuero, Libertad Lamarque, Antonio Aguilar, María Victoria, Dolores del Río, María Félix, Agustín Lara, Ernesto Lecuona, Adolfo Guzman, and Cantinflas. No longer exploited as a sex symbol, Fornés remained an active, commanding and venerated presence in the Cuban stage scene. She still got top billing and sang at the closing of every important variety show that took place on the island.
Always considered to be the non plus ultra of glamour in Cuba's artistic circles, it was not uncommon to watch people "ooh"ing and "aah"ing at the sight of Fornés making her way through the crowds in a party or taking center stage. In the late 1990s, she performed a series of concerts in Havana (July 1997), starred in a comedy play (Nenufares en el techo del mundo), and was part of the international jury at the International Film Festival in Bahia, Brazil (October 1997). She cared for her elderly mother, Lupe. Asked whether age worried her, her response was always the same: "Age is a state of mind". And she proved it.- Lina Rosales was born on 27 December 1928 in Madrid, Spain. She is an actress, known for Héroes del aire (1958), Ha pasado un hombre (1956) and Paraluman (1941).
- Ethel Rojo was born on 23 December 1937 in Santiago del Estero, Argentina. She was an actress, known for Esa pícara pelirroja (1963), No toca botón (1987) and Así es mi México (1963). She was married to Gerardo González. She died on 24 June 2012 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- Licia Calderón is known for Estudio 1 (1965), Veredicto implacable (1987) and La casa de la Troya (1959). She has been married to Jesús Puente since 1989. They have one child.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Vicky Lagos was born on 23 June 1938 in Madrid, Madrid, Spain. She is an actress, known for Son of the Red Corsair (1959), The Last Days of Pompeii (1959) and 30 grados a la sombra (1964). She was previously married to Ismael Merlo.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Legendary singer, actress, comedienne, and composer who started her remarkable entertainment career at age 12. Actually "Blanquita" was born backstage at a theater in San Sebastián while her father performed up front. She belonged to a family that had been in show business for several generations. Her father was a baritone and her mother sang in the chorus of various zarzuela companies, while her grandfather was a prompter at the Apolo Theater. Her younger sister, Cándida Suárez, was a well-known soprano whose career was at its height in the 1930's and 1940's.
Perky, smart and versatile, "Blanquita" became the darling of Spanish entertainment in the first two decades of the 20th century and is still remembered as a symbol of that era. She did it all: plays, music revues, operettas, zarzuelas, but she excelled in her one woman show where she sang risky "cuplés" using her charismatic delivery and infallible sense of humor. Her performances were always crowd pleasers since she knew how to reach an audience that often included aristocrats, politicians, intellectuals, and artists of every persuasion.
One of her biggest admirers was painter Pablo Picasso who eventually asked her to pose for him. The collaboration produced various sketches and the famous oil painting "Blanquita Suárez" (1917) which has been marketed through various products including the ever popular "Blanquita Picasso silk scarfs". The original painting is on display at the Picasso Museum (Museu Picasso) in Barcelona.
During the roaring 20's, Blanquita was caught up in the spirit of the times which was evident in her life style. She turned into the typical flapper, free and independent, disregarding all social convention. Her act became imbued by those influences consequently she was perceived as an vanguard artist and her female audience saw her as a symbol. In 1928 she gave birth to a daughter out of wedlock named Teresa who was raised by her biological father Juan Mora in Barcelona.
Blanquita Suárez's impact also covered the recording industry and she left an important discography that includes some of her greatest hits like "Señores, venga alegría", "La manicura moderna", "Chotis de la gasolina", "Cuplés de Nueva York", "La niña pera", as well as some of her own compostions like "Don José", and the emblematic "Fado Blanquita" written for her by author Álvaro Retana with lyrics by Rafael Adam Balges. However, Blanquita's film career was not as rewarding as her triumphant achievements on stage and records. She was featured in "La verdad" (1917), and "Fabricante de suicidios" (1928) both silent films that could never capture the immensity of her talents.
The fact is she was too much in demand for performances on stage to waste valuable time on the cinema which she considered a "soundless novelty". By the time the talkies arrived in Spain, Blanquita was offered mostly supporting roles in a few films, a clear sign that her star had been fading at an alarming rate. In spite of the low value placed on her name by the film industry, she remained a big draw in theaters during the 1930's, and 1940's due mostly to her fame and reputation as a great entertainer.
As 1950 approached, Blanquita saw less offers for work in her homeland but she was always in demand in Barcelona at El Paralelo, the city's theater district where they still considered her the undisputed "Queen of El Paralelo". Blanquita performed often at the legendary El Molino although she had to share the stage and the limelight with other performers. For the last decade she had changed her act stressing comedy over straight singing and the change added some more years to her career. In 1958 she played the part of an outrageous old lady singing one of her hits in the film "La violetera". According to the script, while singing she is being heckled by an unruly audience that boos her off the stage. Before leaving, she achieves a moment of true hilarity when she sticks her tongue out to the hecklers. It was a minute of true Blanquita fun and about this time she told a reporter "I am an artist. Outside I may have changed a lot, but inside I am still the same".
She continued performing mostly at El Paralelo even when her health started to fail. Blanquita did not consider retirement admitting publicly that she had made a fortune when young but had never saved any money thus she was forced to continue. By 1970 she could no longer ignore her physical deterioration and announced her retirement. First she continued paying for an apartment in Barcelona but after a couple of years she moved to a nursing residence in Madrid. She came out of retirement in various occasions to attend tributes organized by official cultural institutions. Blanca Sárez, the beloved "Blanquita", passed away quietly in 1983 of heart failure.- Gloria Guzmán was born on 15 April 1902 in Vitoria, Ávala, Spain. She was an actress, known for Radio Bar (1936), Las luces de Buenos Aires (1931) and Yo quiero vivir contigo (1960). She died on 18 September 1979 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Sara Montiel was born in the village of Campo de Criptana, province of Ciudad Real, in the region of Castille-La Mancha, Spain. Her parents were Isidoro Abad, a peasant, and Maria Vicenta Fernández, a door-to-door beautician. The future star was christened Maria Antonia Alejandra Abad Fernández. Barely in her teens, she won a beauty and talent contest held by Cifesa, the most influential Spanish film studio of that era. She was promptly signed to a movie contract and in 1944 made her debut playing a teenager in Te quiero para mí (1944), credited in the cast as "Maria Alejandra". By the end of 1944 she was given the starring role in Empezó en boda (1944), which introduced her with a more adult image and a new name: Sara Montiel.
In the next four years she appeared in 14 films, including her first international success Locura de amor (1948), which led to a long term-contract in Mexico. She quickly established herself as one of the most popular film actors of the decade. starring in over a dozen films between 1950 and 1954. Hollywood came calling and she was formally introduced to American moviegoers in Vera Cruz (1954), playing Gary Cooper's love interest. Later she worked at Warner Bros. in Serenade (1956) with Mario Lanza, directed by Anthony Mann, who became her first husband. After starring in Samuel Fuller's Run of the Arrow (1957) with Rod Steiger, Sarita shot El último cuplé (1957) ("The Last Song") in Spain, a musical production that turned out to be the biggest box-office success in Spain's film history. It played for over a year in the same theaters in which it opened. A similar reaction followed in Western Europe and Latin America. Sarita Montiel had become the most popular actress-singer of 1957 and a national treasure for Spain.
The unprecedented success of "El Último Cuplé" threw a wrench into her Hollywood career, as she was offered a multimillion-dollar contract to star in four films in Europe. Her next vehicle, La violetera (1958) ("The Violet Peddler"), confirmed Sara's popularity and broke the box-office records set by the previous movie. The theme song from "La Violetera" became Montiel's signature song. The soundtrack albums from both films reportedly outsold Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra in the world market. From then on, Sarita would combine the making of films with the recording of highly successful albums and live concerts in four continents. By 1962 she had become a legend to millions of fans worldwide, reaching markets that had previously been uncharted territory for Spanish cinema. Among her many blockbusters of the 1960s were Mi último tango (1960), Pecado de amor (1961), La bella Lola (1962), La reina del Chantecler (1962) and Esa mujer (1969).
However, by the 1970s her interest in films diminished, due largely to the almost pornographic turn of Spanish films in the late-Francisco Franco era when censorship was abolished and she retired from films in 1974. Her activities turned mainly to recording and stage work, and she achieved uncontested successes with her stage shows "Sara en Persona" (1970-73), "Saritísima" (1974-75), "Increible Sara" (1977-78), "Super Sara Show"(1979-80), "Doña Sara de La Mancha" (1981-82), "Taxi Vamos Al Victoria" (1983-84), "Nostalgia" (1985-86), "Sara, Siempre Sara" (1987-88) and others.
In the 1990s Sara surprised everyone by branching out into television: Sara y punto (1990), a mini-series of seven one-hour episodes, included a serialized biography of the star, many popular guests (including Luciano Pavarotti and Charles Aznavour, among others) and Miss Montiel singing her greatest hits in addition to new songs written especially for her. Next came Ven al Paralelo (1992), taped in a Barcelona theater where Montiel hosted,sang and acted in comedy sketches in front of a live audience.
It is quite impossible to cover here all the awards Sara Montiel has won in her long successful career but we must mention the "Premio del Sindicato" (at that time Spain's equivalent of the Oscar) for best actress, won two years in a row for her performances in "El Último Cuplé" and "La Violetera". In 1972 she was proclaimed an honorary citizen of Los Angeles by Mayor Sam Yorty and was given the gold key to the city. Similarly she has been awarded the gold keys of New York, Miami and Chicago. In 1981 she received Israel's most prestigious honor, the Ben Guiron Award and in 1983 she was awarded France's Legion of Honor medal, after a retrospective of her career ran at the Autumn Film Festival in Paris. In 1986 "Nosotros", a Hollywood-based Hispanic actors advocacy organization founded by Ricardo Montalban, gave her its Golden Eagle Award for life achievement. The trophy was presented to Sarita by her "Vera Cruz" costar-producer Burt Lancaster in an emotional reunion that triggered a standing ovation from all their Hollywood peers witnessing the event. In 1997 she was awarded the "Gold Medal", also a life achievement recognition, given--rarely0--by Spain's Academy of Arts and Sciences. The two-hour ceremony was beamed live by national television. In 2008 Sara returned to her hometown to unveil a sculpture with her image at the new Sara Montiel Park. A nearby avenue was also named after her and there was at the same time a dedication ceremony of her newly renovated museum, located inside a 16th-century windmill. In addition, the government placed a commemorative plaque on the house where she was born.
Sara Montiel's private life has also been a large part of her legend. After divorcing Anthony Mann in 1963, she married three more times (Vicente Ramirez Olalla 1964-1978; Jose Tous 1979-1992; Antonio Hernandez 2002-2004). Before, during and after these marriages she had countless affairs, among them Nobel prize-winning scientist Severo Ochoa and Italian actor Giancarlo Del Duca. Unable to have children, she adopted two during her marriage to Jose Tous: Thais (born in 1979) and Zeus (born 1983). In 2000 she published her autobiography, which became a best seller. Undaunted by the passage of time and ignoring critics who accused her of mishandling her legendary image, Sara Montiel continued living and working at a hectic pace. She kept touring with her one woman show and making guests appearances on television. In 2009 she won a new generation of fans when she recorded "Absolutamente," an outrageous duet with Fangoria's vocalist Alaska. Both the record and the promotional video reached the top of the popularity charts and remained there for weeks.
Next Sara recorded some love duets with baritone José Antonio Román Marcos and traveled to the United States for a short tour sponsored by New York's Cervantes Institute and the universities of Chicago and Cincinnati. In every city she charmed the audiences with her charismatic presence and sense of humor. Back in Spain she continued her activities which now included supporting the singing career of her son Zeus. She appeared in his 2011 "Sex Dance" video and caused quite a stir.
In February 2013 Sara Montiel became the subject of a made-for-TV documentary titled "Sara's Dream" which aired in Spain to high ratings and great reviews. It was a fitting celebration of her fantastic life and career which came at the right time. A couple of months later, the star who had seemed eternal, passed away suddenly and quietly in her Madrid penthouse. By her family's request, funeral services were private but the funeral procession, organized by the city of Madrid, was a very moving event attended by thousands who showed up at Plaza Callao to bid farewell to their beloved Sara. She was buried in the San Justo cemetery family plot.