Q465189

Biography

María de los Ángeles Félix Güereña (Spanish: [maˈɾi.a ˈfeliɣs]; 8 April 1914 – 8 April 2002) was a Mexican actress and singer. Along with Pedro Armendáriz and Dolores del Río, she was one of the most successful figures of Latin American cinema in the 1940s and 1950s. Considered one of the most beautiful actresses of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema, her strong personality and taste for finesse garnered her the title of diva early in her career. She was known as La Doña, a name derived from her character in Doña Bárbara (1943), and María Bonita, thanks to the anthem composed exclusively for her as a wedding gift by her second husband, Agustín Lara. Her acting career consists of 47 films made in Mexico, Spain, France, Italy, and Argentina.

== Early life == María de los Ángeles Félix Güereña was born in Álamos, Sonora, Mexico, on 8 April 1914. Her birth was registered on May 4, which was later misreported as her date of birth. She was the daughter of Bernardo Félix Flores, a military officer and politician who was of distant Yaqui descent, and Josefina Güereña Rosas, who grew up in the U.S. state of California; both were of Mexican ancestry. She had fifteen siblings: Josefina, María de la Paz, Pablo, Bernardo, Miguel, María de las Mercedes, Fernando, Victoria Eugenia, Ricardo, Benjamín and Ana María del Sacramento. She spent her childhood in Álamos. During her childhood, she had a close relationship with her brother Pablo. Her mother separated the two siblings, thinking they might be involved in an incestuous relationship. For that reason, Pablo was sent to the Colegio Militar, in Mexico City. Later, the Félix family moved to Guadalajara. When María was 17, her beauty soon began to attract attention. She was crowned Beauty Queen at the University of Guadalajara. It was at this time that she met Enrique Álvarez Alatorre, a salesman for the cosmetics firm Max Factor. After a brief romance, the couple married in 1931. In 1935, Félix gave birth to her only child, Enrique, nicknamed Quique. Her marriage with Álvarez was unsuccessful and the couple divorced in 1937. After her divorce, Félix returned to Guadalajara with her family, where she was the subject of gossip and rumors due to her status as a divorcée. Because of this situation, Félix decided to move to Mexico City with her son. In Mexico City, she worked as a receptionist in a plastic surgeon's office, and lived in a guest house. One day, the father of her son visited the child, and deliberately refused to give the boy back to his mother. Álvarez took the child to Guadalajara. Félix's son was recovered with the help of Agustín Lara, her second husband. They planned an elaborate recovery that tricked the grandmother and took the child.

== Career ==

=== First years ===

One afternoon after work when walking down the street in Mexico City, director and filmmaker Fernando Palacios approached her asking if she wanted to make films. Her response was:

"When I want to, it will be through the big door." Palacios finally persuaded her to break into films. Becoming her "Pygmalion", he began to train her and present her in film circles. She made her first appearance in the "White and Black Ballroom" of the Mexico City Country Club where some of the great Mexican film stars of the era (Esther Fernández, Lupe Vélez, Andrea Palma) gathered. Eventually she was taken to Hollywood, to the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, where she met Cecil B. DeMille, who offered to launch her film career in Hollywood, but Félix was not interested. She preferred to begin her career in her own country. Finally, thanks to Palacios, she was offered the female lead role in a film by Grovas Productions: El Peñón de las Ánimas, directed by Miguel Zacarías. In the film El Peñón de las Ánimas, Félix starred opposite the popular Mexican actor and singer Jorge Negrete. María Félix and Jorge Negrete got off to a bad relationship during the filming because he had asked that his girlfriend, the actress Gloria Marín, be given the lead role. For this reason, the shooting of the film was difficult and led to a direct confrontation between Félix and Negrete. That confrontation helped to cement the reputation of Félix as a tough and arrogant woman. In her second film, María Eugenia, Félix would be projected in a role out of her temperamental film personality. However, the film is remembered as the only film where Félix appeared in swimwear. The same happened with the film La china poblana (1943), where Félix claimed to have paid a debt of gratitude to her discoverer Fernando Palacios, who directed the film. Nobody has heard from this film (the second color film of the Mexican cinema), so it is considered lost. She called both films "her beginner sins".

Félix was known as La Doña for her role in the film Doña Bárbara (1943), based on the novel by the Venezuelan writer Rómulo Gallegos. For the film, another actress (Isabela Corona) was already hired, but when Gallegos first saw Félix, he was charmed by her and said: "Here is my Doña Bárbara!" The film was filmed in Venezuela with Mexican and Venezuelan actors. Doña Bárbara was to be the start of her major collaborations with the Mexican film director Fernando de Fuentes. Félix and de Fuentes filmed together another two films: La Mujer sin Alma (1944) and La Devoradora (1946). As María Félix herself said, "With these films, I became the number one enemy of the Mexican family morals."

Somehow, I seduced the public, even those who criticize the conduct of my characters in the films. My legend began to take shape without moving a finger. The public imagination did everything for me. Without her stereotyped role of a "femme fatale", María Félix filmed two sophisticated films: El monje blanco (1945), directed by Julio Bracho, and Vertigo (1946), directed by Antonio Momplet. Both characters required a great dramatic intensity. Under the direction of Emilio Fernández, María Félix made three successful films: Enamorada (1946), Río Escondido (1947), and Maclovia (1948). The relationship between Félix and Fernández was cordial and smooth, despite the strong and famous temperament of the film director. In Enamorada, María Félix found her perfect film partner, the actor Pedro Armendáriz. The films of María Félix with Fernández and his team (writer Mauricio Magdaleno, photographer Gabriel Figueroa, and Armendáriz) had strong presence in several international film festivals. In turn, they gave María Félix her first Ariel Award for Enamorada and Río Escondido. Between the films with Fernández, María Félix also worked with Roberto Gavaldón, another director who showcased some of her best performances. Their first collaboration was in La diosa arrodillada (1947) with Arturo de Córdova. Thanks to these films, María Félix's fame crossed the Atlantic. In 1948 she was contracted by the Spanish film producer Cesáreo González. In this manner María Félix began her film adventure in Europe. She made only one more film in Mexico (Doña Diabla, 1949) until her return in 1952.