Biography for
María Félix More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

8 April 1914, Alamos, Sonora, Mexico

Date of Death

8 April 2002, Mexico City, Mexico (congestive heart failure)

Birth Name

María de los Ángeles Félix Güereña

Nickname

María Bonita
La Doña

Height

5' 9" (1.75 m)

Mini Biography

Doubtlessly the most famous Mexican movie star, María Félix created a larger-than-life character: herself. La Doña, as the star was known after the character of her 1943 movie Doña Bárbara, starred in 47 movies, most of them forgettable except for her presence in them. More a star than an actress, she constructed an image of a tough woman, a sort of one-liner she-male that went beyond the traditional role of Latin American women. Her marriage to Agustín Lara the most popular Latin composer from the 30s to the 60s, was a great event itself. Her fame went beyond Mexico to Latin America, Spain, France and Italy. She always refused to learn English, so she never acted in any English language movie. That's the main reason why her fame was related almost exclusively to Latin countries. After her last film, she was linked to a number of film projects, but never came back to the screen. Her last performance was on a Mexican historic soap opera, in 1970.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Maximiliano Maza

Spouse

Jorge Negrete	(18 October 1952 - 5 December 1953) (his death)
Agustín Lara	(1943 - October 1947) (divorced)
Enrique Alvarez	(1931 - 1938) (divorced) 1 child
Alex Berger (1956 - 1974) (his death)

Trivia

Her only child is actor 'Enrique Alvarez Felix', born in 1934.

After her third marriage, she bred race horses in Paris.

Since the mid-80s she lived with French painter Antoine Tzapoff.

Festival tribute at the Créteil International Women's Film Festival, France. [1996]

Taught herself French to be able to act in French movies.

One of 16 children (twelve of whom survived), but had only one child herself, a son who predeceased her.

Appearing as a guest on the popular l960s Mexican TV show "La Hora del Orange Crush," Maria Felix was asked if, as rumored, she believed she was "La Divina Garza" (Divine Beauty). "I don't 'believe' that," she adamantly replied, "I AM La Divina Garza!"

Retrospective at the Ajijic Festival Internacional de Cine. [2002]

She has an entry in Jean Tulard's Dictionnaire du Cinéma/Les Acteurs published in Paris in 2007 (pages 416, 417).

Personal Quotes

"Me Empty? Nobody has seen inside of me."

"What can I do? I can't be ugly."

"Some friends told me that pearls make people cry. The only pearls that have made me cry are false pearls"

"Look, young lady, I have been very busy living my life and I've not had time to count it." (upon being asked her age by a journalist)

"I cannot complain about men. I have had tons of them and they have treated me fabulously well. But sometimes I had to hurt them to keep them from subjugating me."

"I believe I can consider the fact that having had portraits made of myself is manifesting a form of certain narcissism, but I cannot help it"

"Money is important in life. It does not give you happiness, we all know, but it sure calms the nerves."

"In life, I consider success inferior to celebrity. Success can be attained by many people; celebrity touches you, and supports you through life."

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