DOLORES DEL RIO was born in Mexico in 1905. She was the first Mexican movie star with international appeal and had a meteoric career in 1920s Hollywood (an extraordinary accomplishment for an Hispanic female in those years). She came from an aristocratic family in Durango. In the Mexican revolution of 1916, however, the family lost everything they had and emigrated to Mexico City, where Dolores became a socialite. In 1921 she married Jaime Del Río (also known as Jaime Martínez Del Río), a wealthy Mexican, and the two became friends with Hollywood producer/director Edwin Carew. Unusual for the time, the couple moved to Hollywood where they expected to launch careers in the movie business (she as an actress, he as a screenwriter). They divorced in 1925 as her film JOANNA premiered. The film was a success. Her career rose until the arrival of sound in 1928. She had some success in talkies, musical films for a few years, including FLYING DOWN TO RIO and some of the early 30’s Warner Brothers musicals. She returned to Mexico in 1942. Mexican director Emilio Fernandez offered her the lead in his film FLOR SILVESTRE (1943), with a wholly unexpected result: at age 37, Dolores Del Río became the most famous movie star in her country, filming in Spanish for the first time. Her association with Fernández' team (cinematographer Garbriel Figueroa, writer Mauricio Magdaleno, and actor Pedro Amrendariz) resulted in what has been called the Golden Era of Mexican cinema. With such pictures as MARIA CANDELARIA (1944), ABANDONADAS, LAS (1945) and BUGAMBILIA (1945), Del Río became the prototypical Mexican beauty in foreign countries. Her career included film, theater and television. In her last years she received accolades because of her work for orphaned children. Her last film was THE CHILDREN OF SANCHEZ (1978).