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Dolores del Rio was Hollywood's first Mexican-American film star, known affectionately as the "Princess of Mexico". Marlene Dietrich once praised del Rio for being the most beautiful woman in Hollywood.
Del Rio found success in the silent era, and made an easy transition into sound when it redefined American cinema. Del Rio had a successful career in the 1930s, with BIRD OF PARADISE (1932) being one of her biggest box office hits. Apparently, producer David O. Selznick didn't give the plot much thought other than saying, "I want del Rio and Joel McCrea in a love story in the South Seas. I didn't have much of a story for the film, but be sure it ends with del Rio jumping into a volcano." Her marriage to Cedric Gibbons, an art director for MGM, didn't provide her with the choice film roles she probably hoped for. While the powers-that-be at MGM praised del Rio for her beauty, they readily admitted she had no place in the stories they wanted to sell to the American movie-going public.
More so than Dietrich or Crawford, del Rio was a clothes-horse for the hottest fashions of the period. By the late 1930s, she was more recognizable as the face of Lucky Strike cigarettes and Max Factor makeup than as the star of films. She was dubbed "box office poison" in 1938 by the Independent Theater Owners of America, who professed that del Rio -- along with a host of others -- was a star "whose box office draw is nil" and didn't produce enough ticket sales to justify her publicity and high salaries. Del Rio would eventually abandon Hollywood for Mexico, where she'd have better roles in film. She did return, however, to play Elvis' mom in FLAMING STAR (1960) and for CHEYENNE AUTUMN (1964).
Any Dolores del Rio fans?
Del Rio found success in the silent era, and made an easy transition into sound when it redefined American cinema. Del Rio had a successful career in the 1930s, with BIRD OF PARADISE (1932) being one of her biggest box office hits. Apparently, producer David O. Selznick didn't give the plot much thought other than saying, "I want del Rio and Joel McCrea in a love story in the South Seas. I didn't have much of a story for the film, but be sure it ends with del Rio jumping into a volcano." Her marriage to Cedric Gibbons, an art director for MGM, didn't provide her with the choice film roles she probably hoped for. While the powers-that-be at MGM praised del Rio for her beauty, they readily admitted she had no place in the stories they wanted to sell to the American movie-going public.
More so than Dietrich or Crawford, del Rio was a clothes-horse for the hottest fashions of the period. By the late 1930s, she was more recognizable as the face of Lucky Strike cigarettes and Max Factor makeup than as the star of films. She was dubbed "box office poison" in 1938 by the Independent Theater Owners of America, who professed that del Rio -- along with a host of others -- was a star "whose box office draw is nil" and didn't produce enough ticket sales to justify her publicity and high salaries. Del Rio would eventually abandon Hollywood for Mexico, where she'd have better roles in film. She did return, however, to play Elvis' mom in FLAMING STAR (1960) and for CHEYENNE AUTUMN (1964).
Any Dolores del Rio fans?
