Felix, Maria

▪ 2003

María de los Ángeles Félix Guereña 

      Mexican actress (b. May 4, 1914, Álamos, Sonora, Mex.—d. April 8, 2002, Mexico City, Mex.), used her extraordinary looks and fiery personality to propel herself from unknown to overnight star to icon of beauty in Spanish-speaking countries. Her succession of husbands, one of them the composer Agustín Lara, and famous lovers, including the artist Diego Rivera, gave her an offscreen life that rivaled that of the strong, fierce, and glamorous on-screen characters she portrayed in her 47 films. Félix, one of 16 children in her family, married while she was still in her teens. The marriage did not last, however, and she moved to Mexico City, where a movie director spotted her and paved the way for her first role, in El peñón de las ánimas (1942). Her film Doña Bárbara (1943) thoroughly established her stardom, so much so that she was thereafter often called “La Doña.” For some three decades Félix was a major box-office draw, not only with Mexican films, including Enamorada (1946) and Río escondido (1948), but also with Argentine, French, Italian, and Spanish movies, such as French Cancan (1955), La cucaracha (1958), and La Fièvre monte à El Pao (1959). Félix's final film was La generala (1970), and she then appeared in the television series La constitución (1970). Her autobiography, Todas mis guerras, was published in 1993.

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