Felix, Maria (1914–2002)

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Felix, Maria (1914–2002)

Mexican actress. Name variations: María Félix; La Doña. Born María de Los Ángeles Félix Guereña in Alamos, Sonoras, Mexico, May 4, 1914 (some sources cite April 8); died in Mexico City, April 8, 2002; m. Enrique Alvarez, 1931 (div. 1938); m. Augustín Lara (composer), 1943 (div. Oct 1947); m. Jorge Negrete (actor), Oct 18, 1952 (died Dec 5, 1953); m. Alex Berger (French financier), 1956 (died 1974); lived with French painter, Antoine Tzapoff, from mid-1980s; children: (1st m.) Enrique Alvarez Felix (b. 1934, actor).

The leading box-office attraction in the Spanish-speaking world (1940s), worked in Mexico, Spain, Italy, and France where she played La Belle Abbesse in Jean Renoir's French Cancan (1955); starred in 47 films including Doña Barbara (1943), Amok (1944), Le Mujer de todos (1946), Rio Escondido (Hidden River, 1947), Vertigo (1947), Enamorada (1948), Mare Nostrum (1948), Doña Diabla (1949), La Corona negra (1951), Messalina (1951), La Belle Otéro (1954), Faustina (1956), and La Fièvre mont à El Pao (1959), in which she starred with Gérard Philipe; retired to Mexico (1970s).

See also Women in World History.