- Biography
- Early years
- His theatrical beginnings
- Your artistic success
- Maturity of your career
- Dedication to theater and television
- Top Movies
- Featured TV shows
- References
Andrea Palma (1903-1987) was a Mexican film and television actress. As a result of her role in the film La mujer del puerto, she is considered the first major female star in the country's film industry.
Her success as the enigmatic prostitute Rosario also catapulted her as the first diva in Latin America. During her artistic career she came to work with prominent directors such as Luis Buñuel, Fernando de Fuentes, Juan Bustillo Oro, Juan J. Delgado or Julio Bracho, among others.
Andrea Palma, the first diva of Latin America. IMDb source
It is estimated that he may have participated in more than 30 films that were part of the so-called "golden age" of Mexican cinema. In most of her films, of the melodramatic genre, she played characters that oscillated between the two female archetypes of cinematography in Mexico: “the good mother” or “the prostitute”.
Biography
Early years
In April 1903, Guadalupe Bracho Pérez Gavilán was born in Durango, Mexico, who would later be known by her stage name Andrea Palma. She had 10 siblings among which the film director, Julio Bracho, stands out. In addition, she was the cousin of two Hollywood actors: Ramón Novarro and Dolores del Río.
His parents, Luz Pérez Gavilán and Julio Bracho Zuloago, lost their land and their textile business during the Mexican Revolution. That is why they decide to move to Mexico City during Andrea's childhood. In the capital, during her school years, her affinity for the theater began to be evident.
In his youth, Palma became interested in the world of fashion, specifically the design of hats. Perhaps influenced by her family's past business, she entered the textile industry during the 1920s.
She came to open her own store, which she called Casa Andrea and from where she took her first name as an actress. Later she would add the last name of one of her clients.
His theatrical beginnings
Her first acting break came from the theater, when she replaced her friend Isabela Corona, who had recently given birth. She had to interpret a controversial work for the time, Maya by Simón Gantillón.
After that first experience, he dedicated more time to the theater company, closed the store and began to be known as Andrea Palma. After a year of traveling dedicated to the boards, Andrea traveled to the United States.
There he remained in the 1930s, having small roles in the films of his cousins and with the help of the young and also British-born actor, Cecil Kellaway.
In those years he did not completely abandon the world of fashion. She got a job in a hat factory and then went on to design hats for the German actress Marlene Dietrich, her most prominent client and muse.
Your artistic success
The Mexican actresses Andrea Palma and Linda Christian in the movie Tarzan & the Mermaids (1948). Source: Sol Lesser Productions
Shortly after, and with the expiration of her US residency, Andrea was offered to star in Mexico in the film that catapulted her to fame, La Mujer del Puerto (1934). Her character, Rosario, was a young woman in her twenties dedicated to prostitution to support her sick father and younger brother.
The interpretation of this role, inspired by the peculiar style of her German client (a distant woman, with a thick voice and a strong character), positioned her as one of the most sought-after actresses of the time.
In the next film, she represented a totally opposite character, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, a 17th-century Mexican religious, poet and writer.
After visiting Hollywood from time to time to participate in two unsuccessful films, The Last Rendez-vous and La Inmaculada, he began the 1940s by taking a brief break from cinema and doing theater in his country.
In 1943 he returned to the film industry under the direction of his brother, Julio Bracho, with the film Distinto Amanecer. In this he played the role that was considered the best character of his artistic career. It was Juliet, a frustrated wife during the day and prostitution at night.
Maturity of your career
In 1947 she traveled to Spain to act in a theatrical play, and it was in that country where she met her husband, the Spanish actor Enrique Díaz Indiano. Two years later, when she returned to Mexico, her fame had diminished a bit, but even so, she participated in two successful classics of the “rumberas” genre. Both films starred Cuban star Ninón Sevilla.
Despite the fact that Seville was the sensation of the moment, Andrea played a great role in Aventurera (1950) by playing Rosaura, a lady from Guadalajara high society who leads a double life renting a brothel in Ciudad Juárez. The second film of the also known genre of the "cabareteras" was Sensualidad.
Since mid-1955, although not in leading roles, Andrea highlights her participation accompanied by other great talents of the Mexican seventh art. For example, in 1955 under the direction of Luis Buñuel, she filmed Essay of a crime.
In addition, he worked with the Argentine actress and singer, Libertad Lamarque in The Woman Who Had No Childhood, as well as in films with “La Doña” María Félix, Mexican actress and singer.
Dedication to theater and television
Andrea remained in the film industry until 1973, the date of her last film with her brother Julio Bracho, In search of a wall. However, since the late 1950s her main dedication was theater and television.
From this period, her role as presenter of the series La novela weekly (1963) stands out, which closely presented the classics of literature. Her last role was in the serial program Ángel Guerra (1979), along with her niece and goddaughter Diana Bracho.
In 1979 he decided to retire from the artistic world for health reasons and, finally, in October 1987 he died in the Federal District.
Top Movies
-The woman from the port (1934)
-Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1935)
-The Immaculate (1939)
-The rosary (1943)
-Different Dawn (1943)
-The House of the Fox (1945)
-The vultures on the roof (1945)
-Adventurer (1950)
-Sensuality (1951)
-The lie (1952)
-Women who work (1952)
-Eugenia Grandet (1952)
-Stolen Tears (1953)
-A crime trial (1955)
-Mexico of my memories (1963)
-The trial of Christ (1965)
-In search of a wall (1973)
Featured TV shows
-My wife gets divorced (1959)
-Mirror of shadows (1960)
-The weekly novel (1963)
-Shoe skin (1964)
-The green tail (series) (1970)
-Doll (1967)
-Poor Clara (1975)
-Ángel Guerra (1979)
References
- Ibarra, J. (2006) Los Brachos: three generations of Mexican cinema. Mexico: University Center for Cinematographic Studies.
- Lahr-Vivaz, E. (2016). Mexican Melodrama: Film and Nation from the Golden Age to the New Wave. Tucson: University of Arizona
- The Century of Durango. (2017, October 6) Three decades without Andrea Palma. Recovered from com.mx
- Torchia, ES (nd). Andrea Palma: Biography. Recovered imdb.com
- Ibarra, J. (2005, January 21) Andrea Palma. First Diva of Mexican Cinema. Recovered from web.archive.org