María Montez

Dominican-born actor

• Born: June 6, 1912
• Birthplace: Barahona, Dominican Republic
• Died: September 7, 1951
• Place of death: Paris, France

Montez was the biggest Universal Studios box office attraction during World War II, playing goddesses, gypsies, and other exotic characters in highly popular films designed to help international audiences escape the horrors of war.

Early Life

María Montez (mah-REE-ah MON-tehz) was born to Isidoro Gracia García, a Spaniard born in the Canary Islands, and Regla Teresa María Vidal, a native Dominican woman. Her father exported woods and textiles, in addition to holding the title of honorary viceconsul of Spain. Montez came from a family of ten siblings. She taught herself English by listening to American songs and by reading American magazines and newspapers. She graduated with an eighth-grade education from a Catholic convent school in the Canary Islands, Spain.

In 1932, Montez married William McFeeters, a banker who worked at the First National City Bank of New York. They were married for seven years. In New York, she worked as a model, and photographs of her appeared in magazines and newspapers. Her modeling career and other public appearances helped to establish her reputation as an exotic beauty. She was twenty-seven years old but looked much younger. She adopted her stage name, María Montez, to honor a famous dancer favored by her father. Eventually, Montez became bored with New York and her marriage ended in 1939.

Life’s Work

Montez’s film career began in 1940, when she was under contract to Universal Studios. Because of her Dominican accent, she began by playing small parts in such “B” films as Boss of Bullion City (1940), The Invisible Woman(1940), Lucky Devils (1941), That Night in Rio (1941), and Raiders of the Desert (1941). In Invisible Woman, she spoke only one phrase. Upset at her meager roles, she became her own public relations manager and organized her own fan club, the Montez for Stardom Club, sending scantily clad photographs of herself to members. In That Night in Rio, her first technicolor film, she starred with Carmen Miranda, Don Ameche, and Alice Faye. Life magazine published an article about this film that praised all of the stars’ performances, and Montez’s beauty and ability to dance the rumba were not lost on an international audience. South of Tahiti (1941), Montez’s first starring role, was another romantic, adventurous film designed to help audiences escape from the horrors of World War II. She dyed her hair blond for Moonlight in Hawaii (1941) and gained popularity among soldiers as a pin-up girl.

In 1942, Montez played Scheherazade in Arabian Nights and starred in The Mystery of Marie Roget, based on Edgar Allan Poe’s work. The publication of one of her own poems, Crepúsculo, at this time provided favorable press. She repeatedly requested that she not be placed in stereotypical roles that were stifling her career. Universal, however, continued to star her in escapist fare, such as Bombay Clipper (1942), White Savage (1942), Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (1944), Bowery to Broadway (1944), Gypsy Wildcat (1944), Cobra Woman (1944), and Sudan (1945).

Montez married actor and writer Jean-Pierre Aumont in 1943, and in 1946, she gave birth to a daughter, Maria Christina, who later became a film actor known as Tina Aumont. Montez continued to make films for Universal, including Tangier (1946), The Exile (1947), and Pirates of Monterrey (1947). When Universal did not allow her to produce eight films in which she would be featured, Montez sued the studio for discrimination and was awarded $250,000.

At the end of World War II, Montez and her husband moved their family to France. She and Aumont were invited to the Cannes Film Festival and they acted together in The Siren of Atlantis (1949) and Wicked City (1949). The couple also pursued their individual careers, with Aumont appearing in plays and Montez traveling to Italy to film The Thief of Venice (1950) and Amore e sangue (1951). After her stint in Italy, she starred in L’Ile Hereuse, a play written by her husband. She and Aumont starred in Revenge of the Pirates (1951), and that same year saw the release of her final film, the German-made crime story Schatten über Neapel.

Montez suffered from an erratic heart. On September 7, 1951, she suffered from a heart attack while in the bathtub, where she died at the age of thirty-nine.

Significance

Although Montez was not a particularly talented actor, her films were immensely popular during World War II. In these low-budget adventure stories, which some critics have dubbed “sand and scandal epics,” Montez triumphed over all manner of adversity, and audiences could temporarily escape their troubles and enjoy the spectacle.

Montez’s roles alluded to many of the war era’s stereotypical views of Latinas as exotic beauties with fiery temperaments, and Montez tried unsuccessfully to transcend these stereotypes. Despite these limitations, Montez remains one of the most popular and successful Latino stars of the 1940’s.

Bibliography

Claqueta. María Montez. http://www.claqueta.es/actrices/maria-montez.html. A biography of Montez, written in Spanish.

Evans, Peter W. “From Maria Montez to Jasmine: Hollywood’s Oriental Odalisques.” In “New” Exoticism: Changing Patterns in the Construction of Otherness, edited by Isabel Santaolalla. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2000. Examines the depiction of women in Hollywood fantasies set in ancient Baghdad, describing how Montez and other actors reflect changing ideas of femininity.

Smith, Jack. “The Perfect Filmic Appositeness of Maria Montez.” In Historical Treasures, edited by Ira Cohen. New York: Hanuman Books, 1990. Smith, an underground filmmaker, explains why he idolizes Montez as an “icon of camp style.”

Vicens de Morales, Margarita. María Montez: Su vida. 3d ed. Coral Gables, Fla.: Vicens and Morales, 2003. A comprehensive biography, written in Spanish.