MEXICO: ACTRESS AND INTERNATIONAL CELEBRITY MARIA FELIX DIES ON HER EIGHTY EIGHTH BIRTHDAY

Record ID: 190477

  • Title: MEXICO: ACTRESS AND INTERNATIONAL CELEBRITY MARIA FELIX DIES ON HER EIGHTY EIGHTH BIRTHDAY
  • Date: 10th April 2002
  • Summary: (W8) MEXICO CITY, FILE NOVEMBER 1996 (REUTERS) 1. MV MARIA FELIX ARRIVES AT THE FRENCH EMBASSY IN MEXICO CITY 0.06 2. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) FRENCH AMBASSADOR TO MEXICO BRUNO DE LAYER, SAYING "To deliver to you today the highest award of the Order of the Arts of my country by appointment and on behalf of the French government." 0.21 3. MV PHOTOGRAPHERS AND PEOPLE APPLAUDING; MV AMBASSADOR AWARDS MEDAL TO MARIA FELIX; SLV PRESS CORPS; MV MARIA FELIX CHATTING (3 SHOTS) 0.31 4. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) MEXICAN ACTRESS, MARIA FELIX SAYING "May the gold of this medal illuminate even for a moment the sad face of our country, a country going through so many difficulties." 0.45 5. MV MARIA FELIX WALKS AMONG PEOPLE AND PRESS; SCU MARIA FELIX (2 SHOTS) 0.58 6. MV MARIACHI BAND PLAYS "MARIA BONITA"; SCU MARIA FELIX LISTENING (2 SHOTS) 1.11 7. FILM CLIP SHORT OF MOVIE "TIZOC" WITH MARIA FELIX AND PEDRO INFANTE 1.23 8. FILM CLIP PEDRO INFANTE SINGS "TE QUIERO MAS QUE A MIS OJOS" ("I LOVE YOU MORE THAN MY OWN EYES") 1.35 (W8) MEXICO CITY, MEXICO (APRIL 8, 2002) (REUTERS) 9. SLV CROWD GATHERED IN FRONT OF MARIA FELIX'S HOME IN MEXICO CITY; MV FAMILY MEMBERS ENTER HOME; PEOPLE WATCH; SLV MEDIA VEHICLES (5 SHOTS) 2.06 10. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) A FAN, CINTIA GOMEZ, SAYING: "It's lamentable. I think that all Mexicans feel saddened and it hurts very much because she was the last of the Mexican cinema Diva. The most beautiful woman Mexico has ever had." 2.20 11. SLV POLICE OFFICER WATCHED OUTSIDE FELIX HOME; MV MEDIA (3 SHOTS) 2.31 12. SLV MARIA FELIX'S COFFIN ARRIVES IN HER HOME IN MEXICO CITY 2.37 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 25th April 2002 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: MEXICO CITY, MEXICO
  • Country: Mexico
  • Reuters ID: LVA2A8TB1K1JD2XLX17TNZB0VMTB
  • Story Text: Famed Mexican actress and international celebrity Maria
    Felix has died of a heart attack early Monday (April 8, 2002), the
    day she would have turned 88.

    She died at 01:00am local time (0500GMT) at her home in
    the Mexican city of Cuernavaca, some 50 miles south of Mexico
    City, the day of her 88th birthday.

    In spite of her age, Felix did not suffer from known
    chronic or life threatening conditions, so doctors termed her
    death as "sudden."
    Maria Felix, known to Mexicans as "La Dona", grew to
    be an international celebrity decades ago. The daughter of
    Bernando Felix, a half Yaqui Indian and of Josefina Guerena, a
    full Spaniard, Maria Felix was born April 8, 1914 in the town
    of Alamos, in the northern state of Sonora and she became one
    of the five "muses" of the Mexican cinema in spite of having
    been educated at a convent in Pico Hights, California.

    She married four times, to Enrique Alvarez, with whom she
    gave birth to her only son, Enrique; to internationally known
    composer Agustin Lara; to movie superstar Jorge Negrete and to
    promoter Alex Berger.


    Maria Felix starred in 47 movies, the first of which was
    the 1947 "En el Penon de las Almas ("The Souls Ridge"),
    followed by "Tizoc," "La Devoradora" and "La Mujer de Todos"
    ("Everybody's Woman"), among many others.

    She acquired national and international fame as "La
    Dona", a name people started calling her after her 1943 film
    "Dona Barbara".

    More than an actress, critics considered her a superstar.

    She painstakingly built an image of a hard-core woman and that
    image propelled her beyond the traditional role of the Latin
    American woman. Besides Latin America, her fame reached the
    United States, Spain, France, where she lived part-time, and
    Italy.

    Her first important success was the movie "La Mujer sin
    Alma" (Soulless Woman), in which she was casted as an evil
    woman of fascinating beauty.
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