Olga San Juan

Olga San Juan
San Juan in Variety Girl, 1947
Born(1927-03-16)March 16, 1927
New York City, U.S.
DiedJanuary 3, 2009(2009-01-03) (aged 81)
Burbank, California, U.S.
Resting placeSan Fernando Mission Cemetery
Other namesThe Puerto Rican Pepper Pot
Occupations
  • Actress
  • dancer
  • comedian
Years active1943–1960
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1948; div. 1976)​
Children3; including Brendan O'Brien

Olga San Juan (March 16, 1927 – January 3, 2009) was an American actress and comedian. Born in Brooklyn, she began her brief film career with Paramount Pictures after being scouted at Copacabana. She performed in several Hollywood musicals in the 1940s and on Broadway in Paint Your Wagon (1951).

Early years

Olga San Juan was born on March 16, 1927,[1] in Flatbush, Brooklyn,[2] New York, to Puerto Rican parents.[3][4][5] Her family went to Puerto Rico when she was three and then returned to New York City two years later, moving to East Harlem.[6] Her singing career reportedly began when she performed with a group of schoolchildren from New York at the White House for President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.[7] She left high school in ninth grade after her father became ill, performing at venues including El Morocco and the Hotel Astor.[7]

Career

San Juan was contracted to Paramount Pictures in 1943 after being scouted at Copacabana and performing at the Paramount Theatre.[2][4] In Blue Skies (1946), San Juan performs a dance to "Heat Wave" with Bing Crosby.[8] She was especially keen to be cast as Amber La Vonne in Variety Girl (1947).[2] In Variety Girl, a film about the film world, Amber La Vonne is desperate to make it in Hollywood; critics Charles Higham and Joel Greenberg call the film's "funniest scene" one in which San Juan's character causes a commotion in a restaurant just to be seen by the glitterati.[9]

In the 1940s, San Juan mainly appeared in musicals as "a Latina entertainer or love interest".[3] She was nicknamed the "Puerto Rican Pepper Pot",[3] ostensibly "for her vivacious and spicy personality".[10] Her last Hollywood film came out in 1949.[11] According to critic Boze Hadleigh (writing under the pseudonym George Hadley-Garcia),[12] San Juan's departure from film was driven by a shift in the public's musical preferences and by the end of World War II, which caused the Good Neighbor policy to wane.[13]

In 1951, San Juan starred on Broadway in the Lerner and Loewe musical, Paint Your Wagon.[14] She played Jennifer Rumson, a woman who finds gold and gets rich during the California Gold Rush.[3]

Personal life

San Juan was married to actor Edmond O'Brien. They had met at a publicity luncheon for Fox studios,[15] and married on September 26, 1948, in Santa Barbara, California.[16] They had three children including television producer and actor Brendan O'Brien.[15] O'Brien and San Juan divorced in 1976.[15]

San Juan's health began to fail after a stroke in the 1970s. She died of kidney failure on January 3, 2009, at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, California.[15] She was buried at San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills, Los Angeles.[17]

Awards

Filmography

Year Title Notes Reference
1943 Caribbean Romance Short [19][20]
1944 Rainbow Island [21]
1945 Bombalera Short [20]
Out of This World [22][23]
Duffy's Tavern [24][25]
Hollywood Victory Caravan Short [20]
The Little Witch Short [26]
1946 Blue Skies [27]
1947 Variety Girl [28]
1948 Are You With It? [29]
One Touch of Venus [30]
The Countess of Monte Cristo [31]
1949 The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend [32]
1960 The 3rd Voice [2]

Notes

  1. ^ López Ortiz, Miguel. "Olga San Juan" (in Spanish). San Juan, Puerto Rico: National Foundation for Popular Culture. Archived from the original on October 29, 2019. Retrieved October 29, 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d Lamparski, Richard (1975). Whatever Became Of … ?. 5th series. Crown Publishers. pp. 146–147. ISBN 0-517-51685-3. OCLC 1256799.
  3. ^ a b c d Otfinoski, Steven (2007). "San Juan, Olga". Latinos in the Arts. Facts on File. pp. 205–206. ISBN 978-0-8160-6394-9. OCLC 69331998.
  4. ^ a b Rosado, Luis (September 6, 1943). "Meet the Stars". Big Spring Daily Herald. Texas, Big Spring. Big Spring Daily Herald. p. 3. Archived from the original on March 14, 2016. Retrieved March 13, 2016 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  5. ^ Chabrán, Richard; Chabrán, Rafael, eds. (1996). "San Juan, Olga". The Latino Encyclopedia. Vol. 5. Marshall Cavendish. p. 1430. ISBN 0-7614-0125-3. OCLC 32236934.
  6. ^ Sheaffer, Louis (December 4, 1951). "Olga San Juan Glad She Went to Those Two Parties". Brooklyn Daily Eagle. p. 8. Archived from the original on November 2, 2021. Retrieved November 2, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ a b "Lively Latin". Photoplay. 31 (3): 28. August 1947.
  8. ^ Stern, Lee Edward (1975). The Movie Musical. Pyramid Publications. pp. 105–106. OCLC 1036768130.
  9. ^ Higham, Charles; Greenberg, Joel (1968). Hollywood in the Forties. Tantivy Press; A.S. Barnes. pp. 166–167. OCLC 1035606607.
  10. ^ Hischak, Thomas S. (2008). "San Juan, Olga". The Oxford Companion to the American Musical (1 ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 655–656. doi:10.1093/acref/9780195335330.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-533533-0.
  11. ^ Rodriguez, Clara E. (2004). Heroes, Lovers, and Others: The Story of Latinos in Hollywood. Smithsonian Books. pp. 101–102. ISBN 1-58834-111-9. OCLC 52766003.
  12. ^ "Hadleigh, Boze 1954– (George Hadley-Garcia)". Contemporary Authors. Archived from the original on October 21, 2020. Retrieved November 2, 2021.
  13. ^ Hadley-Garcia, George (1990). Hollywood Hispano: Los Latinos en el Mundo del Cine. Carol Publishing Group. p. 82. ISBN 0-8065-1185-0. OCLC 22494688.
  14. ^ Robinson, Mark A. (April 17, 2014). The World of Musicals: An Encyclopedia of Stage, Screen, and Song. ABC-Clio. p. 528. ISBN 978-1-4408-0097-9. Archived from the original on November 1, 2021. Retrieved November 1, 2021.
  15. ^ a b c d "Actress, dancer Olga San Juan dies at 81". New York Daily News. Associated Press. Archived from the original on February 14, 2017. Retrieved November 1, 2021.
  16. ^ "Edmond O'Brien, Olga San Juan Are Married in Santa Barbara". The Scranton Times-Tribune. Associated Press. September 27, 1948. Archived from the original on November 2, 2021. Retrieved November 2, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ "Olga San Juan dies at 81; actress sang and danced with Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire". Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. January 9, 2009. Archived from the original on August 15, 2018. Retrieved November 1, 2021.
  18. ^ a b "Fallece actriz boricua Olga San Juan". Primera Hora (in Spanish). January 6, 2009. Archived from the original on November 1, 2021. Retrieved November 1, 2021.
  19. ^ Richard 1993, pp. 252–253.
  20. ^ a b c Bishop-Sanchez 2016, p. 190.
  21. ^ Sadlier 2012, p. 42.
  22. ^ Aylesworth 1984, p. 175.
  23. ^ Parish 1972, p. 431.
  24. ^ Hanson 1999, p. 661.
  25. ^ Parish 1972, p. 360.
  26. ^ Webb 2020, p. 322.
  27. ^ Aylesworth 1984, p. 242.
  28. ^ Parish 1972, pp. 361–362.
  29. ^ Aylesworth 1984, p. 241.
  30. ^ Aylesworth 1984, p. 248.
  31. ^ Barris, Alex (1978). Hollywood According to Hollywood. A.S. Barnes & Co. p. 53. ISBN 0-498-01748-6. OCLC 3380309.
  32. ^ Kael, Pauline (August 2, 2011). 5001 Nights at the Movies. Henry Holt and Company. p. 58. ISBN 978-1-250-03357-4. Archived from the original on November 2, 2021. Retrieved November 2, 2021.

Sources

Further reading