Esperanza Díaz Ceballos Baur (néeDíaz; 17 July 1920 – 10 March 1961), known professionally as Esperanza Baur and nicknamed Chata, was a Mexican actress. She became well-known through her marriage to the actor John Wayne.
Early life
Esperanza Díaz Ceballos Baur was born in Irapuato, Guanajuato, Mexico on 17 July 1920,[1] as the daughter to Carlos Díaz Ceballos and his wife, Esperanza (née Baur; 1904–1957).[2] Her birth was registered on 8 April 1920.[1]
Career
Baur made her debut in 1937. She appeared in a small number of Spanish languagefilms, both in leading and supporting roles, retiring in 1943.[3]
Baur portrayed Valentina in the musical drama film La Valentina. The film was released on 4 August 1938.[4]
Baur married her first husband, Eugene Colley Morrison (1917–2008), in Mexico City on 6 March 1941.[6] The couple divorced in Dade, Florida in 1943, after two years of marriage.[7]
Baur met her second husband, John Wayne, an American actor, in Mexico City in 1941, while she was still married to her first husband. Wayne was vacationing there.[8] Wayne was still married to his first wife, Josephine Alicia Saenz, but their marriage ended on Christmas Day 1945. The couple were married at the home of Wayne's mother, Mary "Molly" Alberta Brown, in Long Beach, California on 17 January 1946.[9][10] Upon her marriage to Wayne, she gained four stepchildren;[11][12][13][14]Michael Wayne (1934–2003),[15] Mary Antonia "Toni" Wayne LaCava (1936–2000), Patrick Wayne (born 1939), and Melinda Ann Wayne Munoz (1940–2022).[16] Their marriage was rocky and volatile from the start due to her reported jealousy of his devotion to his work and to his four children. There were charges and counter-charges of unfaithfulness, drunken violence, emotional cruelty, and "clobbering". She accused Wayne of having an affair with Gail Russell, his leading lady in Angel and the Badman, which Wayne and Russell both denied. The night Angel and the Badman wrapped, the usual party was held for cast and crew, and Wayne came home very late. She was in a drunken rage by the time he arrived, and she attempted to shoot him as he walked through the front door.[17][18] Wayne described his wife as a "drunken partygoer who would fall down and then accuse him of pushing her." The couple separated in May 1952.[19] She was accused of having an affair with the hotel heir Conrad "Nicky" Hilton Jr. during divorce proceedings.[20] Their divorce was finalized on 1 November 1954, after eight years of marriage. Wayne later commented, "Our marriage was like shaking two volatile chemicals in a jar,".[8]
On episode 42 of the You Must Remember This podcast series, the host, Karina Longworth, states that "Esperanza Bauer Diaz-Zabalos, or Chata, was a call girl who descended from a long line of professional companions to visiting Hollywood drunks", insinuating that Baur, her mother and her grandmother were prostitutes. The episode, "42: Star Wars Episode XV: Why John Wayne Didn't Sign Up", was released on 21 April 2015.[21]
Death
Baur died from a heart attack in Mexico City, Mexico on 10 March 1961. She was 40.[22] She had lived with her aunt, Mrs. Carolina Baur, for the last few years of her life.[23][24] In the announcements of her death, her age was incorrectly reported as 35 years old.[25][26] Her former husband, John Wayne, was reported to be "heartsick" upon hearing the news of his ex-wife's death.[27][28][29]
