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Lupita Tovar
Lupita Tovar
	Lupita Tovar, 1930s
Born	Guadalupe Natalia Tovar Sullivan; 27 July 1910; Matías Romero, Oaxaca, Mexico
Died	12 November 2016 (aged 106); Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting place	Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery
Other names	Lupita Kohner
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1929–1945
Notable work	Drácula; Santa
Spouse	Paul Kohner (m. 1932; died 1988)
Children	2; including Susan Kohner
Relatives	Frederick Kohner (brother‑in‑law); John Weitz (son-in-law); Paul Weitz (grandson); Chris Weitz (grandson)
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Guadalupe Natalia Tovar Sullivan^[1]^[2] (27 July 1910 – 12 November 2016), known professionally as Lupita Tovar, was a Mexican-American actress best known for her starring role in the 1931 Spanish-language version of Drácula. It was filmed in Los Angeles by Universal Pictures at night using the same sets as the Bela Lugosi version, but with a different cast and director.^[3]

She also starred in the film Santa (1932), one of the first Mexican sound films, and one of the first commercial Spanish-language sound films.^[4] At the time of her death, she was the oldest living actress and among the last surviving stars of the Golden Ages of both Mexican cinema and Hollywood.

Early life

Tovar was born in Matías Romero, Oaxaca, Mexico, the daughter of Egidio Tovar, who was from Tehuacán, Puebla, Mexico,^[5]^{[self-published source]}^: 2 and Mary Tovar (née Sullivan), who was Irish-Mexican, from Matías Romero, Oaxaca, Mexico.^[5]^: 3 Tovar was the oldest of nine children,^[5]^: 5 and many of her siblings did not survive early childhood.^[5]^: 11 Tovar grew up during the time of the Mexican Revolution and her family was very poor.^[5]^: 7–8 She was raised in a very religious Catholic environment, and went to a Catholic school where she was taught by nuns.^[5]^: 15

In 1918, Tovar's family moved north to Mexico City. There her father worked for the National Railroad of Mexico in an administrative position.^[6]^: 220

Career

Early career

Tovar was discovered in Mexico City by documentary filmmaker Robert Flaherty. She had performed in a dance class and was invited, along with other girls, to do a screen test as part of a competition. Tovar won first place.^[6]^{: 220–221}

The prize was a 6-month probation period, followed by a 7-year contract at $150/week, to Fox Studios.^[5]^: 20–25^[6]^: 221 The studio had realized they could make money by simultaneously shooting Spanish-language movies of English-language studio productions, so had been casting for Spanish-speaking stars.^[3] At the age of 18, Tovar moved to Hollywood in November 1928 with her maternal grandmother, Lucy Sullivan.^[5]^: 29

Under contract, Tovar was required to study intensively to enhance her skills for films. Her weekly schedule included guitar, two hours four days; Spanish dances, one hour three days; dramatics, one-half hour two days; and English, one hour every day. Her accent was considered an asset in talking motion pictures.^{[citation needed]} Her English improved significantly in seven months from the time she arrived in Hollywood in January 1929. At that time, she could not say "good morning" in English. She also attended talkies to improve her English; she also read voraciously to learn new words. In 1929, Tovar appeared in the films The Veiled Woman with Bela Lugosi (now thought to be a lost film) and The Cock-Eyed World.^{[citation needed]}

In 1930, she was mentioned for leads in two talkies starring Douglas Fairbanks Sr. and Richard Barthelmess. Fairbanks put off the filming of what became The Exile. After his death, the film was made in 1947 by his son, Douglas, Jr., directed by Max Ophüls.

Spanish language remakes

Lupita's future husband, producer Paul Kohner, convinced Carl Laemmle to make Spanish-language movies that could be shot simultaneously at night with production of English originals during the day.^[7] When sound films began to dominate the industry, casting director Jimmy Ryan warned Tovar that her English was not good enough and her option would not be picked up.

But he recommended that she pursue work in the foreign film department. She went to the office but did not get to speak to anyone about work. She left early because a man staring at her made her feel uncomfortable. When she returned to the office another day, she met the head of the department, Kohner. He was the one transfixed by her before. He offered her a job making $15 a day to dub films in Spanish, her first being The King of Jazz.^[8]

In 1930, Tovar starred opposite Antonio Moreno in La Voluntad del Muerto, the Spanish-language version of The Cat Creeps. It was based on the John Willard mystery play, The Cat and the Canary. Both The Cat Creeps and La Voluntad del muerto were remakes of The Cat and the Canary (1927). Casting was done in July 1930 with the film being released later the same year. The Spanish version was directed by George Melford and, like the Spanish-language version of Dracula (1931), was filmed at night using the same sets as those used for filming the English-language version during the day.

Tovar shot Drácula, in 1930, when she was 20 years old. The film was produced by Paul Kohner. The couple soon married.^[3]

Santa

In 1932, Tovar starred in the film Santa, the first to have synchronized sound and image on the same celluloid strip.^[9]

The film was based on a famous book featuring an innocent girl from the country who has an affair with a soldier and later is abandoned, becoming a prostitute to survive. Santa was such a hit that the Mexican government issued a postage stamp featuring Tovar as Santa.^[3]^[7] "I tell you I could not walk on the streets when Santa came out," Tovar said. "People tore my dress for souvenirs. It was something."^[10]

In 2006, Santa was shown in a celebratory screening by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences called "A Salute to Lupita Tovar". The event also featured a conversation between Tovar and film historian Bob Dickson.^[11]

Other films

In 1931, Melford directed Tovar in another Universal picture, East of Borneo, which starred Rose Hobart. Tovar also worked on films at Columbia Pictures.

Personal life

Tovar went by the nickname Lupita from the time she was a child.^[5]^: 1

During the filming of Santa in Mexico, producer Paul Kohner had to return to Europe because his father was sick. It was this separation, and another the next year when Kohner was producing a film for Universal in Europe, that made Tovar realize she loved Kohner. Kohner proposed on the phone—he had previously tried to give her a ring. Tovar went to Czechoslovakia to meet him. They were married in Czechoslovakia on October 30, 1932, by a rabbi in a ceremony at Kohner's parents' home.^[6]^{: 226–227}

In 1936, the couple had a daughter, Susan Kohner. She became a film and television actress. In 1939, they had a son, Paul Julius "Pancho" Kohner Jr., who became a director and producer.^[12]^[13] Their grandsons, Chris and Paul Weitz, are successful film directors.

Tovar owned a bassinette that she loaned to friends in New York who had children after her: including Julie Baumgold, a writer and her husband Edward Kosner, publisher of New York; Elizabeth Sobieski, a novelist; Judy Licht, a TV newswoman, and her husband Jerry Della Femina, an advertising executive.^[14]

In the early 1990s, the release of the Spanish-language Drácula on home video sparked a revival of interest in Tovar's films. She said,

"It's like a dream being invited to all of these festivals and showings of my films. Was that really me up there on the screen? I had almost forgotten I was an actress. It has been absolutely wonderful how people have been so nice. Usually people die and then they get the award, but to be alive and receive this honor is fantastic!"^[15]

Death

Tovar died at the age of 106 on 12 November 2016 in Los Angeles of heart disease, just one day after her daughter Susan Kohner's 80th birthday.^[16]^[17]^[18]

Awards

2001: Academia Mexicana de Artes y Ciencias Cinematográficas (Mexican Academy of Arts and Sciences), Lifetime Achievement Award at the XLIII Ceremonia de Entrega del Arielrecibió el Ariel de Oro^[19]

Filmography

Features

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1929	The Veiled Woman	Young girl
	Joy Street
	The Cock-Eyed World	Minor Role	Uncredited
	The Black Watch	Minor Role	Uncredited
1930	King of Jazz	Emcee's Assistant	Spanish Version
1930	La Voluntad del Muerto	Anita	Spanish-language version of The Cat Creeps
1931	Estamos en París		Short
	Drácula	Eva	Spanish-language version of Dracula
	Carne de Cabaret	Dorothy O'Neil	Spanish version of Ten Cents a Dance
	Yankee Don	Juanita
	El Tenorio del Harem	Fátima
	East of Borneo	Neila
	Border Law	Tonita
1932	Santa	Santa
1934	Vidas Rotas	Inca	Spanish
1935	Broken Lives	Marcela
1935	Alas Sobre del Chaco	Teresa	Spanish-language version of Storm Over the Andes
1936	The Invader	Lupita Melez
	Mariguana	Irene Heredia	Mexican
	El Capitán Tormenta	Magda	Spanish-language version of Captain Calamity
1938	Blockade	Cabaret Girl
	El Rosario de Amozoc	Rosario	Mexican
	María	María	Mexican
1939	The Fighting Gringo	Anita "Nita" del Campo
	Tropic Fury	Maria Scipio
	South of the Border	Dolores Mendoza
1940	Green Hell	Native Girl
1940	The Westerner	Teresita	Uncredited
1941	Two Gun Sheriff	Nita
1943	Resurrección	María	Mexican
1944	Gun to Gun	Dolores Diego	Short
1944	Miguel Strogoff (El Correo del Zar)	Nadia Fedorova
1945	The Crime Doctor's Courage	Dolores Bragga	Final film role