Irma Serrano
| Irma Serrano | |
|---|---|
 in El zurdo (1965) | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Irma Cielo Consuelo Serrano-Castro Domínguez |
| Also known as | "La Tigresa" |
| Born |
9 December 1933 Comitán, Chiapas, Mexico |
| Genres | Ranchera, corrido |
| Occupations | Recording artist, actress, screenwriter, film producer, politician |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Years active | 1962–2005 |
| Labels | CBS |
Irma Serrano (born 9 December 1933), nicknamed "La Tigresa" (The Tigress), is a Mexican recording artist, actress, screenwriter, film producer, and politician.[1][2]
Due to her exotic beauty, hourglass figure, and way of being controversial, Serrano managed to attract the attention of directors and producers who consequently began to call her to act in different films; henceforth she created a successful acting career.[1]
As a singer, Serrano is famous for her unique clamoring style in the ranchera and corrido genres. Four of her hit singles reached Billboard's Mexican Top 10 list: "Miel amarga" reached number 5 in 1966,[3] "Tierra mala" reached number 4 in 1966,[4] "El puente roto", reached number 4 in 1966,[5] and "La Martina", reached number 5 in 1967.[6]
In her later years, she was the center of multiple scandals and controversies.[7] She has appeared in celebrity gossip magazines and television shows because of her political career as senator of her home state of Chiapas from 1994 to 1997.[1]
Early life
Serrano was born Irma Cielo Consuelo Serrano-Castro Domínguez[1] in Comitán de Domínguez, Chiapas, to Santiago Serrano-Castro, an indigenous activist, and María Domínguez, who belonged to a locally prominent and wealthy family of Spanish descent.[8] When describing her father, Serrano humorously quoted "I met my father on a hammock, and he died on another hammock; he was bodily lazy". She has also said that her mother gave birth to her at the age of 49, unaware of being pregnant and believing that she had a tumor instead of a child.[8] Serrano, being a real blonde with green eyes, grew up on the outskirts of Comitán on her parents' coffee plantation of La Soledad.[8]
While attending a film festival in Acapulco, Guerrero, with her cousin, Serrano (being a teenager) became acquainted with a politician who would eventually become her extramarital lover.[8]
Career
Singing
Serrano signed a contract with CBS Records in 1964 when she released her first studio album, Irma Serrano. Because of her unique "bravely clamoring" style, Serrano's music rapidly found success in Mexico and United States. Her most successful singles are "La Martina" and "El puente roto" which reached Mexico's Top Ten in the late 1960s.
Acting
Her film debut was in Santo contra los zombies (1962), where she shared credits with actor-wrestler sensation, Santo. In the same year, she obtained a bit role in El extra, starring Cantinflas and Alma Delia Fuentes, where she ironically portrayed a movie extra. By the mid-1960s, Serrano quickly became a rising starlet who rose to prominence appearing in films as an "exotic" musical guest. She also appeared in several films of the Gabino Barrera saga, and in them she sang the "Corrido of Gabino Barrera". In the drama film El zurdo (1965), Serrano was given a modest, yet notable acting role playing "Catalina", a bar singer who participates in a plan to rob notorious left-handed gun slinger Pedro "El zurdo" portrayed by Rodolfo de Anda. She has also acted with actors Emilio Fernández and Eric del Castillo in Los malvados in 1966.
It was until the 1972 Mexican Revolution film La chamuscada (Tierra y libertad) when Serrano was given a starring role alongside actors Luis Aguilar, Rodolfo de Anda, and Emilio Fernández. Her popularity grew when she starred the lead role in the controversial film La Martina (1972), followed by La tigresa (1973) from which she got her nickname.
Personal life
She was ordered jailed by Guadalupe Borja, First Lady of Mexico, in 1967 when she dared to serenade then Mexican President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz in Los Pinos, Mexico's official presidential residence. It was rumored they had a short lived romantic affair.[7] Both never confirmed it, until 1998 when she defended the late president when she said that she lived with him, and that she never ordered him to attack the students of the massacre of Tlatelolco, which happened in 1968.[1]
She lives in palatial residences in Mexico City, all furnished with art masterpieces from around the world that she collected and accumulated during her singing, acting and political careers.
In 1994, she ran for Senator from her home state of Chiapas and won.[7]
On March 25, 2009 she was arrested in her home State of Chiapas and taken into custody to Mexico City's federal women penitentiary for supposed death threats and branding a gun 3 years earlier to an ex-tenant of one of her properties.[9]
Filmography
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Television work
- 2005 La Madrastra (TV series)
- 2004 Hospital el paisa (TV series)
- 1977 Variedades de media noche (TV series)
- 1974 La tierra (TV series)
- 1972 Aun hay mas (TV series)
Selected discography
- Irma Serrano (1964)
- Nuevo "Hits" con Irma Serrano (1965)
- La Tigresa (1966)
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "Irma Serrano - Entretenimiento". esmas.com. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
- ↑ "Biographical Dictionary of Mexican Film Performers: "S" - Serrano, Irma". Retrieved 30 May 2011.
- ↑ "Billboard Hits of the World". Billboard. 25 June 1966. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
- ↑ "Billboard Hits of the World". Billboard. 3 September 1966. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
- ↑ "Billboard Hits of the World". Billboard. 22 October 1966. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
- ↑ "Billboard Hits of the World". Billboard. 29 April 1967. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 "Mexican Actress Irma Serrano Arrested". Latin American Herald Tribune. Retrieved 2010-07-18.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 "YouTube - La historia detrás del mito: Irma Serrano". Retrieved 24 May 2013.
- ↑ "Irma Serrano es detenida tras asistir al programa 'Hoy'". Terra (Mexico). March 25, 2009. Retrieved 2010-07-18.
External links
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