Miroslava (actress)

Miroslava
Born Miroslava Šternová
February 26, 1925
Prague, Czechoslovakia
Died March 9, 1955 (aged 30)
Mexico City, Mexico
Other names Miroslava Stern
Spouse(s) Jesus Jaime Obregon

Miroslava (February 26, 1925 – March 9, 1955) was a Czechoslovakian-born Mexican film actress who appeared in thirty two films.[1]

Biography

Born Miroslava Šternová in Prague, Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic), Miroslava moved to Mexico as a child with her adoptive parents in the late 1930s, seeking to escape war in their native country. After winning a national beauty contest, Miroslava began to study acting. She appeared in a few Hollywood and Mexican films.

She was offered a role in Ensayo de un crimen (Rehearsal for a Crime) in 1955, directed by Luis Buñuel. Soon after the final wrap of the film, Miroslava committed suicide by overdosing on sleeping pills.[2] Her body was found lying outstretched over her bed, she had a portrait of bullfighter Luis Miguel Dominguín in one hand. Her friends stated her suicide was due to unrequited love for Dominguín, who had recently married[2] Italian actress Lucia Bosé. Bosè would go on to star in Buñuel's next movie, Cela s'appelle l'aurore (1956).

The Mexican and Hollywood star Katy Jurado claimed to be one of the first people to find the body of Mexican actress Miroslava Stern after her tragic suicide. According to Katy, the picture that Miroslava had between her hands was Cantinflas, but the artistic manager Fanny Schatz exchanged the photo to that of the Spanish bullfighter Luis Miguel Dominguín.[3]

In his 1983 autobiography, Mon dernier soupir ("My Last Breath"), Buñuel recalls the irony of Miroslava's cremation following her suicide, when compared to a scene in Ensayo de un crimen, her last film, in which the protagonist cremates a wax reproduction of Stern's character. Her life is the subject of a short story by Guadalupe Loaeza,[4] which was adapted by Alejandro Pelayo for his 1992 Mexican film called Miroslava, starring Arielle Dombasle.[5]

Filmography

United States

Mexico

Documentaries

Full features

See also

References

  1. ↑ Our word is our weapon: selected writings By Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos, Juana Ponce de León, José Saramago. Seven Stories Press. p. 244
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 March 12, 1955 "Hundreds At Rites For Actress Who Killed Self" LA Times
  3. ↑ Revista Somos: Katy Jurado:Estrella de Hollywood orgullosamente mexicana. Editorial Televisa S.A de C.V. 1999. p. 100.
  4. ↑ Relocating identities in Latin American cultures By Elizabeth Montes Garcés p. 33
  5. ↑ Mexican cinema: reflections of a society, 1896-2004 By Carl J. Mora. McFarland & Comanpy. p. 210

External links