Miroslava (actress)

Miroslava
Born Miroslava Šternová
(1926-02-26)February 26, 1926
Prague, Czechoslovakia
Died March 9, 1955(1955-03-09) (aged 29)
Mexico City, Mexico
Other names Miroslava Stern
Spouse(s) Jesús Jaime Obregón

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 mother and adoptive Jewish father in 1941, seeking to escape war in their native country.[2] 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.[3] Her body was found lying outstretched over her bed, she had a portrait of bullfighter Luis Miguel Dominguín in one hand. The Mexican and Hollywood star Katy Jurado claimed to be one of the first people to find the body. According to Jurado, the picture that Miroslava had between her hands was of Mexican comedian Cantinflas, but the artistic manager Fanny Schatz exchanged the photo to that of the Spanish bullfighter Luis Miguel Dominguín.[4] Miroslava's friends stated her suicide was due to unrequited love for Dominguín, who had recently married[3] Italian actress Lucia Bosè. Bosè would go on to star in Buñuel's next movie, Cela s'appelle l'aurore (1956).

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,[5] which was adapted by Alejandro Pelayo for his 1992 Mexican film called Miroslava, starring Arielle Dombasle.[6]

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. ↑ Bednář, Václav. "Osudy hranických židů po II. světové válce". vaclavbednar.wz.cz. Václav Bednář. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  3. 1 2 "Hundreds at Rites for Actress Who Killed Self". LA Times. March 12, 1955.
  4. ↑ "Katy Jurado: Estrella de Hollywood orgullosamente mexicana". Revista Somos. Editorial Televisa S.A de C.V. 1999. p. 100.
  5. ↑ Relocating identities in Latin American cultures. By Elizabeth Montes Garcés. p. 33.
  6. ↑ Mexican cinema: reflections of a society, 1896-2004. By Carl J. Mora. McFarland & Comanpy. p. 210.
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