María de los Ángeles Félix Güereña (; 8 April 1914 – 8 April 2002) was a Mexican actress and singer. Along with Pedro Armendáriz and Dolores del Río, she was one of the most successful figures of Latin American cinema in the 1940s and 1950s. Considered one of the most beautiful actresses of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema, her strong personality and taste for finesse garnered her the title of diva early in her career. She was known as La Doña, a name derived from her character in Doña Bárbara (1943), and María Bonita, thanks to the anthem composed exclusively for her as a wedding gift by her second husband, Agustín Lara. Her acting career consists of 47 films made in Mexico, Spain, France, Italy, and Argentina.
Early life María de los Ángeles Félix Güereña was born in Álamos, Sonora, Mexico, on 8 April 1914. Her birth was registered on May 4, which was later misreported as her date of birth.
She was the daughter of Bernardo Félix Flores, a military officer and politician who was of distant Yaqui descent, and Josefina Güereña Rosas, who grew up in the U.S. state of California; both were of Mexican ancestry. She had fifteen siblings: Josefina, María de la Paz, Pablo, Bernardo, Miguel, María de las Mercedes, Fernando, Victoria Eugenia, Ricardo, Benjamín and Ana María del Sacramento.
She spent her childhood in Álamos. During her childhood, she had a close relationship with her brother Pablo. Her mother separated the two siblings, thinking they might be involved in an incestuous relationship.Documental María Félix – Director Arturo Pérez Velasco – Editorial Clio Enrique Krauze For that reason, Pablo was sent to the Colegio Militar, in Mexico City.
Later, the Félix family moved to Guadalajara. When María was 17, her beauty soon began to attract attention. She was crowned Beauty Queen at the University of Guadalajara. It was at this time that she met Enrique Álvarez Alatorre, a salesman for the cosmetics firm Max Factor. After a brief romance, the couple married in 1931. In 1935, Félix gave birth to her only child, Enrique, nicknamed Quique. Her marriage with Álvarez was unsuccessful and the couple divorced in 1937. After her divorce, Félix returned to Guadalajara with her family, where she was the subject of gossip and rumors due to her status as a divorcée. Because of this situation, Félix decided to move to Mexico City with her son.
In Mexico City, she worked as a receptionist in a plastic surgeon's office, and lived in a guest house. One day, the father of her son visited the child, and deliberately refused to give the boy back to his mother. Álvarez took the child to Guadalajara. Félix's son was recovered with the help of Agustín Lara, her second husband. They planned an elaborate recovery that tricked the grandmother and took the child.
Career
First years
One afternoon after work when walking down the street in Mexico City, director and filmmaker Fernando Palacios approached her asking if she wanted to make films. Her response was:
Palacios finally persuaded her to break into films. Becoming her "Pygmalion", he began to train her and present her in film circles. She made her first appearance in the "White and Black Ballroom" of the Mexico City Country Club where some of the great Mexican film stars of the era (Esther Fernández, Lupe Vélez, Andrea Palma) gathered. Eventually she was taken to Hollywood, to the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, where she met Cecil B. DeMille, who offered to launch her film career in Hollywood, but Félix was not interested. She preferred to begin her career in her own country. Finally, thanks to Palacios, she was offered the female lead role in a film by Grovas Productions: El Peñón de las Ánimas, directed by Miguel Zacarías.
In the film El Peñón de las Ánimas, Félix starred opposite the popular Mexican actor and singer Jorge Negrete. María Félix and Jorge Negrete got off to a bad relationship during the filming because he had asked that his girlfriend, the actress Gloria Marín, be given the lead role. For this reason, the shooting of the film was difficult and led to a direct confrontation between Félix and Negrete. That confrontation helped to cement the reputation of Félix as a tough and arrogant woman.
In her second film, María Eugenia, Félix would be projected in a role out of her temperamental film personality. However, the film is remembered as the only film where Félix appeared in swimwear. The same happened with the film La china poblana (1943), where Félix claimed to have paid a debt of gratitude to her discoverer Fernando Palacios, who directed the film. Nobody has heard from this film (the second color film of the Mexican cinema), so it is considered lost. She called both films "her beginner sins".
Félix was known as La Doña for her role in the film Doña Bárbara (1943), based on the novel by the Venezuelan writer Rómulo Gallegos. For the film, another actress (Isabela Corona) was already hired, but when Gallegos first saw Félix, he was charmed by her and said: "Here is my Doña Bárbara!" The film was filmed in Venezuela with Mexican and Venezuelan actors. Doña Bárbara was to be the start of her major collaborations with the Mexican film director Fernando de Fuentes. Félix and de Fuentes filmed together another two films: La Mujer sin Alma (1944) and La Devoradora (1946). As María Félix herself said, "With these films, I became the number one enemy of the Mexican family morals."
Without her stereotyped role of a "femme fatale", María Félix filmed two sophisticated films: El monje blanco (1945), directed by Julio Bracho, and Vertigo (1946), directed by Antonio Momplet. Both characters required a great dramatic intensity.
Under the direction of Emilio Fernández, María Félix made three successful films: Enamorada (1946), Río Escondido (1947), and Maclovia (1948). The relationship between Félix and Fernández was cordial and smooth, despite the strong and famous temperament of the film director. In Enamorada, María Félix found her perfect film partner, the actor Pedro Armendáriz. The films of María Félix with Fernández and his team (writer Mauricio Magdaleno, photographer Gabriel Figueroa, and Armendáriz) had strong presence in several international film festivals. In turn, they gave María Félix her first Ariel Award for Enamorada and Río Escondido.
Between the films with Fernández, María Félix also worked with Roberto Gavaldón, another director who showcased some of her best performances. Their first collaboration was in La diosa arrodillada (1947) with Arturo de Córdova. Thanks to these films, María Félix's fame crossed the Atlantic.
In 1948 she was contracted by the Spanish film producer Cesáreo González. In this manner María Félix began her film adventure in Europe. She made only one more film in Mexico (Doña Diabla, 1949) until her return in 1952.
Europe
Félix debuted in the European cinema in Spain, with the film Mare Nostrum (1948), directed by Rafael Gil. With Gil as director, she made another two films in 1950: Una mujer cualquiera and La noche del sábado. In 1951, she filmed the French-Spanish production La Couronne Noire directed by Luis Saslavsky based on a story by Jean Cocteau. She debuted in Italy with the film Incantesimo Tragico (1951). In the same year, she filmed Messalina (1951), directed by Carmine Gallone. During the shooting of the film, Félix suffered an emotional shock: her father died of a heart attack in Navojoa.
In 1952, Félix traveled to Argentina, where she filmed La pasión desnuda of the Argentine filmmaker Luis César Amadori. In the same year, Félix returned to Mexico. She concluded her working relationship with Cesáreo González with the film Camelia filmed in her native country. Her stay in Mexico was mainly based on her marriage to the actor and singer Jorge Negrete, her former film rival, with whom she filmed El rapto, directed by Emilio Fernández, Negrete's last film.
After Negrete's death on 5 December 1953, Félix returned to Europe. In France she made the films La Belle Otero (1954), and Les Héros sont Fatigués (1955), alongside Yves Montand. However, the most important film of Félix in this period was French Cancan (1954) directed by Jean Renoir with French actor Jean Gabin. Her last film shot entirely in Europe was the Spanish film Faustina.
Last films Félix returned to Mexico in 1955. This period of her career was characterized by performing in period pieces inspired by the Mexican Revolution. This cycle begins with La Escondida (1955). In this film, as well as in stories like Canasta de cuentos mexicanos (1955) and Café Colón (1958), she worked again with Pedro Armendáriz. In 1956 she starred in Tizoc with the actor and singer Pedro Infante. However, the film was not liked by the actress, despite her international success. Eventually she filmed Beyond All Limits (1957) with Jack Palance, and the melodramas Ash Wednesday and The Empty Star (both 1958). In 1959 she played the title role in The Soldiers of Pancho Villa with top billing lead Dolores del Río. In 1959 she performed in the Spanish-Mexican co-production Sonatas directed by Juan Antonio Bardem and the French-Mexican co-production La Fièvre Monte à El Pao, directed by Luis Buñuel.
In the 1960s Félix's presence in the cinema was limited to only a few films. The most prominent were Juana Gallo (1960), La Bandida (1962), Amor y sexo (Sapho '63, 1963)), and La Valentina (1966). In 1970 she filmed La Generala, which would be her last film. The Mexican historical telenovela La Constitución (1971) would be her last professional acting job. Félix attempted to return to the cinema twice. First, in 1982, with the film Toña Machetes, and again in 1986 with the film Insólito resplandor. Neither project crystallized, and Félix never reappeared in film.
Roles declined in Hollywood Almost from the beginning of her career, Félix received job offers in Hollywood, but Félix herself said: They only give me huehuenche (Indian) roles. While she was in France, Hollywood offered her the female role of Duel in the Sun, but she passed and the part went to Jennifer Jones. Another proposal was The Barefoot Contessa with Humphrey Bogart, but she refused it, instead making La Belle Otero in France. Ava Gardner ended up with the part. Later, the director Robert Aldrich sent her the script of The Legend of Lylah Clare, but she did not reach an agreement with the director and Kim Novak got the role.
Personal life Félix was married four times. Her first marriage (1931–1938) was with the cosmetics sales agent Enrique Álvarez Alatorre.
He fathered her only child, actor Enrique Álvarez Félix (1934–1996). According to journalist Sergio Almázon, once she found her son wearing a white dress and necklace. Infuriated, she beat him unconscious. Álvarez retaliated by taking their son to Guadalajara. Years later Félix was able to get her son back with the help of her second husband, Agustín Lara. Félix's relationship with her son was distant in his early years because she sent him to schools abroad "to discipline" him. Years later, Enrique returned to Mexico and started a career as an actor in film and television. Regarding her son, Félix said: "Enrique is a very gifted man, with admirable common sense. He's my best friend. I have so much fun with him. He's not a 'mama's boy' as many believe. Self-employed, fight like being independent. He has his own career, his audience, his poster and assumes his responsibilities without relying on me." The unexpected death of Enrique from a heart attack in 1996 affected Félix greatly.