Lupe Vélez
| Lupe Vélez | |
|---|---|
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| Born |
María Guadalupe Villalobos Vélez July 18, 1908 San Luis Potosí City, San Luis Potosí, Mexico |
| Died | December 13, 1944 (aged 36) Glendale, California, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Seconal overdose |
| Resting place | Panteón de Dolores |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1924–1944(19 years) |
| Spouse(s) |
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María Guadalupe Villalobos Vélez, known professionally as Lupe Vélez (July 18, 1908 – December 13, 1944), was a Mexican and American stage and film actress, comedian, dancer and vedette.
Vélez began her career as a performer in Mexican vaudeville in the early 1920s. After moving to the United States, she made her first film appearance in a short film in 1927. By the end of the decade, in the last years of American silent films, she had progressed to leading roles in numerous movies like The Gaucho (1927), Lady of the Pavements (1928) and Wolf Song (1929), among others. She was one of the first successful Latin American actresses in the United States. During the 1930s, her well-known explosive screen persona was exploited in a series of successful films like Hot Pepper (1933), Strictly Dynamite (1934) and Hollywood Party (1934). In the 1940s, Vélez's popularity peaked after appearing in the Mexican Spitfire films, a series created to capitalize on Vélez's well-documented fiery personality.
Nicknamed The Mexican Spitfire by the media, Vélez's personal life was as colorful as her screen persona. She had several highly publicized romances and a stormy marriage. In December 1944, Vélez died of an intentional overdose of Seconal. Her death, and the circumstances surrounding it, have been the subject of speculation and controversy.
María Guadalupe Villalobos Vélez was born in the city of San Luis Potosí in Mexico, the daughter of Jacobo Villalobos Reyes, a colonel in the armed forces of the dictator Porfirio Diaz, and his wife Josefina Vélez, an opera singer according to some sources, or vaudeville singer according to others. She was one of five children; she had three sisters: Mercedes, Reina and Josefina and a brother, Emigdio. According to Vélez's second cousin, the Villalobos family were considered prominent in San Luis Potosí and most of the male family members were college educated. The family was also financially comfortable and lived in a large home.
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