Maria Alba
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Maria Alba | |
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Born | María del Pilar Margarita Casajuana Martínez December 28, 1905 |
Died | October 26, 1999 San Diego, California, U.S. | (aged 93)
Other names | Maria Casajuana |
Occupation | Actress |
Years active | 1928–1946 |
Spouse |
Richard J. Burk
(m. 1950–1996) |
Children | 3 |
María del Pilar Margarita Casajuana Martínez known as Maria Alba (28 December 1905 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain – 26 October 1999 in San Diego, California), was a Spanish-American film actress. Signed by the Fox Film Corporation after winning Fox Film contest in Spain, Maria Casajuana came to the United States in 1927 a second cabin class passenger on the S/S Suffern, which sailed from the Port of Le Havre, France, on 16 April, and arrived at the Port of New York, 26 April 1927.
Originally billed as Maria Casajuana, she appeared in 25 feature films, starting with Road House in 1928 and ending with La morena de mi copla in 1946. Her most notable appearances (as Maria Alba) were probably as "Saturday" in the 1932 Douglas Fairbanks film Mr. Robinson Crusoe, and as the exotic "Princess Nadji" in the Bela Lugosi serial The Return of Chandu. Other Latin actresses working in films, like Lupe Vélez or Dolores del Río, became fluent in English, but Maria Alba spoke English with a thick accent, which limited her casting opportunities.
Marriages
Publicity materials for The Return of Chandu, published in 1934, disclosed that Maria Alba's married name was Mrs. David Todd. On July 9, 1950, she married Richard J. Burk; the couple had three children.[1]
Partial filmography
- Her Blue, Black Eyes (1927, Short)
- A Girl in Every Port (1928) - Maria Buenjolla / Chiquita - Girl in Rio de Janeiro
- Road House (1928) - Spanish Marla
- Blindfold (1928) - Pepita
- Joy Street (1929) - Agnes
- Hell's Heroes (1929) - Carmelita
- Charros, gauchos y manolas (1930) - Spanish artist
- El cuerpo del delito (1930) - Señorita Delroy
- La fuerza del querer (1930) - Shirley
- Olimpia (1930) - Princess Olimpia
- Los que danzan (1930) - Norma Brady
- El código penal (1931) - Mary Brady
- Road of Hell (1931) - Angela
- Su última noche (1931) - Elena Desano
- Just a Gigolo (1931) - A French Wife
- Goldie (1931) - Dolores
- La ley del harem (1931) - Fatima
- Almost Married (1932) - Mariette (uncredited)
- Mr. Robinson Crusoe (1932) - Saturday
- Hypnotized (1932) - Princess Mitzi
- Kiss of Araby (1933) - Dolores Mendez
- The Return of Chandu (1934) - Nadji - Princess of Egypt
- Flirting with Danger (1934) - Rosita
- West of the Pecos (1934) - Dolores
- Great God Gold (1935) - Elena Nitto
- El Hijo de Nadie (1946, Mexico)
- La Morena de Mi Colpa (1946, Mexico) - Pepa (final film role)
References
- ^ Internet Movie Database
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Maria Alba at IMDb
- Maria Alba at Virtual History
- Actresses from Barcelona
- American silent film actresses
- Spanish emigrants to the United States
- Deaths from Alzheimer's disease
- 1905 births
- 1999 deaths
- American film actresses
- American people of Catalan descent
- Spanish film actresses
- Spanish silent film actresses
- Actresses from San Diego
- Neurological disease deaths in the United States
- 20th-century American actresses