Carmen Molina (actress)

Carmen Molina
Molina in 1954
Born	(1920-01-20)20 January 1920 Mexico City, Mexico
Died	17 October 1998(1998-10-17) (aged 78) Mexico City, Mexico
Occupations	Actor singer dancer
Years active	1936–1985

Carmen Molina (20 January 1920 – 17 October 1998) was a Mexican actress, singer, and dancer. She was considered a popular star of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema. Throughout her acting career, she was nominated for an Ariel Award for her supporting role in Las mañanitas (1948).

Biography and career

Carmen Molina was born in Mexico City in 1920. She studied at the Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles school and made her film debut at the age of 16 with a small role in the movie ¿Qué hago con la criatura? (1936). Her subsequent projects would see her working with actors such as Cantinflas, Emilio Fernández, Sara García, Gloria Marin, Julián Soler, and Pedro Armendáriz in films such as No te engañes corazón (1937), Adiós Nicanor (1937), La gallina clueca (1941), and Simón Bolívar (1942). In 1944, she worked on Walt Disney's American production The Three Caballeros, a film that combined animation with live actors. The following year, she appeared in the film Song of Mexico, but despite these opportunities in Mexico, she was unable to land a leading role and had to settle for supporting roles in which she demonstrated her acting skills, as was the case with the film Las mañanitas (1948), starring the real-life couple Esther Fernández, one of the greatest divas of the previous decade, and Antonio Badú. For this performance, she received an Ariel Award nomination, losing to Columba Domínguez for her performance in Maclovia. Other important roles were in films such as Soy charro de levita (1949), starring Tin Tan and Rosita Quintana, Hipócrita (1949), alternating with Leticia Palma and Antonio Badú, Vino el remolino y nos alevantó (1950), No desearás a la mujer de tu hijo (1950), with Pedro Infante and Fernando Soler, and El hombre sin rostro (1950) with Arturo de Córdova.

Disappointed at not receiving the starring roles she felt she deserved, she took refuge in the theater and bid farewell to cinema with the film El mártir del calvario (The Martyr of Calvary, 1952). She returned ten years later, persuaded by her friend Mario Moreno Cantinflas to appear in one of his films, El extra (The Extra), and went on to make minor appearances. She enjoyed her greatest success on television, appearing in soap operas and television theater. In 1961, she was voted most outstanding actress and later best actress.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1936	¿Qué hago con la criatura?	Rosa, Juan's husband
1937	Don't Fool Yourself Dear	Carmencita
	Adiós Nicanor	Lupe
1941	La gallina clueca	Pita
1942	Simón Bolívar	María Teresa
1944	Saint Francis of Assisi	Sta. Clara de Asis
	The Three Caballeros	Mexican Girl
1945	Canção do México	Specialty Dancer
1946	Palabras de mujer	Bailarina	Uncredited
1947	Por culpa de una mujer
1948	The Well-paid	Julieta Rute
	La casa de la Troya	Moncha
	Las mañanitas
	Dueña y señora	Toña joven
1949	Carta Brava	Nora
	Rough But Respectable	Carmelita
	Hypocrite	Aurora
	Cuatro vidas
1950	Vino el remolino y nos alevantó	Toña Ramírez
	You Shall Not Covet Thy Son's Wife	Josefa
	The Man Without a Face	Ana María
1951	La hija de la otra	Mercedes de Castroviejo
1952	El mártir del calvario	Marta
1962	Twist, locura de juventud	Tía Rita
	The Extra	Actress who plays Margarita Gautier
1963	Rostro infernal	Dr. Mendez Braun
1965	Aventura al centro de la tierra	Julia
1969	Amor y medias
1979	Naná
1981	Lagunilla, mi barrio	Hortensia Braniff
1982	Lagunilla 2	Hortensia
1983	Los dos carnales	Doña Manuela	(final film role)

References

• Emilio García Riera, México visto por el cine extranjero, Volume 3, Ediciones Era, 1988, ISBN 968-411-315-3
• José Rogelio Álvarez, Enciclopedia de México, Volume 9, Edition 4, 1978

External links

Carmen Molina at IMDb