Montez, Maria |
| ACTOR (DOMINICAN TEPUBLIC) |
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BORN 6 Jun 1912, Santa Cruz de Barahona, Berahona - DIED 7 Sep 1951, Suresnes, Hauts-de-Seine: Rue des Raguidelles BIRTH NAME Vidal de Santo Silas, Maria Africa Gracia CAUSE OF DEATH drowned in bathtub (possibly after heart attack) GRAVE LOCATION Paris: Cimetière du Montparnasse, 3 Boulevard Edgar Quinet (division 24) |
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Maria Montez was the daughter of a Spanish diplomat and a daughter of political refugees. She was born in the Dominican Republic and educated on the Canary Islands before she tried a career as a stage actress in Europe. Her marriage in 1932 to the american banker William McFeeters failed in 1939 and she worked as a model in New York before her movie career took off in 1940. Her stage name Montez was chosen because Lola Montez was a favorite of her father. Although she could hardly act, she was beautiful and her roles as a girl in distress made her popular. In 1940 she was in "The Invisible Woman" and in 1942 in "Arabian Nights". In 1943 she married the actor Jean-Pierre Aumont and they went to Europe. There she had parts is several French and Italians movies. Her last part was in a German movie, "Schatten über Neapel" (1951). In 1951 she was found drowned in her bath, apparently after suffering a heart attack cauded by the heat of her bath. She was buried at the Montparnasse Cemetery in Paris. Her tombstone states 1918 instead of 1912 as the year of her birth, because she used to pretend that she was younger than she really was. Family • Daughter: Aumont, Tina |
| Images |
 The grave of Maria Montez and Tina Aumont at the Cimetière Montparnasse, Paris. Picture by Androom (18 Feb 2016) |
Sources • Cullen, Catherine, Paris, The Woman's Travel Guide, Virago Press, London, 1993 • MarÃa Montez - Wikipédia (FR) |
