Isabel del Puerto
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Isabel del Puerto | |
|---|---|
 Studio publicity photo | |
| Born | Elisabeth von Hortenau August 7, 1921 |
| Died | March 13, 2014 (aged 92) |
| Nationality | Mexican, American |
| Occupation(s) | Model, actress, dancer, writer, photo-journalist, realtor and entrepreneur |
| Years active | 1925–1989 |
| Spouses |
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| Children |
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| Parents | |
Isabel del Puerto (born Elisabeth von Hortenau;[1] August 7, 1921 in Vienna, Austria – March 13, 2014) was an Austrian-born noblewoman Mexican-American model, actress, dancer, writer, photojournalist, realtor and entrepreneur, and is the daughter of Charlotte Helene Beer[2] and Alfred Joseph von Hortenau,[3] a cavalry officer in the Austro-Hungarian Army and illegitimate son of the Archduke Otto Francis of Austria. Her parents divorced when she was two years old.
Early career[edit]
At four she made her stage debut under the guidance of Isadora Duncan and her grandmother Maria Schleinzer[4] who was a vedette at the Vienna Court Opera. She attended the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome, Italy, with Alida Valli and other stars of the 1930s.
Movie star[edit]
After a short career on Broadway, she went to Mexico, where she modeled for a department store and appeared in 17 films, becoming a star of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema of the 1940s and 1950s.
Photo journalist[edit]
After retiring from films, she worked for Time Life magazines and in advertising and public relations in New York.
Chef[edit]
She owned and cooked for five gourmet restaurants, among them El Cuchitril, a famous bistro in the Zona Rosa Mexico City.
Writer[edit]
She was working on her fifth book (a novel set in the early 1900s). One of her oeuvres is a semi-fictitious biography called My Way, two are detective stories: "The Key" and "The Portrait" and one is a book for children, Sonia, which she hoped to have illustrated and published.
Entrepreneur[edit]
She had a real estate license, selling properties in Mexico and the United States.
Later life and death[edit]
In her last years, Isabel resided in San Antonio, Texas, with her three dogs that had been picked up as strays. She actively supported the Democratic Party and headed a charity that was trying to help homeless people and their pets.
On 13 March 2014, she died of an embolism at 6:30 p.m. after a brief hospitalization, surrounded by her son Joe, and daughter Kat.[5]
Filmography[edit]
Del Puerto has taken part in the following films:
- Nunca besaré tu boca (I Will Never Kiss Your Lips), Mexico, 1947.
- Mi madre adorada (My Mother Adored), Mexico, 1948.
- A Family Like Many Others, as Estela Cataño, Mexico, 1949.[6]
- Midnight, as Lidia, Mexico, 1949.
- Hay lugar para... dos (There's a Place for... Two), as Elsa de Olivares, Mexico, 1949.[7]
- Angels of the Arrabal, Mexico, 1949.[8]
- Confessions of a Taxi Driver, as Elizabeth de Legazpi, Mexico, 1949.[9]
- Ventarrón (Gale), as Mirna, Mexico, 1949.
- The Devil is a Woman as Clara, Mexico, 1950.[10]
- Mariachis, Mexico, 1950.[11]
- Matrimonio y mortaja (Marriage and Shroud), as Rosario, Mexico, 1950.[12]
- Rosauro Castro, as Esperanza, Mexico, 1950.[13]
- Entre abogados te veas (Among Lawyers I See You), as La amante, Mexico, 1951.
- El gendarme de la esquina (Policeman on the Corner), as Carolina Santillán, Mexico, 1951.[14]
- Captain Scarlett, as Josephine Prenez, USA, 1953.[15]
- Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, USA, 1989.
- Old Gringo, USA, 1989.
Bibliography[edit]
- García Riera. Emilio, Breve historia del cine mexicano: primer siglo 1897-1987. México. Publisher: Conaculta, Imcine, Universidad de Guadalajara. Zapopan, Jalisco, Mexico. 1998. 466 pages.
- García Riera, Emilio, Historia Documental del Cine Mexicano. Época Sonora. 18 tomos. Publisher ERA. Mexico. 1971.
- Ayala Blanco. Jorge, La aventura del cine mexicano: en la época de oro y después. Mexico. Publisher: ERA. 1979. 422 pages.
References[edit]
- ^ "Elisabeth von Hortenau b. 7 August 1921 - Rodovid EN". en.rodovid.org. Retrieved July 12, 2020.
- ^ "Charlotte b. 1893 d. 1966 - Rodovid EN". en.rodovid.org. Retrieved July 12, 2020.
- ^ "Alfred Joseph von Hortenau b. 10 November 1892 d. 1956 - Rodovid EN". en.rodovid.org. Retrieved July 12, 2020.
- ^ "Marie Schleinzer b. 25 March 1874 d. 1 June 1949 - Rodovid EN". en.rodovid.org. Retrieved July 12, 2020.
- ^ "13 de Marzo, Aniversario luctuoso de la actríz Isabel del Puerto". KhronosDigital.com (in Spanish). March 13, 2019. Retrieved April 29, 2019.
- ^ García Riera, Emilio, Historia Documental del Cine Mexicano. Época Sonora. Tomo III 1945-1948, pages 309–314
- ^ García Riera, Emilio, Historia Documental del Cine Mexicano. Época Sonora. Tomo III 1945-1948, pages 335–336
- ^ García Riera, Emilio, Historia Documental del Cine Mexicano. Época Sonora. Tomo IV 1949-1951, pages 52-53
- ^ García Riera, Emilio, Historia Documental del Cine Mexicano. Época Sonora. Tomo IV 1949-1951, pages 49–51
- ^ García Riera, Emilio, Historia Documental del Cine Mexicano. Época Sonora. Tomo IV 1949-1951, pages 101, 102
- ^ García Riera, Emilio, Historia Documental del Cine Mexicano. Época Sonora. Tomo IV 1949-1951, page 29
- ^ García Riera, Emilio, Historia Documental del Cine Mexicano. Época Sonora. Tomo IV 1949-1951, page 115, 116
- ^ García Riera, Emilio, Historia Documental del Cine Mexicano. Época Sonora. Tomo IV 1949-1951, pages 176–178
- ^ García Riera, Emilio, Historia Documental del Cine Mexicano. Época Sonora. Tomo IV 1949-1951, pages 290, 291
- ^ García Riera, Emilio, Historia Documental del Cine Mexicano. Época Sonora. Tomo V 1952-1954, page 233, De Hollywood a México.
External links[edit]
Media related to Isabel del Puerto at Wikimedia Commons- Isabel del Puerto at IMDb
- 1921 births
- 2014 deaths
- 20th-century Mexican actresses
- Actresses from Vienna
- Deaths from embolism
- Golden Age of Mexican cinema
- Mexican film actresses
- Austrian emigrants to Mexico
- Mexican restaurateurs
- Mexican women writers
- Austrian expatriates in Italy
- Austrian expatriates in the United States
- Mexican expatriates in the United States