Vélez, Lupe

Lupe Vélez (born María Guadalupe Villalobos Vélez; July 18, 1906 [or 1908] – December 14, 1944) was a Mexican actress, dancer and singer during the "Golden Age" of Hollywood films. 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 in 1927. By the end of the decade, she was acting in full-length silent films and had progressed to leading roles in The Gaucho (1927), Lady of the Pavements (1928) and Wolf Song (1929), among others. Vélez then made the transition to sound films without difficulty. She was one of the first successful Latin-American actresses in Hollywood. 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. [from wikipedia 2020-08-17]