MARIA FELIX was a Mexican actress, one of the leading figures of the golden era of the cinema of Mexico. She was commonly known, particularly in her later years, by the honorific LA DONA. Born Maria de los Angeles Felix Gu... more »erena in Alamos, Sonora Mexico. Most reference works state that she was born on April 8 1914. She died on April 8 2002 in Mexico City of congestive heart failure. it was her 88th birthday. Her father, Bernardo Felix, who was of Yaqui descent, and her mother, Josefina Guerena, of Basque Spanish origin, who was educated in a convent at Pico Heights, California. Felix's legendary career started in 1940, when she was approached on the street in Mexico City, where she was vacationing, by Fernando Palacios, who cast her in his 1943 film LA CHINA POBLANA. She accepted despite the fact that she wasn't an actress and personally believed the story line was absurd. Although she had never acted before in her life, she accepted the challenge because Palacios convinced her that she had the "right look" for the part. The last copy of this film was lost during a fire and another copy has never been found. PEDRO ARMENDARIZ, born Pedro Gregorio Armendariz Hastings (May 9, 1912, Mexico City - June 18, 1963, Los Angeles California) was a Mexican Actor of the cinema of Mexico and Hollywood. He was the son of Pedro Armendariz Garcia-Conde (Mexican) and Adela Hastings (American) Pedro lived with his parents in Texas and studied in California, where he graduated with an engineering degree at the California Polytechnic State University. When Pedro finished his studies, he moved to Mexico where he worked for the railroad, as a tour guide and as a journalist for the bilingual magazine Mexico Real. He was discovered by film director Miguel Zacarias when Pedro recited the monologue from Hamlet to an American tourist. He obtained his first role in a movie at the age of 22 and after that he made many films in Mexico, the United States, France, Italy and England. He received an Ariel Award 1948 in the category of Best Actor for his role in LA PERLA. His last appearance was in the second James Bond film, FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE (1963) as Bond's ally, Kerim Bey. In 1952 he had a role in the movie THE CONQUEROR produced by Howard Hughes. This movie was filmed in the state of Utah during the time when the US government ran nuclear tests in the neighboring state of Nevada. 91 of the 220 people involved in the production of the film contracted cancer within 25 years, and 46 of these died as a consequence of this illness, Pedro Armendariz started to suffer pain in his hips and years later it was discovered that he had cancer in these regions. Pedro learned his condition was terminal while at UCLA medical center. He committed suicide on June 18 1963.« less
