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Lupita Tovar

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Actress

The Resume

    (July 27, 1910-November 12, 2016)
    Born in Matías Romero, Oaxaca, Mexico
    Birth name is Guadalupe Natalia Tovar
    Screen Idol of Cine Mexicano, or 'The Golden Age of Mexican Cinema'
    Acted in 'Yankee Don,' 'El Tenorio del Harem,' 'East of Borneo,' 'Border Law,' 'Vidas Rotas,' 'Broken Lives,' 'The Invader,' 'Maria,' 'The Fighting Gringo,' 'South of the Border,' 'Green Hell,' 'The Westerner,' 'Resurreccion,' 'Gun to Gun,' and 'Mariguana'
    Acted in Spanish-language versions of 'Cat Creeps,' 'Ten Cents a Dance,' and 'Storm Over the Andes'
    Mother of Oscar-nominated actress, Susan Kohner, and producer, Paul 'Pancho' Kohner
    Wife of successful talent agent and producer, Paul Kohner (m. 1932-1988)
    Best known for her starring role as Eva in the 1931 Spanish-language 'graveyard shift' version of Bela Lugosi's 'Dracula' (1931)
    Often billed as 'Lupita Kohner' or 'Lupita Tovar-Kohner'

Why she might be annoying:

    Her husband proposed to her over the phone.
    She is confused with Lupe Velez and overshadowed by Dolores Del Rio.
    She was comparably oversexed as Eva in 'Dracula' (moreso than the American, Helen Chandler).
    She was passed over for leads opposite Richard Barthelmess and both Fairbanks men.
    She admitted to being legitimately weirded out on the set of 'Dracula,' particularly by Carlos Villarias, the actor playing the Spanish-language Count Dracula (and she wasn't the only one).
    She never attained success in the United States as a leading lady in her own right, making traction only in Spanish-language counterparts to American films.
    Also, because the bulk of Spanish-language 'night shift' counterpart films are lost, so is a majority of her American work (although she is a national treasure in Mexico).

Why she might not be annoying:

    She played the guitar.
    Her family was driven across the border by the Mexican Revolution.
    She was intoxicatingly beautiful, but possessed a very playful and innocent spirit.
    She was discovered as part of a dance troupe, when she won first place in a Mexico City screen test competition.
    She received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Mexican Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2001.
    Her life turned out to be infinitely happier than that of the tragic Helen Chandler.
    She acted in the first Mexican talkie film, Santa (1932).
    She aged remarkably well; living on to the ripe age of 100, in 2010.
    When she first came to Hollywood, she couldn't even say 'good morning' in English, but she taught herself to be fluent in the language in less than 7 months.
    She enjoyed a lasting and healthy marriage with Paul Tovar, choosing not to remarry after his death in 1988.
    Critics generally tend to concede that the Universal's Spanish-language version is superior to the English-version, and, certainly, much sexier (mostly thanks to Tovar).
    She said of her 'Dracula' experience, 'I was very lucky. All of the actors were such wonderful people and we were all so anxious to make a good film.'

Credit: BoyWiththeGreenHair


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 11 Votes: 45.45% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 4 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 7 Votes: 71.43% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 5 Votes: 80.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 4 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 63 Votes: 77.78% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 8 Votes: 12.50% Annoying