Jose Aguilar

Updated Friday, March 15, 2024-9:39 p.m.

  • Divas Sara Montiel: husbands, abortions, a thousand lovers and mysterious hatred with Carmen Sevilla

  • Sara Montiel Wedding: The ultimatum that her children gave her did not dissuade her from marrying Tony Hernández

In a few days Sara Montiel would turn 96 years old.

The movie star has a legendary past that goes much further than her iconic beauty and her own films.

Her marriage to director Anthony Mann marked her life

and her career definitively.

Her memories of the filmmaker were always positive, although in that unequal relationship there were not always good moments, since Sara often felt very misunderstood.

The actress from La Mancha had managed to make a place for herself in Hollywood after a notable career in Spain and Mexico where she was a popular idol.

In the United States she would meet some of the most important stars of the time with whom she had the opportunity to interact and become intimate and where her friendliness and her brilliant physique would open all the doors for her.

Sara confessed to me:

"That was a very important stage for me since I had the opportunity to learn many fundamental things

for my profession, but don't believe it, I was already coming from some very intense years in Mexico where I had worked with great professionals who taught me all kinds of things and where I was already a true star. What happened is that the great success of Juan de Orduña's

The Last Cuplé

changed everything and turned what, without a doubt, could have been my career. If this had not happened I would have shot many more films there.

After filming

Vera Cruz

(1954) under the direction of Robert Aldrich alongside Gary Cooper and Burt Lancaster, Sara began filming

Two Passions and a Love

(Serenade) with Joan Fontaine and Mario Lanza, a film in which Sara had a important role and where he would be under the orders of one of the most important directors of the moment, Anthony Mann, who was absolutely dazzled by a Sara Montiel who wanted to take on the world:

"I was in the fullness of my beauty José and, the truth is, It opened many doors for me,

in every sense. I was ready to break and it was not easy for a man to resist me... In addition, Tony was charming and very polite..."

A striking beauty

Her presence in magazines was surprising for a Spanish actress and in Hollywood she was considered by some as the "Latin bomb."

She always told me insistently that she was offered an exclusive seven-year contract that she rejected because she feared that she would be typecast in certain roles that could prevent the development that she wanted for her acting career.

Sara did not want to close her doors to be able to work in other countries.

On that shoot, Anthony Mann was seduced by Sara, despite the great age difference between them, almost 25 years.

We are in 1956. The actress was impressed with his talent, with his intelligence, with his recognition... She told me: "He was a true gentleman, he adored me, although he had some moments in which he was jealous, especially when he saw the interest of some stars in me. It probably had a lot to do with the fact that I was a very young girl.

Thanks to Tony I met everyone from Hollywood

who stopped by our house every day. It was like being at a movie premiere for the one where all the stars passed."

Sara Montiel showing off the "smoking I wait for the man I love."

In this case she was on the sideEFE

Sara did not hesitate to marry that man twice, the first in article mortis and the second civilly, although the previous one was valid, and in accordance with the Jewish rite.

The ceremony took place in Los Angeles on August 31, 1957. The best man at the wedding was the Duke of Osuna and the celebration was in style, although Mann had to go to work very soon.

Anthony Mann did not want to be separated from her for even a moment, something that, perhaps, overwhelmed the actress a little: "José, he was charming, cultured, good, generous,

whatever you want... but he didn't leave me alone nor alone." in the shade.

He accompanied me to all the places whenever he could...it was a lot..."

An international triumph that no one expected

Sara was already a true star at that time, the unexpected success of

El Ultimo Cuplé

had just occurred.

While we were enjoying a vacation in Marbella he told me: "That was something that really surprised everyone, including Tony. He was surprised that such a small film was opening the doors of the world to me. The same thing happened with

La Violetera.

When we arrived in Paris and he saw the city flooded with the movie posters, he couldn't believe it. I didn't depend on him for everything that was happening to me...

although I will always admit that he was an exemplary husband

who didn't know how to please me, but for those productions he didn't contribute. no type of financing and my producers asked for it... I really didn't believe in them..."

Sara was overjoyed and her pace of life was beginning to become frenetic.

The press and the public demanded it.

Tony was already back from all that and he needed a life that was a little quieter and not so focused on the spotlight.

She told me: "Everything seemed fine to Tony, but at the Venice Film Festival he didn't like me being the center of attention.

He even asked me not to go to one of the screenings..."

A failed pregnancy that led to depression

In 1959, Sara was in an advanced state of pregnancy, in her eighth month of pregnancy, but an untimely fall in her husband's studio in Los Angeles caused her dream of being a mother to fade.

The baby died in the fall and that accident left him with many consequences.

The numerous pregnancies she subsequently had also failed to come to fruition.

That affected Sara greatly; she suffered enormous frustration that turned into deep depression for not being able to be a mother for a long time.

It was something that obsessed and tormented him.

Anthony was very attentive to her at that time and was greatly upset by the loss of her son.

Sara felt that Anthony did not value her enough as a movie star, she complained that, for example, in

Serenade

he had not given her the best shots, that she was not photographed very well.

I don't share it.

From my point of view she was very careful, but her feeling was different.

She thought that Tony found all of his professional achievements very little.

Anything that wasn't made in Hollywood didn't have much value for him.

In Sara's own words: "For Tony, Spanish cinema was a cinema of no importance. He also did not think that our country was worth it until, little by little, he got to know it..."

Sara Montiel did not play Doña Jimena in El Cid

In the numerous times that we spoke about this subject, she always assured me that that role

never interested her because it was out of her profile

and that it was she herself who suggested to her husband that Sofía Loren be the one to play it.... Only one day, After a tribute at the Ateneo in Madrid, she told me that she had had some disagreements with Mann in this regard since she had suggested changing it so that it would have more presence...but that her husband had told her that the studios did not see the possibility.

An exemplary divorce

Their divorce was very amicable, Sara did not ask him for anything special, nor did she make him sign any clause that could harm him, although he had a great fortune.

Truly, she loved him like a father.

Tony took this behavior into account and, even though his death happened suddenly in Berlin,

Sara was included in his will.

Sara could not attend the reading of the will because she was filming a new film, but she sent her lawyer, who was then the Marquis of Santa Rita, to London.

Tony left her $50,000, a significant sum for the time, some very valuable jewelry, shares in different companies, a Mercedes, although he had already given her another,

and some percentages of her most important films.

The beauty in front of a mirror she was surprised by the unexpected success.