“‘Mata’ in my language means ‘to kill.’ If someone should mispronounce, it would be veree bad luck.” – Maria Alba (real name: Maria Casajuana), expressing her unhappiness with Fox Studio’s attempt to rename her “Marta.” She was a stenographer from Barcelona who was signed by Fox in 1927 after winning a beauty contest. However, Fox had problems […]
“In Spain, the people are a little more serious about their theater, but in South America, it is so wonderful. Everybody there laughs and has a good time. When they like you they are marvelous. They have a custom there to throw flowers at their favorites until the stage is so covered that boys have […]
DIANA LORYS (1940-) Diana Lorys was born Ana María Cazorla Vega on October 20, 1940, in Madrid, Spain. She obviously patterned herself after Gina Lollobrigida because she adopted Lollobrigida‘s modeling name “Diana Loris” when she embarked on her own modeling career in the early 1960s. Her beauty led to supporting film roles in Salto Mortal […]
“The players at the Vitagraph were so generous about – what is it you say – teaching me the ropes? Do I not speak good New York?” — Helena D’Algy BIO Silent film player Helena D’Algy was born Antonia Lozano Guedes Infante in Madrid, Spain, around June 1, 1906. (Note: other online biographies claim that […]
“And of Madrid, I don’t remember very much, because we went to live near Gibraltar. The English soldiers were there, and although I was only a little boy, I became intensely interested in the English language, and tried to learn it, although I didn’t make very much progress. But there I began to love the […]
Top photo: The apartment building at 636 S. Dunsmuir Avenue in 1962 Bottom photo: The same building today. Date of completion: 1931.