Here at Dolores Delargo Towers, there is little we like better than discovering a new Diva!
Courtesy of a girl I work with, my eyes and ears have been opened to the delights of Spain's eternal favourite, the living legend that is Sara Montiel.
At the venerable age of 82, with a seven-decade career as an international movie, TV and recording mega-star behind her, she shows no sign of stopping! Senorita Montiel in her heyday co-starred with the likes of Gary Cooper, Burt Lancaster, Joan Fontaine, Charles Bronson, Mario Lanza and Rod Steiger before retiring from movies in 1974 to concentrate on her television career.
Her private life is a feast for the gossip columns - she married four times, divorcing twice (outraging the deeply conservative Catholic country under Franco's dictatorship in the process), and carried on a long affair with Italian actor Giancarlo del Duca for 40 years. To top it all, husband number four (who she married when she was 74) was a Cuban videotape operator 36 years her junior!
La Leyenda's flamboyant image is legendary - she is famous for her scarlet talons and for puffing Havana cigars - and her music is embedded in Spanish culture. Her biggest hit Fumando Espero ["While smoking, I wait"] is apparently instantly recognisable to young and old alike.
A bar in Barcelona called "La Concha" is dedicated to Sara Montiel and has vintage photos of her on all the walls. A restored 16th Century windmill located close to Sara Montiel's birthplace in the La Mancha region of Spain has been officially turned into a museum of the star, housing memorabilia, gowns and many other items connected with her and her career.
Now that's a Diva!
Here she is as a young actress, playing the vamp in Carmen la Ronda...
And the vamp role persists - Alma Mia!
Her classic Fumando Espero:
Just this year, Sara Montiel was invited to co-star in the latest magnificent production of Dolores Delargo Towers favourite Spanish band Fangoria - how fabulous is this?! Absolutamente!
Of course any diva worth her salt will always be clasped to the hearts of queens, and drag queens in particular... Here's the glittering Manuel Arte paying La Leyenda due homage:
Visiting Sara Montiel fan website
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