Before Penelope Cruz, before anyone, there was Sarita.
Her name was Sara Montiel, but the world called her Saritísima – the most Sarita of all.
From Campo de Criptana to Hollywood
She was born María Antonia Abad Fernández on March 10, 1928, in the tiny windmill village of Campo de Criptana, La Mancha, Spain. She was so poor she never forgot it.
In 1943, at 15, she won a local talent contest. That contest took her to Madrid, then to Mexico where she became a naturalized citizen and a major film star, and then – to Hollywood.
She became one of the first Spanish sex symbols to attract Hollywood’s attention. In 1954 she starred opposite Gary Cooper and Burt Lancaster in Vera Cruz, and then with Rod Steiger in Samuel Fuller’s Run of the Arrow (1957). Hollywood was ready to make her a huge star.
Then she said NO to Hollywood.
El Último Cuplé (1957) – The Film That Beat Elvis
In 1957, she returned to Spain to shoot Juan de Orduña’s El Último Cuplé (The Last Torch Song).
No one expected what happened next. The film became the highest-grossing film in Spanish history at that time. It was a massive hit across all of Western Europe and Latin America.
She became the most popular actress-singer of 1957 and a national treasure.
Her next film, La Violetera (1958), broke the record again. The soundtrack albums from both films reportedly outsold Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra in many countries. Her smoky voice singing “Fumando Espero,” “El Relicario,” and “La Violetera” became the sound of an entire generation.
For the next 20 years, she toured the world with legendary shows like Saritísima, Super Sara Show and Doña Sara de la Mancha.
The Icon
Sara Montiel was married 4 times, lived openly, smoked on stage, and never apologized for being a diva. She was bisexual, glamorous, and decades ahead of her time.
She died on April 8, 2013, in Madrid at 85, but in Spain, she is still eternal.
Final Thought: Hollywood wanted to turn her into another exotic girl. Sara Montiel turned herself into an empire. She was the first Spanish woman to prove you could be from a small village and still own the world.
