María Guadalupe Villalobos Vélez

 María Guadalupe Villalobos Vélez, known as Lupe Velez (July 18, 1908– December 13, 1944)

She began her career in Mexico as a dancer in vaudeville, before moving to the U.S. Vélez soon entered films, making her first appearance in 1927 in the film The Gaucho. By the end of the decade she had progressed to leading roles. She worked with film directors like D.W. Griffith, Cecil B. DeMille, Victor Fleming and William Wyler among others. With the arrival of talkies, Vélez's career took a turn towards comedy. Her characterization of the temperamental, explosive, rebellious and irreverent Latina woman gave her enormous popularity. She enjoyed immense popularity among Hispanic audiences and also made some films in Mexico. Some of her most memorable films are Lady of the Pavements (1928), The Wolf Song (1929), Palooka (1933), Laughing Boy (1934), Hollywood Party (1934) and the series of films created especially for her: Mexican Spitfire, in the early 1940s. Vélez's personal life was often difficult; a five-year marriage to Johnny Weissmuller and a series of romances with figures like Gary Cooper, were highly publicized. In 1944 she met and fell in love with a young Austrian acting career in Hollywood under the name Harald Ramond, and asked him to marry her. Harald agreed, but only for convenience. In September, Vélez discovered she was four months pregnant. Francesca Vitiner, a woman who had been with Maresch, sued him for breach of promise. Vélez realized that Maresch was not the inexperienced young man whom she had protected.

A popular belief is that, unable to face the shame of giving birth to a child out of wedlock, Vélez decided to take her own life. The last day of her life, she breakfasted with Bruce Cabot and Errol Flynn, and dined with her two best friends, Estelle Taylor and Benita Oakie, on Mexican food, drank brandy, smoked and spent a good evening. She retired to bed after taking an overdose of sleeping pills;specifically, she swallowed 80 Seconal pills. Lupe Vélez died at age of 36, and buried in the Panteón de Dolores, in the Tacubaya section of Mexico City.