Miroslava

Little remembered Czechoslovakian beauty Miroslava in a newly restored tri-chrome sitting from 1950. Born in the pre-war Prague on February 26, 1925, young Miroslava Sternova (or simply Miroslava, as she was known in her film career) was brought to Mexico by her parents in the late 30s, leaving her childhood, her native Czechoslovakia and her beloved grandma. After winning a beauty contest in Mexico City, Miroslava spent some time in Los Angeles studying acting. Because of her European features, and her native accent, she rarely found roles other than mysterious women or foreign beauties. She was eventually offered a role in what would become her last and most remembered film: “The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz” (1955). Soon after the film wrapped, Miroslava tragically took her own life with sleeping pills (aged 29). Her friends stated her suicide was due to unrequited love for Spanish bullfighter Luis Miguel Dominguín, who had recently married Italian actress Lucia Bosè. Others claimed that her unrequited love was for Mexican actor Cantinflas. Despite any evidence to support it, a rumour persisted that she died in a plane crash when traveling with Mexican businessman Jorge Pasquel, the day before her suicide. In a macabre coincidence, the premiere of “The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz” (1955), in which a mannequin in her likeness is incinerated, occurred during her own cremation in a Mexican graveyard. Her tragic life inspired a short story in 1990, and a film, Miroslava (1993).

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