Sara Montiel is a woman of many names — and we mean many, many names. She was born "María Antonia Alejandra Vicenta Elpidia Isidora Abad Fernández" — whew, what a mouthful! — in Campo de Criptana, Spain. The budding star won a talent contest when she was fifteen years old, which launched her into her film career. Her first movie listed her as "María Alejandra" in the credits, but for her next onscreen start, she decided to change her first name to Sara (her grandmother's name) and change her last name to Montiel to honor the Montiel fields near her place of birth. Sara was regularly appearing onscreen by the time she was sixteen, but it was moving to Mexico in 1950 that her made her star rise, as did the crotches of her male fans. She made some films in the United States, such as Run of the Arrow (1957), though her lines were dubbed by Angie Dickinson. Mostly, her Spanish language films became wildly popular. She appeared in The Last Torch Song (1957) and The Violet Seller (1958), both of which acquired the highest gross revenues ever recorded for films made in the Spanish-speaking movie industry during the '50s and '60s. For a better look at the sexy but skingy Latina, check out Varietés (1971), a musical drama which features Sara in some cleavage-baring showgirl outfits and lingerie. Sadly, there's no nudity. Sara went on to primarily work as a singer, which makes sense, as she’s got such nice lungs.
