Lupita Tovar

Guadalupe Natalia Tovar Sullivan (27 July 1910 – 12 November 2016), known professionally as Lupita Tovar, was a Mexican-American actress best known for her starring role in the 1931 Spanish-language version of Drácula. It was filmed in Los Angeles by Universal Pictures at night using the same sets as the Bela Lugosi version, but with a different cast and director.

She also starred in the film Santa (1932), one of the first Mexican sound films, and one of the first commercial Spanish-language sound films. At the time of her death, she was the oldest living actress and among the last surviving stars of the Golden Ages of both Mexican cinema and Hollywood.

Early life
Tovar was born in Matías Romero, Oaxaca, Mexico, the daughter of Egidio Tovar, who was from Tehuacán, Puebla, Mexico, and Mary Tovar (née Sullivan), who was Irish-Mexican, from Matías Romero, Oaxaca, Mexico. Tovar was the oldest of nine children, and many of her siblings did not survive early childhood. Tovar grew up during the time of the Mexican Revolution and her family was very poor. She was raised in a very religious Catholic environment, and went to a Catholic school where she was taught by nuns.

In 1918, Tovar's family moved north to Mexico City. There her father worked for the National Railroad of Mexico in an administrative position.

Early career
Tovar was discovered in Mexico City by documentary filmmaker Robert Flaherty. She had performed in a dance class and was invited, along with other girls, to do a screen test as part of a competition. Tovar won first place.

The prize was a 6-month probation period, followed by a 7-year contract at $150/week, to Fox Studios. The studio had realized they could make money by simultaneously shooting Spanish-language movies of English-language studio productions, so had been casting for Spanish-speaking stars. At the age of 18, Tovar moved to Hollywood in November 1928 with her maternal grandmother, Lucy Sullivan.

Under contract, Tovar was required to study intensively to enhance her skills for films. Her weekly schedule included guitar, two hours four days; Spanish dances, one hour three days; dramatics, one-half hour two days; and English, one hour every day. Her accent was considered an asset in talking motion pictures. Her English improved significantly in seven months from the time she arrived in Hollywood in January 1929. At that time, she could not say "good morning" in English. She also attended talkies to improve her English; she also read voraciously to learn new words. In 1929, Tovar appeared in the films The Veiled Woman with Bela Lugosi (now thought to be a lost film) and The Cock-Eyed World.

In 1930, she was mentioned for leads in two talkies starring Douglas Fairbanks Sr. and Richard Barthelmess. Fairbanks put off the filming of what became The Exile. After his death, the film was made in 1947 by his son, Douglas, Jr., directed by Max Ophüls.

Spanish language remakes
Lupita's future husband, producer Paul Kohner, convinced Carl Laemmle to make Spanish-language movies that could be shot simultaneously at night with production of English originals during the day. When sound films began to dominate the industry, casting director Jimmy Ryan warned Tovar that her English was not good enough and her option would not be picked up.

But he recommended that she pursue work in the foreign film department. She went to the office but did not get to speak to anyone about work. She left early because a man staring at her made her feel uncomfortable. When she returned to the office another day, she met the head of the department, Kohner. He was the one transfixed by her before. He offered her a job making $15 a day to dub films in Spanish, her first being The King of Jazz.

In 1930, Tovar starred opposite Antonio Moreno in La Voluntad del Muerto, the Spanish-language version of The Cat Creeps. It was based on the John Willard mystery play, The Cat and the Canary. Both The Cat Creeps and La Voluntad del muerto were remakes of The Cat and the Canary (1927). Casting was done in July 1930 with the film being released later the same year. The Spanish version was directed by George Melford and, like the Spanish-language version of Dracula (1931), was filmed at night using the same sets as those used for filming the English-language version during the day.

Tovar shot Drácula, in 1930, when she was 20 years old. The film was produced by Paul Kohner. The couple soon married.

Santa
In 1932, Tovar starred in the film Santa, the first to have synchronized sound and image on the same celluloid strip.

The film was based on a famous book featuring an innocent girl from the country who has an affair with a soldier and later is abandoned, becoming a prostitute to survive. Santa was such a hit that the Mexican government issued a postage stamp featuring Tovar as Santa. "I tell you I could not walk on the streets when Santa came out," Tovar said. "People tore my dress for souvenirs. It was something."

In 2006, Santa was shown in a celebratory screening by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences called "A Salute to Lupita Tovar". The event also featured a conversation between Tovar and film historian Bob Dickson.

Other films
In 1931, Melford directed Tovar in another Universal picture, East of Borneo, which starred Rose Hobart. Tovar also worked on films at Columbia Pictures.

Personal life
Tovar went by the nickname Lupita from the time she was a child.

During the filming of Santa in Mexico, producer Paul Kohner had to return to Europe because his father was sick. It was this separation, and another the next year when Kohner was producing a film for Universal in Europe, that made Tovar realize she loved Kohner. Kohner proposed on the phone—he had previously tried to give her a ring. Tovar went to Czechoslovakia to meet him. They were married in Czechoslovakia on October 30, 1932, by a rabbi in a ceremony at Kohner's parents' home.

In 1936, the couple had a daughter, Susan Kohner. She became a film and television actress. In 1939, they had a son, Paul Julius "Pancho" Kohner Jr., who became a director and producer. Their grandsons, Chris and Paul Weitz, are successful film directors.

Tovar owned a bassinette that she loaned to friends in New York who had children after her: including Julie Baumgold, a writer and her husband Edward Kosner, publisher of New York; Elizabeth Sobieski, a novelist; Judy Licht, a TV newswoman, and her husband Jerry Della Femina, an advertising executive.

In the early 1990s, the release of the Spanish-language Drácula on home video sparked a revival of interest in Tovar's films. She said, "'It's like a dream being invited to all of these festivals and showings of my films. Was that really me up there on the screen? I had almost forgotten I was an actress. It has been absolutely wonderful how people have been so nice. Usually people die and then they get the award, but to be alive and receive this honor is fantastic!'"

Death
Tovar died at the age of 106 on 12 November 2016 in Los Angeles of heart disease, just one day after her daughter Susan Kohner's 80th birthday.

Awards

 * 2001: Academia Mexicana de Artes y Ciencias Cinematográficas (Mexican Academy of Arts and Sciences), Lifetime Achievement Award at the XLIII Ceremonia de Entrega del Arielrecibió el Ariel de Oro

Articles

 * Babcock, Muriel. "Wave of Popularity Sweeping Mexican Stars to Top Goes Marching On: Directors Tell How Latin-American Beauties Have Carved Niche for Themselves in Filmdom's Hall of Fame." Los Angeles Times. January 27, 1929. p. C11 (1 page).
 * Olean Herald, "Hollywood Sights and Sounds." Saturday Evening. July 20, 1929. p. 4.
 * Boland, Elena. "Aliens Retain Screen Niche: Sound Films Disclose Need of Many Accents Separate Pictures Made For Different Countries Certainty of Future Held as Settled Fact." Los Angeles Times. February 2, 1930, p. B11 (2 pages).
 * Kingsley, Grace. "Browning Picks Story and Star: Fairbanks Will Play Bandit in Tale of Spanish Days; Richard Keene Loaned to First National; Paul Page Has "Man Crazy" Role." Los Angeles Times. March 12, 1930, p. A8 (1 page).
 * Kingsley, Grace. "Duncan Sisters May Go Abroad: Joseph Santley Writes Story for Helen Twelvetrees Toreador Signs With First National for Film Norman Taurog Will Direct Ed Wynn Comedy." Los Angeles Times. July 23, 1930. p. 6 (1 page).
 * Kingsley, Grace. "Lupita Tovar Goes Abroad: Actress Will Meet Fiance, Paul Kohner, in Paris Capt. Mollison Decides Not to Become Actor Helen Mack Wins Lead With Ken Maynard." Los Angeles Times. August 27, 1932. p. 5 (1 page).
 * Kingsley, Grace. "Lupita Tovar, Kohner Marry: Producer and Actress Wed in Czechlo-Slovakia Gloria Stuart Takes Novel Trip as Air Mail Howard Hughes Searches for Beauty in New York." Los Angeles Times. November 2, 1932. p. 11 (1 page).
 * Weaver, Tom. "Bitten in Spanish," "Fangoria" #119. December 1992.

Archival material

 * Kohner Family Papers, ~1970-2008. Riverside, CA: University of California, Riverside.

Monographs

 * Ankerich, Michael G. The Sound of Silence: Conversations with 16 Film and Stage Personalities Who Bridged the Gap between Silents and Talkies. Reprinted. ed. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., 2011. Chapter 15, pp. 218–233. ISBN 978-0-786-46383-1.
 * Tovar, Lupita, and Pancho Kohner. Lupita Tovar: The Sweetheart of Mexico: A Memoir As Told to Her Son Pancho Kohner. Bloomington, IN: Xlibris Corp, 2011. ISBN 978-1-456-87736-1
 * Kohner, Pancho. Lupita Tovar: La novia de México: Memorias, Tal y Como Fueron Relatadas a su Hijo. Create Space Independent Publishing Platform, 2012. ISBN 978-1-475-24469-4