Sara García

Sara García
García in the 1937 film No basta ser madre
Born	Sara García Hidalgo[1] (1895-09-08)8 September 1895[2] Orizaba, Veracruz, Mexico[2]
Died	21 November 1980(1980-11-21) (aged 85)[1] Mexico City, Mexico
Resting place	Panteón Español Mexico City
Other names	La Abuelita de México[3]
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1917–1980
Spouse(s)	Fernando Ibáñez (m. 1918–1923)
Children	1

Sara García (8 September 1895^[2] – 21 November 1980) was a Mexican actress who made her biggest mark during the "Golden Age of Mexican cinema".^[4] During the 1940s and 1950s, she often played the part of a no-nonsense but lovable grandmother in numerous Mexican films. In later years, she played parts in Mexican telenovelas.

García was baptized and is remembered as La Abuelita de México ("Mexico's Grandmother").^[3]

Contents

• 
  1 Life and career
  
  
  
  • 
    1.1 1895–1917: Childhood
    
  
  
  • 
    1.2 1917: Film debut in silent films
    
  
  
  • 
    1.3 1918–1939: Golden Age of Mexican cinema, marriage and divorce
    
  
  
  • 
    1.4 1940–1947: La Abuelita de México, personal tragedy and film collaborations
    
  
  
  • 
    1.5 1947–1947: Multiple films, Telenovelas and international works
    
  
  
  
  


• 
  2 Theatrical career
  


• 
  3 Personal life
  


• 
  4 Later years and death
  


• 
  5 Legacy
  


• 
  6 Filmography
  
  
  
  • 
    6.1 Telenovelas
    
  
  
  • 
    6.2 Television shows
    
  
  
  • 
    6.3 Documentaries
    
  
  
  
  


• 
  7 Films
  
  
  
  • 
    7.1 Cinema of Mexico
    
  
  
  • 
    7.2 Cinema of the United States
    
  
  
  • 
    7.3 Cinema of Italy
    
  
  
  • 
    7.4 Cinema of Spain
    
  
  
  
  


• 
  8 References
  


• 
  9 External links
  

Life and career

1895–1917: Childhood

House where García was born at Orizaba, Veracruz

Doña Sara García was born Sara García Hidalgo^[1] to Andalusian parents, Isidoro García Ruiz, an architect, and his wife Felipa Hidalgo de Ruiz in 1895.^[2] Her father was hired for various jobs in Veracruz, where they arrived, having just come from Havana, Cuba. Sarita was the only survivor of their eleven children.^[5]

In 1900, a storm caused the Santa Catarina river (which separated the family house from Sara's school) to overflow and knock down the bridge that crossed it. Until the evening the children of the school could return from the other side of the river. The anguish of Don Isidoro for believing that he would lose his only daughter caused him to suffer a stroke days later. Doña Felipa decided to travel to Mexico City to intern her husband, but he died shortly after arriving.

In the capital, García was inscribed in the school of the Vizcaínas.^[2] In 1905, her mother Felipa died from typhoid fever and García remained under the charge of the director of the institution, Cecilia Mallet.^[2] As a teenager, she became a teacher and during her class she used to make her students perform plays.^[2]

1917: Film debut in silent films

Sara started her film career at age 22 when she was still a teacher.^[2] One day she noticed that in a small building in Mexico City a film was being produced by newly founded film company Azteca Films. The 1917 silent, black and white feature film was Alma de sacrificio (Soul of Sacrifice), the first production of Azteca Films, which was one of the very first Mexican film production companies. Some sources say her first movie was En defensa Propia (In self Defense).^[3]

The leading lady was stage actress turned film producer (and writer, actress, editor and, maybe director) Mimí Derba. After screening tests she was offered a contract and a role as an extra in the film. She accepted although she did not mention it to her employers for many months. She appeared in two more films that year as an extra.

1918–1939: Golden Age of Mexican cinema, marriage and divorce

Filmmakers often solicited her to play movie roles during those years. However, she interrupted her stage career to appear in only one film between 1918 and 1933. In 1918, she married Fernando Ibáñez however, García and her Ibañez divorced in 1923.^[2]

García appeared in the film Yo soy tu padre ("I Am Your Father") in 1927. Six years later, however, she returned to the screen full-time in El vuelo de la muerte ("Death Flight") in 1933. She then began a very long career of 148 films. Her first starring role was in the 1936 film Así es la mujer ("That is How a Woman is"); that film was followed by No basta ser madre ("It is Not Enough to be a Mother") (1937), in which her daughter Fernanda also appeared. The two then appeared in Por mis pistolas ("By My Pistols") in 1938 and Papacito lindo ("My Handsome Dad") in 1939.

She started a long series of films co-starring with the brightest stars of the cinema of Mexico, such as Cantinflas, Jorge Negrete, Germán Valdés "Tin-Tan",^[6] Domingo Soler, Joaquín Pardavé and two with Prudencia Grifell as the Vivanco sisters.

1940–1947: La Abuelita de México, personal tragedy and film collaborations

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García under her grandma persona in the film La abuelita (1942)

Sara García with fellow co-star Joaquín Pardavé in El barchante Neguib (1946). Both actors also portrayed Lebanese-immigrants to Mexico in the earlier El baisano Jalil (1942)

García sacrificed her beauty when she decided, at the age of 30, to take her teeth so that her mouth looked like that of an older woman and thus be able to star in roles of self-sacrificing ladies and achieve personify the role they gave her.^[5]

Film actress Emma Roldán suggested Sara García for the role of doña Panchita, an old woman, in the 1940 film Allá en el trópico ("There in the Tropics"). The film's director Fernando de Fuentes considered that García was too young for the part (indeed she was in her mid 40s) but Roldán replied him saying "Sara is an actress, and actresses don't have an age". For the screen test, Sara García had a wig made for her. At the time of the screen test, the director asked the crew of her whereabouts and they answered that she was the woman in front of him, the director was shocked: her wig, lack of teeth, and performance had touched him. It is in Fernando de Fuentes' Allá en el trópico where Sara García won her title of la Abuelita de México (Mexico's Grandmother). This same year, her first and only daughter María Fernanda Ibáñez who was starting a promising career as an actress, died on 17 October 1940 of typhoid fever.^[2]

In 1942, Sara García co-starred with Joaquín Pardavé in El baisano Jalil, a comedy film where she portrays the matron of a Lebanese-immigrant family. For the part, Sarita García was not dressed as an old woman, but in her normal garb with makeup to resemble a middle-eastern toman. Doña Sara again starred with Joaquín Pardavé in a similar comedy, El barchante Neguib (1945). In both films, she is a matriarch of a Lebanese-Mexican family and for the roles she and co-star Pardavé share a similar "Arab" accent in which the pronunciations of "p" and "m" are substituted with "b" sounds. Therefore, the words "paisano" and "marchante" are mispronounced and misspelled in the films' titles.

She co-starred many times in films as the grandmother of famous Mexican actor Pedro Infante. Pedro was (and is) so well known and popular that they call him the "idol" (el idolo). Her most remembered film with him is in the 1947 one Los tres García also starred alongside with Abel Salazar and Víctor Manuel Mendoza, where she incarnate the character of their grandmother with a strong, naughty and authoritarian attitude.^[7]

1947–1947: Multiple films, Telenovelas and international works

Theatrical career

Sara García's film appearances lead to the theater. She began in the theater playing minor roles. However, during her early acting experiences, her natural talent and strong voice on the stage soon led to ten years acting on stage with the theater company Compañía de Comedia Selecta at the Theater Virginia Fábregas, which was the top theater group in Mexico of the time. There she shared the stage with Eduardo Arozamena, Sara Uthoff, Mercedes Navarro, Prudencia Grifell and the sisters Anita and Isabel Blanch, who were among the most prominent Mexican stage actors of the time. García's stage career took her all over Mexico and Central America. During these travels she met her husband, Fernando Ibáñez through the actress, Mercedes Navarro. She gave birth to their daughter, Fernanda Mercedes Ibáñez during a stop in Tepic, Nayarit.

Personal life

García lived throughout her life, with her alleged female lover, assistant, and business manager Rosario González Cuenca.^[8]

She adored Pedro Infante, otherwise she couldn't stand Jorge Negrete as he fell in love with her daughter Fernanda.^[5] Many close friends affirm that she was a severe and evil mother-in-law as well as not consenting the relationship between Jorge and her daughter.^[5]

Later years and death

García had her own television show in 1951, Media hora con Abuelita,^[9] but it was a failure and subsequently was cancelled.^[4] She returned to television in 1960 when she obtained a role in Un rostro en el pasado^[10] which was her first of eight telenovelas that also included Mundo de juguete in 1974, which as of this date (early 2006) the longest-running telenovela in history,^[11] and Viviana with Lucía Méndez in 1978.^[12]

On 21 November 1980, Sara died at the National Medical Center in Mexico City at the age of 85, due to a cardiac arrest that arose from pneumonia, days before she had been hospitalized after being injured by falling down the stairs of her house.^[13]

García was buried alongside her daughter in a mausoleum at Panteón Español cemetery in Mexico City.^[14] While she was being buried, the song "Mi Cariñito" ("My Little Darling/Beloved One") was played as this song was the one that Pedro Infante sang it to Sara several times, particularly he sang it drunk and tearful as a lament after Sara died in the movie Vuelven Los Garcia (The Garcias Return).^[15] It is claimed that the song was sung at her funeral by Lucha Villa.^[2]

Legacy

In 1973, Sara García signed a commercial agreement to give her image to the factory of Chocolates Azteca, which was later bought by the Nestlé brand.^[3] Since then her image is displayed on the label of Mexico's traditional Abuelita chocolate.^[16]

Filmography

Telenovelas

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1960	Un rostro en el pasado		3 episodes
1962	La gloria quedó atrás		3 episodes
1966	La duquesa	La duquesa (Duchess), Raquel	3 episodes
1967	Anita de Montemar		3 episodes
1968	El padre Guernica
1968	Mi maestro
1972	Telenovela mensual
1973	Mi rival	Chayo	19 episodes
1974	Mundo de juguete	Nana (Nanny) Tomasita	221 episodes
1978	Viviana	Doña Angustias Rubio Montesinos	3 episodes

Television shows

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1951	Media hora con la abuelita
1957, 1959	Secreto de familia		4 episodes

Documentaries

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1940	Recordar es vivir
1963	La vida de Pedro Infante
1976	México de mis amores

Films

Cinema of Mexico

Sara García in La abuelita (1942)

Sara in El barchante Neguib (1946)

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1917	En defensa Propia		Extra
1917	Alma de sacrificio		Extra
1917	La soñadora		Extra
1927	Yo soy tu padre		Extra
1934	El pulpo humano
1934	El vuelo de la muerte	Doña Clara
1934	La sangre manda	Vecina (Neighbor)
1934	¡Viva México! (El grito de Dolores)	Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez
1936	Such Is Woman (Así es la mujer)	Viuda (Widow)
1936	Marihuana (El monstruo verde)	Petra
1936	Malditas serán las mujeres	Señora de Ambrosaliet
1936	No te engañes corazón	Doña Petro
1937	Las mujeres mandan	Marta
1937	La honradez es un estorbo	Doña Refugio
1937	No basta ser madre	Sebastiana del Puerto
1938	Por mis pistolas
1938	Pescadores de perlas	Juana
1938	Dos cadetes	Dolores
1938	Padre de más de cuatro	Doña Gertrudis
1938	Perjura	Doña Rosa
1938	Su adorable majadero	Mariquita
1939	El capitán aventurero	Catalina, corregidora
1939	Los enredos de papá	Petra
1939	Calumnia	Eduviges
1939	Papacito lindo	Remedios
1939	En un burro tres baturros	Manuela
1940	Miente y serás feliz	Constancia
1940	Allá en el trópico	Doña Panchita
1940	Mi madrecita	Madre
1940	Here's the Point'	Clotilde Regalado, Leonardo del Paso's mistress
1940	Father Gets Untangled (Papá se desenreda)	Petra
1940	Father Gets Entangled Again (Papá se enreda otra vez)	Petra
1941	Cuando los hijos se van	Lupe de Rosales
1941	¿Quién te quiere a ti?	Seducer's mother
1941	La gallina clueca	Teresa de Treviño
1941	Al son de la marimba	Doña Cornelia Escobar
1942	Las tres viudas de papá	Petra
1942	Dos mexicanos en Sevilla	Gracia
1942	Regalo de Reyes	Doña Esperanza
1942	La abuelita	Doña Carmen
1942	Historia de un gran amor	Doña Josefa
1942	El baisano Jalil	Suad
1942	El verdugo de Sevilla	Doña Nieves
1943	Resurrection (Resurrección)	Genoveva
1943	No matarás	Aurora
1943	Caminito alegre	Antonia Goyena
1943	Toros, amor y gloria	Irene
1944	Mis hijos	María
1944	La trepadora	Doña Carmelita
1944	El secreto de la solterona	Marta
1944	El jagüey de las ruinas	Doña Teresa "Mamanina"
1944	Como yo te quería	Remedios Mantilla
1945	Escuadrón 201	Doña Herlinda
1945	La señora de enfrente	Lastenia Cortazano
1945	Mamá Inés	Inés Valenzuela
1946	El barchante Neguib	Sara
1946	¡Ay qué rechula es Puebla!	Doña Severa
1947	Sucedió en Jalisco (Los cristeros)	Doña Engracia, abuela (Grandma)
1947	El ropavejero	María
1947	Los tres García	Doña Luisa García viuda de García
1947	Vuelven los García	Doña Luisa García viuda de García
1948	Los que volvieron	Marta Ortos
1948	Mi madre adorada	Doña Lolita
1948	Dueña y señora	Toña
1948	Tía Candela	Candelaria López y Polvorilla "Tía Candela"
1949	Dicen que soy mujeriego	Doña Rosa
1949	The Perez Family (La familia Pérez)	Natalia Vivanco de Pérez
1949	Eterna agonía	Doña Cholita
1949	Novia a la medida	Doña Socorro
1949	El diablo no es tan diablo	Doña Leonor
1949	Dos pesos dejada	Prudencia
1950	Yo quiero ser hombre	Tía Milagros / Doña Tanasia
1950	Mi preferida	Doña Sara
1950	Si me viera don Porfirio	Doña Martirio
1950	Azahares para tu boda	Eloísa
1950	Mi querido capitán	Pelancha
1950	Yo quiero ser tonta	Atilana
1951	La reina del mambo	Tía (Aunt)
1951	El papelerito	Doña Dominga
1951	Doña Clarines	Clara Urrutia 'Doña Clarines'
1951	La duquesa del Tepetate	Chonita, Duquesa del Tepetate
1951	Acá las tortas	Dolores
1952	La miel se fue de la luna	Doña Martirio
1953	Misericordia	Benigna
1953	Por el mismo camino	Tía Justa
1953	El lunar de la familia	Doña Luisa Jiménez
1953	Genio y figura	Doña Luisa
1953	Los que no deben nacer	Clotilde
1954	Los Fernández de Peralvillo	Doña Conchita Fernández; doña Chita
1954	El hombre inquieto	Doña Fátima Sayeh
1955	Sólo para maridos	Concordia
1956	El crucifijo de piedra	Laura
1956	La tercera palabra	Matilde
1956	El inocente	Madre de Mané
1957	La ciudad de los niños	Doña Juliana
1957	Pobres millonarios	Doña Margarita del Valle
1958	El gran premio	Soledad Fuentes Lago (Doña Cholita)
1958	Con el dedo en el gatillo	La abuela	Episode: El anónimo
1959	Los Santos Reyes	La anciana
1959	Las señoritas Vivanco	Hortensia Vivanco y de la Vega
1959	Yo pecador	Nana Pachita
1961	El proceso de las señoritas Vivanco	Doña Hortensia Vivanco y de la Vega (as Doña Sara Garcia)
1961	¡Mis abuelitas... nomás!	Doña Casilda
1961	El buena suerte	Doña Paz
1961	Paloma brava	Doña Popotita
1961	El analfabeto	Doña Epifanita
1962	El malvado Carabel	Tía Elodia
1962	Las hijas del Amapolo	La abuela
1962	El caballo blanco	Doña Refugio
1962	Ruletero a toda marcha	Doña Sarita
1964	Las Chivas Rayadas	Doña Pancha
1964	Los fenómenos del futbol	Doña Pancha
1964	Nos dicen las intocables	Doña Cucaracha
1964	Héroe a la fuerza	Doña Prudencia
1965	Canta mi corazón	Abuela
1965	Escuela para solteras	Doña Bernarda
1965	Nos lleva la tristeza	Doña Marina Guerra viuda de Batalla
1966	Los dos apóstoles	Doña Angustias
1966	Joselito vagabundo	Doña Guadalupe
1967	Seis días para morir	Doña Mercedes
1967	Un novio para dos hermanas	Seňora Cáceres
1967	Las amiguitas de los ricos	Viejecita
1968	Sor Ye Ye	Madre María de los Ángeles	Co-produced with Spain
1969	No se mande, profe	Doña Claudia
1969	Flor marchita	Paula la nana
1969	El día de las madres	Doña Carmen
1970	¿Por qué nací mujer?	Doña Rosario
1971	La casa del farol rojo	Doña Sara Morales viuda de Mendoza
1970	La hermana dinamita	Madre Ana
1972	La inocente	La abuela
1972	Fin de fiesta	Doña Beatriz
1972	Nadie te querrá como yo	Abuela
1972	National Mechanics (Mecánica nacional)	Doña Lolita
1973	Entre Monjas Anda el Diablo	Sor Lucero
1973	Nosotros los feos	Doña Sara García viuda de García y García
1973	Valente Quintero	Elvira Peña
1974	Los Leones del ring	Doña Refugio
1974	Los Leones del ring contra la Cosa Nostra	Doña Refugio
1974	Fé, Esperanza y Caridad	Anciana	Segment: Caridad
1974	El hijo del pueblo	Vicenta Aurelia Fernandez; Chenta
1977	Como gallos de pelea	Doña Altagracia
1977	Nobleza ranchera	Altagracia
1978	La comadrita	Doña Chonita
1979	La vida difícil de una mujer fácil	Doña Amalia
1979	Como México no hay dos
1980	Sexo vs. sexo	Señora dueña del club de Can-Can (Lady Owner of Can-Can Club)

Cinema of the United States

García along with Liliane Montevecchi in The Living Idol (1957)

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1957	The Living Idol (El ídolo viviente)	Elena	Co-produced with Mexico

Cinema of Italy

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1964	Los dinamiteros (L'ultimo rififi)	Doña Pura	Co-produced with Spain

Cinema of Spain

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1961	Lovely Memory	Dona Sara

References

1. 
   ^ ^abc "Sara García". Estrellas del cine Mexicano (in Spanish). Retrieved 24 March 2018..mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}
   


2. 
   ^ ^abcdefghijk Mauricio Mejía Castillo (27 May 2017). "La triste historia de la abuelita más famosa de México". El Universal (in Spanish). Retrieved 19 March 2018.
   


3. 
   ^ ^abcd Rosa, Gutiérrez (30 November 2017). "Sara García, la abuelita de México". La Neta Noticias (in Spanish). Retrieved 25 March 2018.
   


4. 
   ^ ^ab "Sara García, 37 años sin la 'abuelita' del cine mexicano". Europa Press (in Spanish). 21 November 2017. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
   


5. 
   ^ ^abcd "Los controversiales secretos de Sara García". Azteca Uno (in Spanish). 5 November 2010. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
   


6. 
   ^ Ricardo, Hernández (22 November 2015). "Recordando a... Sara García". El Sol de México (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 March 2018.
   


7. 
   ^ José, Arrieta (8 September 2015). "Recuerda a Sara García". Reforma (in Spanish). Retrieved 25 March 2018.
   


8. 
   ^ "Sara García: La vida en el clóset de la 'Abuelita del Cine Mexicano'". Ulisex! (in Spanish). 28 August 2017. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
   


9. 
   ^ "Media hora con Abuelita". IMDb. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
   


10. 
    ^ "Un rostro en el pasado". IMDb. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
    


11. 
    ^ "Mundo de juguete". IMDb. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
    


12. 
    ^ "Viviana". IMDb. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
    


13. 
    ^ "Biografía de Sara García". México Lindo y Querido (in Spanish). 25 April 2017. Retrieved 24 March 2018.
    


14. 
    ^ "Cuidadores del Panteón Español". Time Out (Ciudad de México) (in Spanish). Retrieved 24 March 2018.
    


15. 
    ^ "Mi Cariñito". iTunes. Retrieved 24 March 2018.
    


16. 
    ^ "Chocolate Abuelita®". Nestlé (in Spanish). Retrieved 19 March 2018.
    

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Sara García

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sara García.

• 
  Biography portal
  

• 
  Sara García on IMDb


• 
  Sara García at the Cinema of Mexico site of the ITESM (in Spanish)
  


• 
  Sara García at Find a Grave
  

Authority control	WorldCat Identities BNE: XX1598889 BNF: cb141801731 (data) GND: 133436675 IMDb: nm0306497 ISNI: 0000 0000 5455 6814 LCCN: nr97042695 NKC: xx0171358 SUDOC: 068861311 VIAF: 12515578

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