Soledad Miranda
Encyclopedia
Soledad Rendón Bueno better known by her stage name
s Soledad Miranda or Susann Korda (or sometimes Susan Korday), was an actress who was born in Seville
, Spain to Portuguese
parents of Roma ancestry. She frequently starred in the films of Jess Franco
, such as Count Dracula and Vampyros Lesbos
. She died in a car accident on a Lisbon
highway.
, Spain. The first child of Portuguese
parents, Soledad (whose name translates as solitude or loneliness) was the niece of the famous Spanish singer-actress-flamenco dancer Paquita Rico. Soledad's parents had little money and, eventually, six children. It was necessary to contribute to the family income. At eight years old, Soledad made her professional debut when she was hired as a flamenco
dancer and singer, first in the "Youth Galas" at the Seville Fair
and San Fernando theatre, and then on a tour throughout southern Spain.
and drew an artistic stage name
out of a hat. After a difficult start, she made her film debut in 1960 as a dancer in a musical called La bella Mimí. She struggled for a few years, but eventually found regular work and was able to send money back home. She was often in the tabloids as the rumored girlfriend of the most famous bullfighter of the time, Manuel Benítez (El Cordobés
).
Soledad was well-received in Spanish cinema as well as international co-productions. The fragile beauty worked constantly, appearing in numerous movies (she played in over thirty altogether from 1960 to 1970). There were epic adventures (Ursus
, Cervantes
); horror films (Sound of Horror); dramas (Canción de cuna, Currito de la Cruz); comedies (Eva 63, La familia y uno más); and even a Spaghetti western
(Sugar Colt). American producer Sidney Pink gave Soledad important roles in the international productions The Castilian and Pyro. Her talents in singing and dancing were shown off in several movies as well as on stage in Spanish folkloric shows, and she also released a couple of yé-yé
pop records in the mid-1960s with some success. Soledad was a well-rounded girl who enjoyed writing poetry, painting, and reading books.
and Lisbon
. After a secret courtship, the pair married in 1966. In April 1967, Soledad had a baby boy whom she named Antonio. Her husband retired from racing and took a safer job in the auto industry. Both parents liked cars, and hoped little Tony would follow his father's footsteps. At that point, Soledad retired from performing in order to raise her son.
100 Rifles
she decided to return, hoping to receive a great role and become known outside of Spain. But she said if she hadn't truly triumphed within a couple of years, she would retire forever.
In this second phase of her career, Soledad took on a lot of work, appearing in several films and in Spanish television shows. This was also when the prolific legendary cult director Jess Franco
was casting in Spain for his film Count Dracula. Remembering a girl who'd had a tiny cameo in his musical La reina del Tabarín nearly a decade before, Franco hired Soledad and managed to save her from becoming forgotten; she became his leading star. Soledad was very happy and fulfilled, and told friends that she was convinced that 1970 would be her biggest year. She made seven films with Jess Franco
altogether, including Eugénie de Sade, Vampyros Lesbos
, She Killed in Ecstasy, and The Devil Came From Akasava. Due to the erotic nature of these films, Soledad took the stage name
Susann Korda (alternately spelled Susan Korday). According to Franco, she greatly enjoyed working with him and was transformed. Once a young, dimpled, bubbly starlet, she became the pale, haunted, mysterious icon of Jess Franco's movies.
: his producer wanted to offer her a multi-year contract that would make her a star. On the morning of 18 August 1970, reportedly on the way to sign the Franco contract, Soledad and her husband went out driving along the Costa do Sol highway between Estoril
and Lisbon
(which, in an eerie coincidence, was the same route they'd taken years earlier in the film Un día en Lisboa). They were involved in a collision
with a small truck which completely crushed their car. Though her husband, who was driving, only had minor injuries, Soledad received serious fractures to her skull and spine. She died hours after the accident at the Hospital of São José in Lisbon
, never having come out of her coma. Everyone who knew her; friends, family, and all the artistic circles in Spain, were shocked by the news.
popularity and the fact that many of her films are on DVD
. Soledad Miranda has posthumously become the international celebrity she always wanted to be. Not until the years after her death has she become a cult starlet with fans all over the world now discovering the beautiful, doomed actress.
Stage name
A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, wrestlers, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...
s Soledad Miranda or Susann Korda (or sometimes Susan Korday), was an actress who was born in Seville
Seville
Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...
, Spain to Portuguese
Portuguese people
The Portuguese are a nation and ethnic group native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe. Their language is Portuguese, and Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion....
parents of Roma ancestry. She frequently starred in the films of Jess Franco
Jesús Franco
Jesús "Jess" Franco is a Spanish film director, writer, cinematographer and actor. His career took off in 1961 with his cult classic The Awful Dr. Orloff, which received wide distribution in the United States and England...
, such as Count Dracula and Vampyros Lesbos
Vampyros Lesbos
Vampyros Lesbos is a 1971 erotic horror film directed and co-written by Jesús "Jess" Franco, inspired by Bram Stoker's short story Dracula's Guest.- Plot :...
. She died in a car accident on a Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
highway.
Early life
Soledad Miranda was born Soledad Rendón Bueno on 9 July 1943 in SevilleSeville
Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...
, Spain. The first child of Portuguese
Portuguese people
The Portuguese are a nation and ethnic group native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe. Their language is Portuguese, and Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion....
parents, Soledad (whose name translates as solitude or loneliness) was the niece of the famous Spanish singer-actress-flamenco dancer Paquita Rico. Soledad's parents had little money and, eventually, six children. It was necessary to contribute to the family income. At eight years old, Soledad made her professional debut when she was hired as a flamenco
Flamenco
Flamenco is a genre of music and dance which has its foundation in Andalusian music and dance and in whose evolution Andalusian Gypsies played an important part....
dancer and singer, first in the "Youth Galas" at the Seville Fair
Seville Fair
The Seville Fair is held in the Andalusian capital of Seville, Spain. The fair generally begins two weeks after the Semana Santa, or Easter Holy Week....
and San Fernando theatre, and then on a tour throughout southern Spain.
Career
Soledad's dream was to become an actress, so at age sixteen, she moved to MadridMadrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
and drew an artistic stage name
Stage name
A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, wrestlers, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...
out of a hat. After a difficult start, she made her film debut in 1960 as a dancer in a musical called La bella Mimí. She struggled for a few years, but eventually found regular work and was able to send money back home. She was often in the tabloids as the rumored girlfriend of the most famous bullfighter of the time, Manuel Benítez (El Cordobés
El Cordobés
Manuel Benítez Pérez , more commonly known as El Cordobés , is a famous matador of the 1960s who brought to the bullring an unorthodox acrobatic and theatrical style.-Career:...
).
Soledad was well-received in Spanish cinema as well as international co-productions. The fragile beauty worked constantly, appearing in numerous movies (she played in over thirty altogether from 1960 to 1970). There were epic adventures (Ursus
Ursus (film character)
Ursus is a fictional character featured in a series of Italian sword and sandal films produced in the early 1960s. The character was an archetypical Greco-Roman warrior, similar to the mythical Hercules or Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian...
, Cervantes
Cervantes (film)
Cervantes is a highly fictionalized 1967 film biography of the early life of Miguel de Cervantes . It was the first screen biography of the author...
); horror films (Sound of Horror); dramas (Canción de cuna, Currito de la Cruz); comedies (Eva 63, La familia y uno más); and even a Spaghetti western
Spaghetti Western
Spaghetti Western, also known as Italo-Western, is a nickname for a broad sub-genre of Western films that emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's unique and much copied film-making style and international box-office success, so named by American critics because most were produced and...
(Sugar Colt). American producer Sidney Pink gave Soledad important roles in the international productions The Castilian and Pyro. Her talents in singing and dancing were shown off in several movies as well as on stage in Spanish folkloric shows, and she also released a couple of yé-yé
Yé-yé
Yé-yé was a style of pop music that emerged from France, Québec and Spain in the early 1960s. The term "yé-yé" derived from "yeah! yeah!" The style expanded worldwide, due to the success of figures such as the French singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg....
pop records in the mid-1960s with some success. Soledad was a well-rounded girl who enjoyed writing poetry, painting, and reading books.
Personal life and retirement
In 1964, Soledad had made a trio of films in Portugal. José Manuel da Conceiçao Simões, a Portuguese racecar driver, was a producer and also acted in them. In one of the films, Un día en Lisboa (A Day in Lisbon), they played a couple traveling between EstorilEstoril
Estoril is a seaside resort and civil parish of the Portuguese municipality of Cascais, Lisboa District. The Estoril coast is close to Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. It starts in Carcavelos, 15 kilometres from Lisbon, and stretches as far as Guincho, often known as Costa de Estoril-Sintra or...
and Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
. After a secret courtship, the pair married in 1966. In April 1967, Soledad had a baby boy whom she named Antonio. Her husband retired from racing and took a safer job in the auto industry. Both parents liked cars, and hoped little Tony would follow his father's footsteps. At that point, Soledad retired from performing in order to raise her son.
Return to cinema
For nearly two years, Soledad did not work at all, but when she was offered a role in the westernWestern (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
100 Rifles
100 Rifles
100 Rifles is a 1969 western directed by Tom Gries. The film stars Jim Brown, Burt Reynolds, Raquel Welch, and Fernando Lamas. The original music score was composed by Jerry Goldsmith.-Plot:...
she decided to return, hoping to receive a great role and become known outside of Spain. But she said if she hadn't truly triumphed within a couple of years, she would retire forever.
In this second phase of her career, Soledad took on a lot of work, appearing in several films and in Spanish television shows. This was also when the prolific legendary cult director Jess Franco
Jesús Franco
Jesús "Jess" Franco is a Spanish film director, writer, cinematographer and actor. His career took off in 1961 with his cult classic The Awful Dr. Orloff, which received wide distribution in the United States and England...
was casting in Spain for his film Count Dracula. Remembering a girl who'd had a tiny cameo in his musical La reina del Tabarín nearly a decade before, Franco hired Soledad and managed to save her from becoming forgotten; she became his leading star. Soledad was very happy and fulfilled, and told friends that she was convinced that 1970 would be her biggest year. She made seven films with Jess Franco
Jesús Franco
Jesús "Jess" Franco is a Spanish film director, writer, cinematographer and actor. His career took off in 1961 with his cult classic The Awful Dr. Orloff, which received wide distribution in the United States and England...
altogether, including Eugénie de Sade, Vampyros Lesbos
Vampyros Lesbos
Vampyros Lesbos is a 1971 erotic horror film directed and co-written by Jesús "Jess" Franco, inspired by Bram Stoker's short story Dracula's Guest.- Plot :...
, She Killed in Ecstasy, and The Devil Came From Akasava. Due to the erotic nature of these films, Soledad took the stage name
Stage name
A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, wrestlers, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...
Susann Korda (alternately spelled Susan Korday). According to Franco, she greatly enjoyed working with him and was transformed. Once a young, dimpled, bubbly starlet, she became the pale, haunted, mysterious icon of Jess Franco's movies.
Accident and death
In August 1970, near the end of filming The Devil Came From Akasava, Soledad and her husband took a short holiday in Portugal. She was looking forward to theatrical performances in Latin America and was thrilled with some news from Jess FrancoJesús Franco
Jesús "Jess" Franco is a Spanish film director, writer, cinematographer and actor. His career took off in 1961 with his cult classic The Awful Dr. Orloff, which received wide distribution in the United States and England...
: his producer wanted to offer her a multi-year contract that would make her a star. On the morning of 18 August 1970, reportedly on the way to sign the Franco contract, Soledad and her husband went out driving along the Costa do Sol highway between Estoril
Estoril
Estoril is a seaside resort and civil parish of the Portuguese municipality of Cascais, Lisboa District. The Estoril coast is close to Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. It starts in Carcavelos, 15 kilometres from Lisbon, and stretches as far as Guincho, often known as Costa de Estoril-Sintra or...
and Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
(which, in an eerie coincidence, was the same route they'd taken years earlier in the film Un día en Lisboa). They were involved in a collision
Car accident
A traffic collision, also known as a traffic accident, motor vehicle collision, motor vehicle accident, car accident, automobile accident, Road Traffic Collision or car crash, occurs when a vehicle collides with another vehicle, pedestrian, animal, road debris, or other stationary obstruction,...
with a small truck which completely crushed their car. Though her husband, who was driving, only had minor injuries, Soledad received serious fractures to her skull and spine. She died hours after the accident at the Hospital of São José in Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
, never having come out of her coma. Everyone who knew her; friends, family, and all the artistic circles in Spain, were shocked by the news.
Legacy and cult stardom
Soledad was a well-known figure in Spanish cinema, but it had always been her dream to be known outside of Spain as well. Her life was cut short just as that was about to happen. However, after many years of obscurity, her legacy is spreading due to Jess Franco'sJesús Franco
Jesús "Jess" Franco is a Spanish film director, writer, cinematographer and actor. His career took off in 1961 with his cult classic The Awful Dr. Orloff, which received wide distribution in the United States and England...
popularity and the fact that many of her films are on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
. Soledad Miranda has posthumously become the international celebrity she always wanted to be. Not until the years after her death has she become a cult starlet with fans all over the world now discovering the beautiful, doomed actress.
Filmography
- La bella Mimí (1960) — First Dancer
- La reina del Tabarín (1960) — Duchess (uncredited)
- Ursus (1960) — Fillide
- Canción de cuna (1961) — Teresa
- The Castilian (1962) — Maria Estevez
- Eva 63 (1963) — Soledad
- Pyro (1963) — Liz Frade
- Cuatro bodas y pico (1963)
- Bochorno (1963)
- Las hijas de Helena (1963) — Mari Pó
- Los gatos negros / A canção da Saudade (1964) — Babá
- Un día en Lisboa (1964) - Herself
- A Canção da SaudadeA Canção da SaudadeA Canção da Saudade is a 1964 Portuguese black-and-white film. The filming took place in a studio at Tóbis Portuguesa, Lisbon and Produções Cinematográficas Perdigão Queiroga...
(1964) - Babá - Fin de semana (1964)
- Playa de Formentor (1964)
- Currito de la Cruz (1965) — Rocío
- Sound of Horror (1965) — Maria
- La familia y uno más (1965) — Patricia
- ¡Es mi hombre! (1966) — Leonor Jiménez
- Sugar Colt (1966) — Josefa
- CervantesCervantes (film)Cervantes is a highly fictionalized 1967 film biography of the early life of Miguel de Cervantes . It was the first screen biography of the author...
(1966) — Nessa - 100 Rifles100 Rifles100 Rifles is a 1969 western directed by Tom Gries. The film stars Jim Brown, Burt Reynolds, Raquel Welch, and Fernando Lamas. The original music score was composed by Jerry Goldsmith.-Plot:...
(1969) — Girl in Hotel - Estudio amueblado 2-P (1969) — Maribel
- Soltera y madre en la vida (1969) — Paloma
- Lola la piconera (1969) — Rosarillo
- Count Dracula (1970) — Lucy Westenra
- Cuadecuc/Vampir (1970) — Herself
- Nightmares Come at Night (1970) — Neighbor's Girlfriend
- Sex Charade (1970) — Anna
- Eugénie de Sade (1970) — Eugénie de Franval
- Vampyros LesbosVampyros LesbosVampyros Lesbos is a 1971 erotic horror film directed and co-written by Jesús "Jess" Franco, inspired by Bram Stoker's short story Dracula's Guest.- Plot :...
(1970) — Countess Nadine Carody - She Killed in EcstasyShe Killed in EcstasyShe Killed in Ecstasy is a 1971 exploitation film written and directed by Jesus Franco under the pseudonym "Frank Hollmann".-Plot:Dr. Johnson lives in bliss with his beautiful wife until his unorthodox experiments with human embryos cause a medical committee to reject his findings and orders him...
(1970) — Mrs. Johnson - The Devil Came from Akasava (1970) — Jane Morgan
- Juliette (1970, unfinished) — Juliette
Discography
- Soledad Miranda — Belter 51.451 (1964)
- Soledad Miranda — Belter 51.598 (1965)
Literature
- Brown, Amy: Soledad Miranda: A Treasure Lost, in: Sirens of Cinema Magazine, Winter 2003
- Lucas, Tim: The Black Stare of Soledad Miranda, in European Trash Cinema, 1991
- Overzier, Gregor: Soledad Miranda/Susann Korda, in: Norbert Stresau, Heinrich Wimmer (Hrg.): Enzyklopädie des phantastischen Films, 70. Ergänzungslieferung, Corian, Meitingen 2004
External links
- Soledad Miranda: Blood Queen
- Soledad Miranda: Soledad y Santitad by Amy Brown - BCult