Maria Montez

María África Gracia Vidal (6 June 1912 – 7 September 1951), known professionally as Maria Montez, was a Dominican actress who gained fame and popularity in the 1940s starring in a series of filmed-in-Technicolor costume adventure films. Her screen image was that of a seductress, dressed in fanciful costumes and sparkling jewels. She became so identified with these adventure epics that she became known as The Queen of Technicolor. Over her career, Montez appeared in 26 films, 21 of which were made in North America, with the last five being made in Europe. Early life Montez was born María África Gracia Vidal (some sources cite María Antonia Gracia Vidal de Santo Silas or María África Antonia Gracia Vidal de Santo Silas as her birth name) in Barahona, Dominican Republic. Educated at the Sacred Heart Convent in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain, she was the second of ten children (Isidoro Gracia Vidal, Aquilino Gracia Vidal) born to Isidoro Gracia y García, a Spaniard, from Garafía, La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain and Regla María Teresa Vidal y Recio, a Dominican of Criollo descent, although it is unclear how many survived into adulthood. In the mid-1930s, her father was appointed to the Spanish consulship in Belfast, Northern Ireland where the family moved. It was there that Montez met her first husband, William G. McFeeters, whom she married at age 17. "A finales de 1929, con 17 años, su padre la internó en un colegio de religiosas de Tenerife con la intención de que olvidara a un cincuentón del que se había enamorado. Pero en octubre de 1930, la actriz regresó a su tierra natal y reanudó sus relaciones con el banquero irlandés William G. MacFeeters, con el que terminaría casándose en 1932."