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Columba Domínguez

{{Short description|Mexican actress (1929–2014)}}

{{family name hatnote|Domínguez|Alarid|lang=Spanish}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Columba Domínguez

| image = Columba Domínguez in L'edera (1950) (cropped).jpg

| caption = Domínguez in L'edera (1950)

| birth_name = Columba Domínguez Alarid

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1929|3|4|mf=y}}

| birth_place = Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2014|8|13|1929|3|4|mf=y}}

| death_place = Mexico City, Mexico

| resting_place = Mausoleos del Ángel, Mexico City

| occupation = Actress, singer, painter

| years_active = 1945–2014

| spouse =

| partner = Emilio Fernández (1947–1952)

}}

Columba Domínguez Alarid (March 4, 1929 – August 13, 2014) was a Mexican actress, singer, and painter. She is remembered particularly for her performance in the film Pueblerina (1949).{{Cite news |last=Child |first=Ben |date=2014-08-15 |title=Columba Domínguez, icon of Mexico's golden age of cinema, dies age 85 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/aug/15/columba-dominguez-dead-85-film-actor |access-date=2025-07-12 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}

Biography

=Early life=

Columba Domínguez Alarid was born on March 4, 1929, in Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico.{{Cite news |last=Child |first=Ben |date=2014-08-15 |title=Columba Domínguez, icon of Mexico's golden age of cinema, dies age 85 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/aug/15/columba-dominguez-dead-85-film-actor |access-date=2025-07-14 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} She moved to Mexico City with her family when she was very young. While attending a party with one of her sisters, she was discovered by the Mexican film director Emilio Fernández, who started her acting career with small roles in films such as La perla (1945) and Río Escondido (1947).{{Cite news |last=Child |first=Ben |date=2014-08-15 |title=Columba Domínguez, icon of Mexico's golden age of cinema, dies age 85 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/aug/15/columba-dominguez-dead-85-film-actor |access-date=2025-07-14 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}

=Career=

In 1948, Fernandez gave her the antagonistic role in the film Maclovia (1948), with María Félix. Her performance was praised by critics and, thanks to this film, Fernández entrusted with the leading role that would become her best film: Pueblerina (1948). Thanks to this movie, Columba rapidly rose to stardom and became known worldwide after the film was presented at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. In that same year she participated in La Malquerida, with Dolores del Río and Pedro Armendáriz.{{citation needed|date= October 2022}}

File:Columba Domínguez Epoca 1950.jpg (1950), photograph published by italian magazine Epoca]]

Following the success of Pueblerina, Columba was contracted in Italy to appear in the film L'edera (1950).{{cite web|url=http://amerblog.wordpress.com/cartolin/ |title=cartoline | amerblog |publisher=Amerblog.wordpress.com |date= 7 February 2010|accessdate=2014-08-14}} That same year, she filmed Un día de vida (1952), which went unnoticed in Mexico, but became a huge success in the former Yugoslavia.{{citation needed|date= October 2022}}

Columba separated professionally from Fernandez in 1952, which allowed them to become one first figure and work under the orders of other filmmakers, such as Luis Buñuel (with whom she worked in El río y la muerte (1955), Fernando Méndez, director of the cult film Ladrón de cadáveres (1957), considered one of the best Mexican horror films, and Ismael Rodriguez, she starred in his two masterpieces: Los Hermanos de Hierro (1961) and Ánimas Trujano (1962), with the Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune. In 1962 she participated in El tejedor de milagros, a film that represented Latin America in the IX Berlin Film Festival. Columba also made the first official nude in the Mexican Cinema in the film La virtud desnuda. (1956).{{citation needed|date= October 2022}}

File:Marilyn, Emilio, and Columba in Mexico 1962 (cropped).jpg and Marilyn Monroe in 1962]]

In 1961, she recorded an LP record titled La voz dulce y mexicana de Columba Domínguez (The Sweet, Mexican Voice of Columba Domínguez) for the RCA Víctor label, with orchestral arrangements by Mario Ruiz Armengol and Chucho Ferrer.{{cite web|title=Bolero, La Voz Dulce Y Mexicana De Columba Dominguez, Hwo.|url=http://articulo.mercadolibre.com.mx/MLM-554469473-bolero-la-voz-dulce-y-mexicana-de-columba-dominguez-hwo-_JM|website=MercadoLibre|accessdate=16 September 2016}} The album has ten tracks and was reissued in digital format by Sony Music in 2012.{{cite web|title=Columba Dominguez en Apple Music|url=https://music.apple.com/mx/artist/columba-dominguez/395265426|website=iTunes|access-date=16 September 2016}}

On television, Domínguez performed in telenovelas like La tormenta (1967) and El carruaje (1972). Her last television appearance was in Aprendiendo a amar (1979).{{citation needed|date= October 2022}}

After her retirement in 1987, Columba devoted herself to dance, humanistic art, painting and piano. In 2008, after more than 20 years of retirement from cinema, the Mexican director Roberto Fiesco returned her to the screen in the short film Paloma. That same year, Dominguez was honored by the International Film Festival de la Frontera, in Ciudad Juarez, at which some of her most representative titles were shown.{{cite web|author=La Jornada |url=http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2008/04/27/index.php?section=espectaculos&article=a08n1esp |title=Columba Domínguez regresó a la pantalla grande en Ciudad Juárez - La Jornada |publisher=Jornada.unam.mx |date= |accessdate=2014-08-14}} In 2010, Domínguez made special appearances in the films La cebra and Borrar la memoria,{{cite web |url=http://mx.globedia.com/espera-columba-dominguez-estreno-borrar-memoria |title=Espera Columba Domínguez estreno de Borrar de la memoria |publisher=Mx.globedia.com |date= |accessdate=2014-08-14 |archive-date=2016-09-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160927004930/http://mx.globedia.com/espera-columba-dominguez-estreno-borrar-memoria |url-status=dead }} and in 2012 she appeared in the film El último trago.{{citation needed|date= October 2022}}

In May 2013, Columba Domínguez was honored with the Golden Ariel Award for her contributions to the Mexican film industry.{{citation needed|date= October 2022}}

Personal life

In 1945, Domínguez was discovered by the famous Mexican film director Emilio Fernandez, who launched her career in film. She and Fernandez began a friendly relationship, which soon led to romance, and Columba later claimed that this resulted in their secret marriage. The couple had a daughter, Jacaranda, born in 1952. Personal differences, and infidelities by Fernández, prompted Domínguez to leave him in 1952, taking their daughter with her.{{citation needed|date= October 2022}}

A tragic event marred Domínguez' life when, in 1978, her daughter Jacaranda died after falling from the fourth floor of a building, in circumstances that were never clarified.{{citation needed|date= October 2022}}

Domínguez and Fernández resumed their relationship several times. She was with him in his last days, despite their having been apart many years, and she did not leave the hospital room until his body was removed. In March 1987 she wrote a book titled Emilio, the Indian that I love which was dedicated to her great love.{{Cite web |title=Columba Domínguez: el rostro mexicano que enamoró a “El Indio” Fernández y hasta promocionó un jabón facial |url=https://www.eluniversal.com.mx/espectaculos/columba-dominguez-el-rostro-mexicano-que-enamoro-a-el-indio-fernandez-y-hasta-promociono-un-jabon-facial/ |access-date=2025-07-14 |website=El Universal |language=es}}

File:Columba Domínguez homenaje 2013.png

After Fernández' death in 1986, a dispute over his will erupted, particularly concerning his stunning "fortress" home in the neighborhood of Coyoacan, in the south of Mexico City. Emilio died intestate, and his only surviving daughter, the writer Adela Fernandez y Fernandez, was automatically named the sole heir to the exclusion of Domínguez, who claimed property rights. According to Domínguez, Adela was not a biological daughter of Emilio, and he had never legally adopted her.{{YouTube|AEiFw-MuwfY|La historia detras del mito: Emilio "El Indio" Fernández}} These details, and the legal situation, were never clarified as Adela died in 2013.{{citation needed|date= October 2022}}

Her very Mexican beauty was portrayed in paintings by famous artists like Miguel Covarrubias, Jesús Guerrero Galván, and Diego Rivera.{{Cite web |title=Columba Domínguez: el rostro mexicano que enamoró a “El Indio” Fernández y hasta promocionó un jabón facial |url=https://www.eluniversal.com.mx/espectaculos/columba-dominguez-el-rostro-mexicano-que-enamoro-a-el-indio-fernandez-y-hasta-promociono-un-jabon-facial/ |access-date=2025-07-14 |website=El Universal |language=es}}

Death

Columba Domínguez died on August 13, 2014, in the Hospital Ángeles Santelena in Mexico City, as a result of a heart attack, after being hospitalized for several days{{Cite web|url=https://www.reforma.com/aplicaciones/articulo/default.aspx?id=313324|title=Muere Columba Domínguez|website=www.reforma.com|accessdate=Aug 3, 2020}} due to complications from pneumonia.{{Cite web|url=https://www.excelsior.com.mx/funcion/2014/08/15/976348|title=Columba Domínguez murió por neumonía|date=Aug 15, 2014|website=Excélsior|accessdate=Aug 3, 2020}} She was entombed at the Mausoleos del Ángel Graveyard, in Mexico City.{{Cite web|url=https://www.elfinanciero.com.mx/after-office/columba-fue-despedida-sin-la-presencia-de-su-gremio.html|title=Columba fue despedida sin la presencia de su gremio|website=www.elfinanciero.com.mx|date=16 August 2014 |accessdate=Aug 3, 2020}}

Selected filmography

{{unreferenced section|date= October 2022}}

=Features=

File:Columba Domínguez and Roldano Lupi in L'edera (1950) (cropped).jpg in L'edera (1950)]]

File:Columba Domínguez and Vittorio De Sica in Pan, amor y... Andalucía (1958).jpg (dressed in white) in Bread, Love and Andalusia (1958)]]

{{div col|colwidth=27em}}

{{div col end}}

Discography

;With Kitty De Hoyas: Cabaret Trágico (Juan Garcia Esquivel, orchestration, arrangement) (RCA Víctor, 1958)

;La voz dulce y mexicana de Columba Domínguez (RCA Víctor, 1961)

Side one:

  1. "La pajarera"
  2. "Pregones de México"
  3. "Nunca"
  4. "Se me hizo fácil"
  5. "Dime si me quieres"

Side two:

  1. "Xochimilco"
  2. "Te amaré vida mía"
  3. "Nunca, nunca, nunca"
  4. "Paloma mensajera"
  5. "La barca de Guaymas"

References

{{Reflist}}

  • {{cite book |last= Agrasánchez Jr. |first= Rogelio |title= Bellezas del cine mexicano/Beauties of Mexican Cinema |year= 2001 |publisher= Archivo Fílmico Agrasánchez |isbn= 968-5077-11-8 }}

External links

  • {{commons category-inline}}
  • {{IMDb name|0231758}}
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20130909202550/http://cinemexicano.mty.itesm.mx/estrellas/columba.html Columba Domínguez en Cine Mexicano en ITESM]
  • {{YouTube|J8JC_l89BVM|La historia detrás del mito: Columba Domínguez (Televisión Azteca, México)}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dominguez, Columba}}

Category:Mexican film actresses

Category:Mexican telenovela actresses

Category:Mexican television actresses

Category:1929 births

Category:2014 deaths

Category:Ariel Award winners

Category:Best Supporting Actress Ariel Award winners

Category:Golden Age of Mexican cinema

Category:Golden Ariel Award winners

Category:Bolero singers

Category:Ranchera singers

Category:Mexican artists' models

Category:RCA Records artists

Category:People from Guaymas

Category:Actresses from Sonora

Category:Singers from Sonora

Category:20th-century Mexican actresses

Category:21st-century Mexican actresses

Category:20th-century Mexican women singers

Category:21st-century Mexican women singers