Biography

She acted in the first Mexican talkie film, Santa (1932).

Grandmother of Paul Weitz and Chris Weitz

She died on November 12, 2016, the day after her daughter Susan Kohner's 80th birthday.

She and her daughter Susan Kohner both starred in films that the Library of Congress selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2015: Tovar in Drácula (1931) and Kohner in Imitation of Life (1959).

Mother of Pancho Kohner and Susan Kohner

[on Don 'Red' Barry] I remember Don; a little man, always talking, always telling stories while I was learning the dialogue. He could be difficult - he was not as easy as the other cowboys. He was young and difficult.

I was with Fox for one year - just four films, all were silents including Joy Street (1929) and The Veiled Woman (1929). Talking pictures were coming in, and there was chaos everywhere! I couldn't speak English.

[on how her career began] I was 18 and still in school. Robert J. Flaherty, a famous documentary director who worked for Fox at the time, went to Mexico with his assistant. Fox would bring young people into the United States from Italy, Spain, Brazil and finally, Mexico. They visited my school, saw me, but of course I had no idea who Robert Flaherty was. They came back to make tests; they made 65 tests for others - those who were on the stage, in high society, whatever. I made the test and got first prize out of all those 65 tests!

I never felt I'd be in movies - my father was strict, old-fashioned. I saw a few movies, but with my grandmother. My father turned down Fox's first contract. Two weeks later, Fox lawyers sent another contract - with a letter from the consul general saying what an honor it was, that I was chosen, so my father finally agreed. I came to Hollywood in 1928 with my grandmother.

[on her near-miss kiss scene with Gene Autry in South of the Border (1939)] It *was* in the script. Gene Autry never kissed a girl; he was very pure for the kids. Today, we would have been doing more than kissing!

[on her South of the Border (1939) co-stars] [Gene Autry] became a top ten box office star. That picture made a lot of money! Gene was a lovely cowboy. A lovely person, such a gentleman. Smiley [Smiley Burnette], his sidekick, was always nice. I particularly remember the little girl, Mary Lee - such a talent, and the other leading lady, June Storey, who was very pretty.