Spanish Diva who Paved Way for Penelope Cruz, Jennifer Lopez to Visit UC

If it weren’t for Sara Montiel, Academy Award-winning actress Penelope Cruz might never have starred on the world stage.

Haven’t heard of Montiel? Few of today’s generation have, and visiting assistant professor of Romance Languages & Literatures Israel Rolón-Barada hopes to change that.

“Today, everyone young knows Penelope Cruz,” Rolón-Barada says. “But there was someone who came before her. Cruz is not doing anything that another Spanish girl hasn’t done before.”

Montiel, a mid-20th century Spanish entertainment icon, will visit the University of Cincinnati on April 30 and May 1. The McMicken College of Arts & Sciences’

Taft Research Center

and departments of

Romance Languages & Literatures

;

Women's, Gender, & Sexuality Studies

; and

German Studies

; and the

College-Conservatory of Music

are bringing her here for a series of special presentations and discussions on the lasting international significance of her work.

Rolón-Barada was teaching a class last spring on significant post-war peninsular women when he first had the idea to introduce Montiel to a new audience. His campaign gained momentum after he gave a presentation on her at this year’s annual Modern Language Association Convention in Seattle. With urging by Romance Languages & Literatures Department Head Nicasio Urbina and help from professor Enrique Giordano, Rolón-Barada invited Montiel to campus and began organizing the two-day celebration of her cultural legacy.

“One of the most important aspects of Sara Montiel’s professional career is how she opened doors for new generations in Spain and Latin America. Even Jennifer Lopez cites Montiel as an influence on her own career,” Rolón-Barada says.

Montiel began acting as a teenager in Spain in the late 1940s, an early start to a long and prolific film career. She reached American audiences in Hollywood movies such as “Vera Cruz” in 1954, in which she starred opposite Burt Lancaster and Gary Cooper. But her breakout hit “El Último Cuple” in 1957 is what launched her to international stardom. In this Spanish musical drama, Montiel plays a singer whose turbulent career meets a tragic end. Montiel’s sultry appeal pushed the low-budget movie to unheard of box office success and jump-started a revitalization of the Spanish film industry. Her visit to UC is partly intended to celebrate the 55th anniversary of this groundbreaking film.

Montiel has since starred in dozens of movies and began a successful stint as an international recording artist and performer. All this came at a time when Spain was under authoritarian rule of Francisco Franco and women were subjugated by the dictator’s regime. Montiel’s achievements amid such a tense political atmosphere elevated her status as a triumphant symbol to women and other marginalized people throughout the world.

She retired from film in the mid-’70s but remained a fixture in Spanish music and television. Nowadays she still enjoys sought-after celebrity status in Spain and recently was cast in her first movie in nearly 40 years. Rolón-Barada says bringing a culturally important figure such as Montiel to campus is an example what can be accomplished through research.

“It’s important for students who are actually working on research to know that Arts & Sciences and the university care about research very much,” Rolón-Barada says. “I told my students that they can go and interview someone in Spain like Sara Montiel. The sky’s the limit. Here we are proving that is possible.”

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

April 30

Tangeman University Center, MainStreet Cinema

3 p.m.: Opening of the symposium with Sara Montiel and the participating departments of UC; presentation by Enrique Giordano and Israel Rolón-Barada, University of Cincinnati; open to the public

4-6 p.m.: Screening of “El Último Cuple”; discussion with Montiel about the history and impact of the production; video of Montiel’s performance of the tango “Loca” from “La Reina del Chantecler”; live “Loca” performance by Manuel Jovés, Antonio Viergol, Nuria López-Ortega and Michael Wizer

7-9 p.m.: Screening of “Serenade”

A Tavola restaurant

8-10:30 p.m.: Dinner party at A Tavola, 1220 Vine St.; fixed menu, $15 per person, includes dinner and first drink

May 1

The Hilton Netherland Plaza

Noon: Lunch with Montiel at the Hilton Netherland Plaza, 35 W. Fifth St.; $30 a person, reservations required by April 24; contact Rolón-Barada at rolonbil@ucmail.uc.edu for more information

2:30 p.m.: Analysis with Montiel about her professional career and her international cultural contribution over the past five decades; presentation RLL Department Head Nicasio Urbina and CCM assistant professor Stefan Fiol

Baur Room, College-Conservatory of Music

2:45-4:15 p.m.: Panel discussion “Sara Montiel and the Situation of the Female Actress and Singer during Franco’s Dictatorial Regime” led by Rolón-Barada and featuring panelists Andrés Pérez-Simón from UC, Enrico Mario Santi of the University of Kentucky and Luis Cuesta of University of California, Los Angeles

4:30-6 p.m.: Panel discussion “Sara Montiel as a Gay Icon in the Hispanic World and Its Representation in Theatre, Cinema and Literature Today” led by Giordano and featuring panelists Daniel Torres of Ohio University and Fernando A. Blanco of Wittenberg University

6:30-7 p.m.: Recital with Sara Montiel accompanied by CCM piano student