Sara Montiel was a Spanish singer and actress. She was a much-loved and internationally known name in the Spanish-speaking movie and music industries. Montiel was born in Campo de Criptana in the region of Castile?La Mancha in 1928 as Mar�a Antonia Abad. After her unprecedented international hit in Juan de Ordu�a's El �ltimo Cupl� in 1957, Montiel achieved the status of mega-star in Europe and Latin America. She was the most commercially successful Spanish actress during the mid-20th century in much of the world. Miss Montiel's film Varietes was banned in Beijing in 1973. Her films El �ltimo Cuple and La Violetera netted the highest gross revenues ever recorded for films made in the Spanish speaking movie industry during the 1950s/60s. She played the role of Antonia, the niece of Don Quixote, in the 1947 Spanish film version of Cervantes's great novel. She was portrayed in the Pedro Almod�var film Bad Education by a male actor in drag as the cross-dressing character Zahara, and a film clip from one of her movies was used as well. 

March 10th, 1928 in Campo de Criptana  /  Died:   Apr 8th, 2013 - age 85