Lupita Tovar was born in Mexico in 1910. She was discovered by the documantary filmmaker Robert Flaherty. She came to Hollywood in 1929 and starred in “Dracula”, She retired early from acting when she married agent Paul Kohner in 1932. Susan Kohner the actress is their daughter. She died at the age of 106 in 2016.
Good article by Michael G Ankreich here.
IMDB entry:
Born in Oaxaca, Mexico, Lupita Tovar appeared first in silent Fox films before making the move to Universal and co-starring in the Spanish-language version of 1930’s “The Cat Creeps” (La voluntad del muerto (1930)). For the same producer, Czech-born Paul Kohner, she appeared as Eva Seward (the Spanish-language counterpart of Helen Chandler‘s Mina) in Universal’s Spanish Dracula (1931). In 1932, she married Kohner, who later became one of the top agents in Hollywood. (Their actress-daughter, Susan Kohner, was Oscar-nominated for her performance in Universal’s 1959 Imitation of Life (1959); their son, Pancho Kohner, is a producer). Tovar gave up films in the 1940s and has been widowed since 1988.
– IMDb Mini Biography By: Tom Weaver <TomWeavr@aol.com>
The above IMDB entry can also be accessed online here.
“The Wrap” obituary:
Mexican screen siren Lupita Tovar has died at the age of 106.
The actress starred in the 1931 Spanish-language version of “Dracula,” which was filmed simultaneously with the popular English-speaking version with Bela Lugosi. Tovar died in her Los Angeles home on Saturday, according to a Facebook post by actress Lucy Tovar, her niece.
Tovar was the mother of Oscar-nominated “Imitation of Life” actress Susan Kohner and the grandmother to Hollywood film writers, brothers Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz. Both were nominated for an Oscar for writing 2002’s “About a Boy.” Tovar was married to high-power Hollywood producer Paul Kohner, who worked more than 50 years with icons including Greta Garbo, Lana Turner, John Huston, Lana Turner, Ingmar Bergman, Yul Brynner, David Niven, Billy Wilder and Charles Brons In “Dracula,” Tovar portrayed Eva Steward, the damsel who becomes inextricably enthralled by Dracula (Carlos Villar). Lupita starred in Mexico’s first talking film “Santa,” released in 1932. She starred opposite Buster Keaton in “The Invader,” and also notably appeared in “Blockade” with Henry Fonda. She starred in only 32 films, according to IMDb, as she chose to focus on raising her family by the mid-1940s.
