Born 1903 as Mona Maria Emita Capdeville in Buenos Aires, Argentine actress Mona Maris had her screen debut in the German film Los Esclavos del Volga, directed by Richard Eichberg. Joseph Schenck, president of United Artists, granted her the prospect of a Hollywood career. At the time she had completed just four films in Germany. Her Hollywood film career began with the 1925 movie The Apache.
Spanish, French, and German came easily for her, but in the early years of sounds films, her English was almost unintelligible. From 1931 to 1941, Maris starred in 19 Spanish-language versions of successful American pictures, which were produced by the Fox Film Company. She also appeared in seven English dialogue motion pictures for three studios.
Maris remained active at age 81, in the role of French aristocrat Marie Anne Périchon de Vandeuil, “a disturbed, broken-hearted grandmother” in the film Camila (1984), which was described as “the most successful Argentine film in decades.”
Take a look at these gorgeous photos to see portraits of a young Mona Maris from between the 1920s and 1940s.
Adorable. Those eyes!
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