I disagree with you about who's more beautiful -- in my view, it's Angie, hands-down -- but Estelita was extremely pretty.
And I also disagree that she was way too pretty to be married to Carlos. I don't think he's a homely little man (and she's pretty little herself), but then, isn't it nice that she'd marry a man for important reasons like love and not for some shallow reason like looks?
If you want to see her looking particularly sexy, see if you can ever come across a low-budget 1953 B-movie from Paramount called Tropic Zone, with Ronald Reagan. Estelita plays the second female lead there, too, an exotic South American dancer with a lot of very revealing costumes. However, Ronnie finds her a nuisance and goes after Rhonda Fleming instead (who also looks stunning), leaving Estelita to find happiness with Noah Beery, Jr.
NOTE: What follows is a second edit of my original post, based on new information concerning related issues about Estelita.
Supposedly, she was born in 1928, which would make her 3 years older than Angie Dickinson, and 2 years younger than Pedro Gonzalez-Gonzalez, who played her husband.
Originally in this post I said she was born in 1913, based on other information I'd seen, which did make her seem older than she looked -- 45, allegedly, when this movie was filmed. I had amended this post to conform with the 1928 birth year...only to receive further information from my friend Zolotoy_Retriever that her birth year is the subject of some dispute (you can read his posts below). So now I'm making what I hope is a final edit to this post, just to take other possibilities into account.
She died fairly young in 1966, but the cause of death now also seems to be a matter of dispute. Originally I had heard cancer and written that. IMDb says it was influenza. Now other sources say it was something mysterious, with an inference of foul play, though I never heard of any evidence. Another gray area to be explored.
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ZolotoyRetriever
11 years ago
The interesting thing is that she was an astounding 18 years older than Angie Dickinson, and 13 years older than Pedro Gonzalez-Gonzalez, who played her husband, yet she could still play an obviously much younger woman.
This year, 2013, was her centenary, just to make us all feel old. She died fairly young, of cancer I believe, in 1966.
Hobnob, have you perhaps confused her with another actress? The Estelita Rodriguez in this film was born in 1928, and was only 3 years older than Angie Dickinson, not 18.... (Angie Dickinson was born in 1931)
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0735310/?ref_=tt_cl_t9http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estelita_Rodriguez
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hobnob53
11 years ago
You know, ZT, I think you're right. My info came from the date given in Halliwell, who was not always reliable. It did seem old to me but she had been around a long time, so who knows? According to IMDb her cause of death in 1966 (I was right about that date) was the flu; my info about her having had cancer came from Robert Clarke's autobiography, in which he spoke very highly of her. (Maybe she did have cancer but the proximate cause of death was influenza.)
Anyway, clearly I was wrong and I'm going to amend my previous post as to that information. Thanks for setting me right!
Happy New Year!
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ZolotoyRetriever
11 years ago
Don't feel bad about the comment you made about her year of birth, as I can see that there is some evidence of confusion about her YOB. From the IMDb trivia section for Estelita, I did just happen to see this:
Interred at San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills, California. Her grave marker lists her birth year as 1928, but many sources suggest she was much older, listing her birth year as 1913 or 1915.
Be that as it may, virtually all Google searches I did for her year of birth seem to indicate 1928. That proves nothing, of course, but still...
Also, apropos her cause of death, this was also in the trivia section:
Was preparing to star in the life story of Lupe Velez (which ironically enough has still-unanswered questions lingering about it as well) at the time of her sudden death, which still remains suspicious (although influenza has been listed, the cause of death was never made public). She was found dead on the kitchen floor of her Los Angeles-area home.
Finally, let me link this cool picture - that's her with fellow cast members from "Tropic Zone" - that clearly underscores her diminutive size:
http://acertaincinema.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Rhonda-Fleming-Ro nald-Reagan-Estelita-Noah-Beery-Tropic-Zone.jpg
Thanks for the New Year's wishes. Same to you and your family, hobnob.
ZR
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hobnob53
11 years ago
Gee, the Estelita mystery deepens. Maybe 1913 wasn't so far off. Her film career began in 1945 but she was kicking around Hollywood for a while before that, from what I've read of her career. So while it's still quite possible she was only 17 or less when she began, it's also credible she'd be older. But a fifteen-year age discrepancy (or even thirteen years) is pretty big.
I've encountered a few such major gaps between given birth years before. For example, I remember that for years IMDb insisted the actress Donna Anderson (On the Beach, 1959) was born in 1925, when other references said circa 1938. That's a huge difference and I simply didn't believe she could have been that old. It turned out she indeed wasn't and her birth year here is now listed as 1939. I'm sure you've seen minor birth-year discrepancies (a couple of years or so), but when you begin to hit double-digit differences something's up.
Frankly, to me Estelita looks at bit older than the 30 she'd have been while filming Rio Bravo if she was born in 1928, but then, not 45 either.
As to her death, this is getting even more worrying. Cancer -- then flu -- now inferences of something shady -- or criminal. Wow. Poor Estelita.
Guess I'll go amend my earlier post a little bit more!
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buddyboy28
11 years ago
She was OK but sorry I have to go with Angie.She was beautiful.I've seen some rare behind the scenes photos of her and Duke together where she has her hair down and she looked even hotter than she did in the movie.Shame there wasn't just one scene with her hair down.Angie all the way!
- - -
Fill your hand you son of a bitch!
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pkryder-1
11 years ago
Angie had a nice face but she was not nearly curvy enough to be super hot. Very narrow hips, a flat bottom, and small breasts.
Estelita had an equally pretty face, but was MUCH curvier and therefore much sexier.
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