Monday, October 26, 2009

Martin Caballero on Laura Elena Harring



Martin Caballero, our Mexico City contributor, has left his Lupe Velez adoration to one side and sends in this love note of a piece on the talented Laura Elena Harring--the prose and photos are directly from Caballero:


LAURA ELENA HARRING
LA CONDESA DE MEXICO/ THE COUNTESS OF MEXICO
By MARTÍN CABALLERO

The first time I heard about Laura Elena Harring was in 2002. I went to see the movie “Mulholland Drive” with my oldest brother in Mexico City. I was very interested on watching the movie because I am a fan of the filmmaker David Lynch. Something attracted my attention a lot while I was watching the film. A striking brunette was playing the role of Rita and Camilla. I had the feeling she was Mexican when she started talking in Spanish.



I had a good impression of the film so I started looking some information about Laura Elena as soon as I had got home. I found out she was indeed Mexican and my biggest surprise was to know she was born in the beautiful and warm city of Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico. The city I kept wonderful memories of my childhood. Laura Elena left Mexico when she was 10 years old and relocated to Texas. In 1985 she became the first Latina to win the Miss USA title. She was married to Count Carl-Edward Von Bismark. She divorced him after a while--she still retains the title of Countess. She is a very qualified actress, having studied theater at London Academy of Performing Arts.



In 1990 she had the role of a Brazilian woman out to introduce the Lambada to American audiences where she showed off her dancing talent and beauty, “The Forbidden Dance”. Laura Elena has not only been working as an actress--her humanitarian work in India is noteworthy.



In the 90ths she worked in different TV shows as Sunset Beach. In 2001 she made her big entrance at the Cannes Festival. The famous David Lynch chose her as the main character in the film “Mulholland Drive”. The film competed for the Golden Palm in 2001 where David was awarded best director. In 2002 Laura Elena Harring pranced down the red carpet in diamond-encrusted sandals attracting the attention of the mass media. Designer Stuart Weitzman chose her to wear his pair of Diamond shoes. A versatile actress who has played a great diversity of roles in her career, Harring's film credits include “The punisher” in 2003 where she share credits with John Travolta. “Derailed” in 2002 with Jean-Claude Van Damme. “Loco love” in 2003 with Barbara Eden. “El Amor en los tiempos del cólera” in 2007 with Javier Bardem. Laura Elena Harring is a very important Latina figure in Hollywood. She has been compared with Rita Hayworth and Ava Gardner. There is no doubt Laura Elena is a beautiful and talent Mexican woman.



For the truly moved, Martín just sent in a link to this homage/collage from YouTube.





Let's end with a key scene from Lynch's MULHOLLAND DRIVE:

1 comment:

  1. I am an acquaintance of Laura and she is a great actress and beautiful lady:)

    ReplyDelete

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