Katy Jurado: Why Google honours her today

Jurado achieved fame in both Mexican cinema and Hollywood through her portrayals of complicated women.

Katy Jurado - Inside Image
Katy Jurado would have been 94 on Tuesday [Wikicommons]

Best known for her participation in the 1952 film High Noon and hailed as “an actress of Mexico and the world”, Katy Jurado would have been 94 on Tuesday, January 16.

In her honour, Google is changing its logo in the United States, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Iceland, Sweden, Croatia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Indonesia, and Japan.

Here is her story.

Secret contract 

  • Maria Cristina Estella Marcella Jurado de Garcia (better known as Katy Jurado) was born in 1924 to a wealthy family in the city of Guadalajara, Mexico

  • Her cousin Emilio Portes Gil became president of Mexico in 1928. 

  • Initially, her family didn’t support her desire to become an actress, but she was determined and signed her first contract in secret at the age of 16.

  • Her road to Hollywood began in 1951, when director Budd Boetticher saw her sitting in a bullfight arena, while she was in Mexico, filming.

  • Memorising English. Jurado knew very little English but, in her first casting, she delivered her lines by memorising the way they sounded. Despite the language barrier, her performance was strong and managed to attract the attention of Hollywood. 
  • She moved to Los Angeles and married actor Ernest Borgnine, who called her “beautiful, but a tiger”.

Performances

  • She was part of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema, where she participated in the successful movie of La vida inutil de Pito Perez

  • In the film No mataras, Jurado played her first villain role. She specialised in playing the role of the wicked women. 

  • Her best-known Mexican performance was in the film Nosotros los Pobres (“We the Poor”), which was released in 1948.

  • During her career, she won a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress in the 1952 film High Noon. She also won three Silver Ariel Awards, the Mexican equivalent of the Oscar, and nominations for several Academy Awards. 
  • Writer and critic. In between films, Jurado contributed in different Mexican magazines and newspapers. She also made radio appearances and was known as a bullfight critic. 

  • The different roles she developed in the industry helped to expand the options available to Mexican actresses in Hollywood today. Jurado participated in over 60 films. 
Source: Al Jazeera