Soledad Miranda

Soledad Rendón Bueno (9 July 1943 – 18 August 1970), better known by her stage names Soledad Miranda or Susann Korda (or sometimes Susan Korday), was a Spanish actress and singer. She starred in several films directed by cult filmmaker Jess Franco, such as '' Count Dracula'' (1970), '' Vampyros Lesbos'' (1970), and '' She Killed in Ecstasy'' (1971). She also released numerous Spanish-language pop songs throughout the mid-sixties.

Miranda died in a car accident on a Lisbon highway in August 1970: she was aged 27. She was just about to sign a film contract with Franco's producer, Karl Heinz Mannchen.

Biography

Early life

Soledad Miranda was born Soledad Rendón Bueno on 9 July 1943 in Seville, Spain. Soledad (whose name translates as ''solitude'' or ''loneliness'') was the niece of the famous Spanish singer-actress-flamenco dancer, Paquita Rico. At age 8, Miranda made her professional debut when she was hired as a flamenco dancer and singer- first in the "Youth Galas" at the Seville Fair and San Fernando theatre, and then on a tour throughout southern Spain.

Career

At age 16, Miranda moved to Madrid and drew an artistic stage name out of a hat. She made her film debut in 1960 as a dancer in a musical called ''La Bella Mimí''. She was often in the tabloids as the rumored girlfriend of the most famous bullfighter of the time: Manuel Benítez ( El Cordobés).

Miranda went on to appear in over 30 films from 1960 to 1970. There were epic adventures ('' Ursus'', ''Cervantes''); horror films ('' Sound of Horror'', '' Pyro''); dramas (''Canción de cuna'', '' Currito de la Cruz''); comedies (''Eva 63'', ''La familia y uno más''); and even a Spaghetti Western ('' Sugar Colt''). She also released a couple of yé-yé pop records in the mid-1960s.

After taking two years off to raise her son (see "Personal life"), she returned to acting with a role in the western '' 100 Rifles'' (1969). She went on to appear in additional films and in Spanish television shows. Director Jess Franco, for whom Miranda had done a small role in his musical '' Queen of the Tabarin Club'', made Miranda his frequent star in films including '' Count Dracula'', '' Eugenie de Sade'', '' Vampyros Lesbos'', '' She Killed in Ecstasy'', ''Nightmares Come at Night,'' and '' The Devil Came from Akasava''. Since Franco's films involved extensive full-frontal nudity, Miranda took the stage name Susann Korda (alternately spelled Susan Korday or Susan Korda) during this period.

Personal life and death

In 1964, Miranda had made a trio of films in Portugal. José Manuel da Conceiçao Simões, a Portuguese racecar driver, was a producer and also acted in them. In one of the films, ''Un día en Lisboa'' ''(A Day in Lisbon)'', they played a couple traveling between Estoril and Lisbon. After a secret courtship, the pair married in 1966. In April 1967, Miranda gave birth to a son, Antonio. Her husband retired from racing and took a job in the auto industry.

On the morning of 18 August 1970, after completing the filming of ''The Devil Came from Akasava'', Miranda and her husband were involved in a collision with a small truck near Lisbon. Simões suffered minor injuries, but Miranda died as a result of major head and back trauma. She and Jess Franco had started filming her next project (''Justine'', a.k.a. ''Juliette'') which he abandoned after her death. He had also planned to feature her in his 1970 film, ', which he made later with a different actress.

Filmography

* 1960 '' Queen of the Tabarin Club'' as Duchess (uncredited)
* 1961 '' Ursus'' aka ''Ursus, Son of Hercules'' as Fillide
* 1961 ''La bella Mimí'' as First Dancer
* 1961 ''Canción de cuna'' as Teresa
* 1963 ''The Castilian'' as Maria Estevez
* 1963 ''Eva 63'' as Soledad
* 1963 ''Cuatro bodas y pico'' as Mari-Luci
* 1963 ''Bochorno'' as Piluca
* 1963 '' The Daughters of Helena'' as Mari Pó
* 1964 '' Pyro... The Thing Without a Face'' as Liz Frade
* 1964 ''Los gatos negros'' / ''A canção da Saudade'' as Babá
* 1964 ''Un día en Lisboa'' as Herself (documentary short)
* 1964 ''Fin de semana'' (''Weekend'') as Sonsoles
* 1964 '' Sound of Horror'' as Maria
* 1965 ''Playa de Formentor'' as Sandra
* 1965 '' Currito of the Cross'' as Rocío Carmona
* 1965 ''La familia y uno más'' as Patricia
* 1966 '' He's My Man!'' as Leonor Jiménez
* 1966 ''The Mimí del Franval'' as Susan
* 1966 '' Sugar Colt'' as Josefa
* 1967 ''Cervantes'' as Nessa
* 1968 '' Comanche blanco'' as India (uncredited)
* 1969 '' 100 Rifles'' as Girl In Hotel
* 1969 ''Estudio amueblado 2-P'' as Maribel
* 1969 ''Soltera y madre en la vida'' as Paloma
* 1969 ''Lola la piconera'' as Rosarillo
* 1969 ''Nightmares Come at Night'' as Neighbor's Girlfriend
* 1969 ''Sex Charade'' as Anne (a lost film, never released)
* 1970 '' Count Dracula'' as Lucy Westenra
* 1970 '' Cuadecuc/Vampir'' (documentary) as Herself
* 1970 '' Eugenie de Sade'' as Eugénie Radeck de Franval (billed as Susan Korday in the opening credits).
* 1970 '' Vampyros Lesbos'' aka "Las Vampiras" as Countess Nadine Carody (as Susann Korda)
* 1970 '' She Killed in Ecstasy'' (a.k.a. ''Mrs. Hyde'') as Mrs. Johnson
* 1970 '' The Devil Came from Akasava'' as Jane Morgan
* 1970 ''Juliette'' (uncompleted, a lost film)

Discography

* Soledad Miranda – Belter 51.451 (1964)
* Soledad Miranda – Belter 51.598 (1965)

References

Literature

* Brown, Amy: ''Soledad Miranda: A Treasure Lost'', in: Sirens of Cinema Magazine, Winter 2003
* Lucas, Tim: ''The Black Stare of Soledad Miranda'', in European Trash Cinema, 1991
* Overzier, Gregor: ''Soledad Miranda/Susann Korda'', in: Norbert Stresau, Heinrich Wimmer (Hrg.): Enzyklopädie des phantastischen Films, 70. Ergänzungslieferung, Corian, Meitingen 2004

External links

*
*

Sublime Soledad

Soledad Miranda: Soledad y Santitad
by Amy Brown �
BCult

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miranda, Soledad
1943 births
1970 deaths
Spanish actresses
Road incident deaths in Portugal
Spanish film actresses
Spanish women pop singers
Spanish people of Portuguese descent
20th-century Spanish actresses
20th-century Spanish singers
20th-century Spanish women singers