Emilio Fernández

Emilio Fernández
Emilio Fernández in the film The Soldiers of Pancho Villa (1959)
Born	Emilio Fernández Romo (1904-03-26)March 26, 1904 Hondo, Coahuila, Mexico
Died	August 6, 1986(1986-08-06) (aged 82) Mexico City, Mexico
Years active	1928–1986
Spouse(s)	Gladys Fernández Columba Domínguez

Emilio "El Indio" Fernández (born Emilio Fernández Romo, Spanish: [eˈmiljo feɾˈnandes ˈromo]; March 26, 1904 – August 6, 1986) was a Mexican film director, actor and screenwriter. He was one of the most prolific film directors of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema in the 1940s and 1950s. He is best known for his work as director of the film Maria Candelaria (1944), which won the Palme d'Or award at the 1946 Cannes Film Festival.^[1] As an actor, he worked in numerous film productions in Mexico and in Hollywood.

Early life

Born in Sabinas, Coahuila, on March 26, 1904, Emilio Fernández Romo was the son of a revolutionary general, while his mother was a descendant of Kickapoo Indians. He was the older brother of the Mexican actor Jaime Fernández. From his parents he inherited a deep feeling and love for his country, as well as its customs and indigenous beliefs, that led him to build his personality as a man of impetuous character. From his earliest years and throughout his life, he was characterized by a strong personality, brash character and pride in his indigenous roots, traits forged by the great influence exercised on him by his family.^[2]

When he was a teenager, a fatal event forced him to flee his home and enlist in the ranks of the Mexican Revolution. Later, he entered the Mexican Military Academy (where in 1954 he gained the rank of colonel). In 1923 he took part in the uprising of Adolfo de la Huerta against the government of Álvaro Obregón, but this insurrection failed and he was sent to prison. He escaped, and left Mexico to go into exile, first in Chicago and later in Los Angeles. There he earned his living as a laundry employee, bartender, longshoreman, press assistant, and finally as a stonemason for Hollywood studio construction, a circumstance that favored his foray into film as an extra and as a double for stars like Douglas Fairbanks.

Model for the Oscar statuette

Fernández is often said to be the model for the Oscar statuette, although there is no historical evidence for this.^[3] According to the legend, in 1928 MGM's art director Cedric Gibbons, one of the original Motion Picture Academy members, was tasked with creating the Academy Award trophy. In need of a model for his statuette, Gibbons was introduced by his future wife, actress Dolores del Río, to Fernández. Although reluctant at first, Fernández was supposedly persuaded to pose nude for what today is known as the "Oscar".^[4]

Career

His appearance in the film industry, though casual at first, became a commitment, encouraged by the same De la Huerta, who told him: Mexico does not want or need more revolutions Emilio. You are in the Mecca of film, and film is the most effective tool we humans have invented to express ourselves. Learn to make movies and you return to our homeland with that knowledge. Make our films so you can express your ideas so they reach thousands of people.^[2] In 1930 he had an experience that significantly marked his career as a creator: his stay in the United States coincided with the arrival in the country of Sergei Eisenstein (Russian film director). He went to private screenings of Eisenstein's films, which deeply impressed him, revealing a style that was different from that used in Hollywood aesthetics. Three years later, he was influenced by seeing fragments of Que viva Mexico! (an Eisenstein film made in that country), which consolidated his desire to make films with a relentless and direct style, where the exaltation of both the strength and the beauty of Mexico was evident. Over time, this was evident in most of his films, in which the aesthetics of the Revolution, the evocation of Mexican natural landscapes and the exaltation of patriotism are constants.

He returned to Mexico in 1933, thanks to an amnesty granted by the government, with the firm decision to continue his film career, but during the first year he made a living as a boxer, a diver in Acapulco, a baker and an aviator. In 1934, he appeared in the film Cruz Diablo, directed by Fernando de Fuentes. His looks also landed him a starring role playing a native in Janitzio by Carlos Navarro.

"El Indio" well know the American intentions to keep busy in Mexico performing melodramas and films folklorists, away from the contradictions, helplessness and doom of the lower classes, but within this director seething desire to return and exit in defense of history, culture and national identity. That's why in 1941, with the financial support of General John F. Azcárate and the encouragement of his friend, the actor David Silva (then a law student), he filmed La isla de la pasión with which he made his debut as a director. That same year he traveled to Cuba where he met the woman who would be his first wife, Gladys Fernandez, and he adopted her daughter Adela.

In 1943 he was contacted by the Mexican film Studios Films Mundiales. Emilio Fernández (director), Mauricio Magdaleno (writer), Gabriel Figueroa (photographer), Dolores del Río and Pedro Armendáriz (actors) conformed the team that achieved the biggest blockbusters of the time arose. Their first work together was Flor silvestre, the film that debuted Dolores del Río in the Mexican cinema.

Next, Fernández filmed María Candelaria (1944), for which he was awarded the Palm d'Or at Cannes^[1] along with Gabriel Figueroa. He developed his own style which had such an effect in the industry that his portrayal of rural Mexico became a standard for the film industry, and also became the image of Mexico in the world.

In 1945, based on the history of American writer John Steinbeck (who adapted the screenplay in collaboration with him), Fernández filmed La perla, one of the most important films in his long filmography, considered by critics as a work of art which portrays a story of ignorance and human misery, achieved by the superb photography of Figueroa and rigorous direction of Fernandez. It is an allegory about the limits of wickedness of man in his greed and desire for power. This film won the award for Best Cinematography, and a mention for Best Film contribution to progress in the Venice Film Festival (1947). It also received the Silver Ariel (1948) for Best Picture, Directing, Male Performance and Photography; the award of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (1949), and the award for Best Cinematography at the Festival of Madrid (1949).

Promotional poster of the film La perla (1945)

By that time his career was at the pinnacle of success. Then came the films that consolidated his style and strengthened their reputation in the world. Among the most significant are: Enamorada with Maria Félix; The Fugitive ; Río Escondido (winner of Best Cinematography in the Karlovy Vary in Czechoslovakia); Pueblerina with his then wife Columba Domínguez and Maclovia'. These films were imbued with realism and nationalism with a strong indigenous character, revealing his love of the Mexican landscape and beauty in indigenous traits. These attributes helped to shape the image of Mexico in the world at that time. In 1948, Salon Mexico won the award for Best Cinematography at the festival in Brussels, Belgium. He followed these in 1950 with urban films, Víctimas del Pecado, starring Ninón Sevilla, and Cuando levanta la niebla, with Columba Dominguez and Arturo de Córdova. In 1950, he made his only film in Hollywood The Torch, a remake of Enamorada starring Paulette Goddard.

As the years passed, the aesthetics of Indio Fernández began to be viewed as old fashioned by critics, who called his films "precious" and accused Fernandez of showing the world a false image of Mexico. By the mid-1950s, the films of Fernández fell into obscurity as he was supplanted by other notable Mexican film directors like Luis Buñuel. Fernández returned to his role as actor. Although he did little directing in the 1960s, he had several roles as an actor, appearing in: The Soldiers of Pancho Villa (1959), La bandida (1962); The Night of the Iguana (1964, directed by John Huston, where he shared credits with Richard Burton and Ava Gardner); Return of the Seven (1966); The Appaloosa (1966, with Marlon Brando), among many others. His 1967 film A Faithful Soldier of Pancho Villa was entered into the 5th Moscow International Film Festival.^[5] He also acted in three films directed by Sam Peckinpah: The Wild Bunch (1969), Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1973), and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1975).

During the last years of his life, he found it impossible to direct, and although his performances as an actor in films in Mexico and abroad continued to be numerous, they failed to restore the happiness that directing gave him. In the late 1970s he was imprisoned in Torreon after he was found guilty of the death of a farmer. He was released after 6 months probation. Lack of signatures every week, due to an accident, caused him to be imprisoned again. Those were hard times, in which he held his character and his passion for film. He was a man of 74 years, silent and taciturn, who refused to recognize the twilight of his career. Free again, he returned to his mythical house in Coyoacan, to live in solitude and sell crops from his garden to survive.

Death

In early 1986, Emilio Fernández suffered a fall at his home in Acapulco, which caused a fracture of the femur. According to his daughter Adela, in the hospital he received a blood transfusion that was infected with malaria. Emilio Fernández died on August 6, 1986.^[6]

Legacy

Fernández's death left a void in the history of Mexican cinema. He was beloved by his countrymen for passionately portraying the people, the customs, and the identity of Mexico. In addition to his 129 films, he is also seen as bequeathing Mexican culture to the world through countless beautiful images of Mexicans and evocations of an orderly Mexican society that loved the world. His film legacy has been recognized with the Ariel Award, the Colón de Oro in Huelva, Spain, and with a chair in his name at the Moscow Film School. Emilio Fernández Romo was known for creating visceral characters, for the drama of his stories, for the use of indigenous characters and their issues, and for reproducing authentic Mexican culture in both Mexican and European films . With photographer Gabriel Figueroa, writer Mauricio Magdaleno, and actors Pedro Armendariz, Dolores del Rio, Maria Felix and Columba Dominguez, Romo conducted various productions that promoted both national customs and the values associated with the Mexican Revolution.

He was portrayed by Joaquín Cosio in the Mexican biographical film Cantinflas.

Personal life

Gladys Fernández, 16-year-old Cuban girl, became his first wife in 1941. Their relationship was affected by Emilio's passion for Hollywood diva Dolores del Rio, an idyllic ghost ever present in the life of the actor, and Gladys ended up leaving him. Emilio and Gladys had a daughter, the writer Adela Fernández y Fernández.

His most stable relationship was with the actress Columba Domínguez. They were together for seven years, but the relationship collapsed because Columba became pregnant, and he did not want more children. She decided to have the baby without his consent, and the breakup was brutal. Their daughter, Jacaranda, died in 1978 after falling from the top of a building.

His marriage to Gloria De Valois Cabiedes produced another daughter, Xochitl Fernandez De Valois, and he was married to Beatriz Castaneda from 1964 to 1970.

Fernández was infatuated with the British-American actress Olivia de Havilland, whom he never met. Fernández asked the then-president of Mexico, Miguel Aleman, to extend a street in Coyoacán to his mansion, and to name it Sweet Olivia. Thus, he would always have her symbolically near, transformed into a street, and always at his feet.^[7]

After the death of Fernández, a lawsuit broke out between his daughter Adela and Columba Domínguez. Adela had been named sole heir of her father and took possession of his house, an impressive fortress in the neighborhood of Coyoacán in Mexico City, which Columba claimed as her own. According to Columba, Adela was not a biological daughter of Fernández, but was adopted by him when she was abandoned by her mother. Adela's death in 2013 left the legal situation unclear.^[6]

The House-Fortress of Fernández, managed by his daughter Adela until her death in 2013, became a space dedicated to various cultural activities in Mexico City, and has served as a backdrop for filming over one hundred Mexican and foreign films.

Filmography

As director

As actor

• 1930 - Oklahoma Cyclone
• 1934 - Janitzio
• 1939 - Los de Abajo
• 1943 - Wild Flower
• 1959 - The Soldiers of Pancho Villa
• 1962 - La bandida
• 1964 - The Night of the Iguana
• 1966 - Return of the Seven
• 1966 - The Appaloosa
• 1969 - The Wild Bunch
• 1973 - Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid
• 1974 - Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
• 1984 - Under the Volcano
• 1985 - Treasure of the Amazon
• 1986 - Los Amantes del Señor de la Noche
• 1986 - The Kidnapping of Lola

References

Sources

• Taibo I., Paco Ignacio (1987). Emilio Fernández <1904-1986>. Universidad de Guadalajara. ISBN 968-895-016-5. 
• Domínguez., Columba (1987). Emilio Fernández "El Indio" que amé. 

External links

• Biography at the Cinema of Mexico site of the ITESM. (Spanish)
• Profil at IMDB
• Biopic at IMDB
• Mexican film biography with pictures