#Adita Gracia Vidal

[tina-aumont]

Gracia Sisters, 1951

Beautiful photo taken after "L'Île Heureuse" play was staged for the first time, January 24, 1951 at the Edouard VII Theater in Paris. This play was written by Jean-Pierre Aumont and was a great success.

From left to right we can see Teresita, Adita, María and Lucita, sadly Consuelo was not there.

Scan from a vintage French magazine.

[tina-aumont]

Lucita, Adita, Consuelo and Maria pictured together in Hollywood in 1944 shortly after Maria's sisters arribal.

Uncredited photographer.

This photo can be found at the new published book about Maria Montez: "The Queen of Technicolor, Maria Montez in Hollywood" written by Tom Zimmerman.

Very special thanks to @shannendoherty-fans for shring this beautiful pic.

[tina-aumont]

Adita & Teresita in 1951

Adita & Teresita pictured at Edouard VII Theater in Paris on January 24, 1951 when they went to see her sister Maria acting in the stage play "L'Île Heureuse".

The script was written by Jean-Pierre Aumont and their sister Lucita was also attending this event (sadly she's not pictured).

My guessing is that the woman on the right of the picture is Soledad Vicens Coll, you can see a post of her here.

Scan from Italian magazine Incom, 15th September 1951.

[tina-aumont]

Three photos of Montez sisters taken, according to ebay, in 1943.

In these photos we can see Lucita, Adita, Maria and Consuelo (L-R from the last photo) enjoying some time together. According to ebay these photos were taken in 1943 but as far as I know the beautiful sisters reunited in Hollywood in 1944. María left for Hollywood the July from 1940.

Unknown photographer.

[tina-aumont]

~* Family *~

These days I'm working on finding information from the Gracia/Montez Family starting by Tina's great-grandparents, her grandparents and then her mum and sisters and her cousin María.

Everything I'm finding I'm posting it here in this page called FAMILY.

Please notice that this page is under construction but little by little I will be adding biographies and timelines (when available) from the Gracia/Montez Family as I think it's a very big and interesting family with great history that deserves to be known by the general public.

Enjoy and remember that anything that you find or know is always welcomed (and credited) here!!

Eleni xxx

[tina-aumont]

Barahona, 1943

First photo shows Lucita (Left) and Consuelo (Right) pictured with Soledad Vicens Coll, the second photo shows Lucita (seated at the centre of the photo) with her sister Consuelo, on the left there's Soledad Vicens Coll and on the right there's her sister Margarita. This second photo is taken by Adita.

Both pictures were taken in 1943 in Barahona before the Gracia sisters left to Hollywood to meet her Famous sister María.

The Vicens Coll sisters were friends of the Gracia Vidal sisters, and thanks to this friendship, Margarita Vicens de Morales (María Montez biographer) could write and keep all these precious memories of María and her family as Margarita is Vicens Coll Sisters' direct descendant.

Photo 1 comes from “De María África a María Montez, un mito en Technicolor” documentary, photo 2 has been shared by @74paris (muchas gracias!), in Margarita Vicens Book about María Montez you can find a clearer copy from that photo.

[tina-aumont]

Beautiful Montez sisters pictured in 1946

(L-R): Consuelo, Lucita, Adita and Maria are pictured with Jean-Pierre Aumont in 1946. Note he's cropped out at the second photo, which is a scan from a 1990s magazine.

[tina-aumont]

FAMILY CIRCLE: Maria Montez acts as hostess for her two sisters, Adita (left) and Consuelo, and two French Officers, 2nd Lts. Rene Bloch and Rene Larguier, on the "Tangier" set at Universal. Adita and Consuelo arrived in Hollywood recently, while Bloch and Larguier are close friends of Maria's husband, Jean-Pierre Aumont, having fought with Aumont through Africa and Europe in the French Army.

As a note I would say that Tangier was filmed in Autumn 1945 and Maria was pregnant with Tina.

Very special thanks to @74paris for sharing this photo.

[tina-aumont]

♀️International Women's Day♀️

This site is for...

María Antónia García Martín: Spanish migrant woman who went to Cuba where she met her husband, she settled in Garafia, had six children.

Regla María Teresa Vidal Recio was a Dominican loving mother to her 10 children and she took care of two more children from her husband. She had a very special relationship with her daughter María from whom received always beautiful letters and she read them numerous times until she learned them by heart. Her bond to her daughter was really strong they seemed to comunicate by telepathy.

María África Gracia Vidal was a Dominican actress who found fame and fortune in Hollywood. She came from a rural background, was self-thaught about English language and she knew since she was little, that she was born to triumph. She funded her own fan-club, wrote poems and even a song. She was also very loving and protective to her younger sisters and was a very loving mother.

Adita Gracia Vidal was María's younger sister, little is known about her, maybe the was the most shy of all the Gracia Sisters, but she travelled to Hollywood with them to try an artistic carrer as an actress.

Consuelo Gracia Vidal travelled with her sisters to Hollywood and stayed there under María's wing. She acted in one film "Pirates of Monterey" but found English quite difficult and became model. She was the mother of four.

Luz Gracia Vidal was the sweetest of all the Gracia Sisters and when María was away filming, she always took care of her niece Tina. She was married to Jean Roy and had three kids who lost their father in a killing and she took care of them by herself. She never remarried.

Teresa Gracia Vidal was a successful model in her adoptive country, France, as her sisters, she came from a rural area but had a very successful carrer in a foreign country. She settled there and had a daughter, Raïna Paris. Besides of modelling, Teresita tried to succeed in the cinema industry. Today we know she acted in one film "El Andén", filmed in Spain. She was a divorced mum.

Maria Christina Aumont Gracia was María's daughter, she lost her mother when she was just five years old, but she was loved and being cared with her dad, aunties, uncles, cousins... until she was sent away to a schoolboards, then she married at 17 and had a stillborn babygirl when she was 18. Although her personal life wasn't a fairylate, she managed to find happiness for a time and had a very successful carrer as an actress and also a model in Italy, her adoptive country. In 1969 Tina had to have an abortion in secret as it was illegal in France and in 1971 she signed a manifesto (risking jail) in order to decriminalize the right to abortion which until then was illegal in France.

María Montez Gracia Fiallo is named after her Dominican Auntie, as she was born some weeks after her auntie passed away. Just like her cousin Tina, María II lost her dad when she was five, and in her teens she travelled with her mum to Spain, the country of her ancestors, there she had a very successful carrer as a TV actress and performer first, but then she followed a cinema acting carrer and in the Seventies she went to live in a Comunity first in England and then in France where they had a specific stage methodology. She gave up her acting career to take care of her daughter, who was born with Down's Syndrome.

Maria Isabel Gracia is María's niece, and she worked in Puerto Rico and Chile as a model, actress and even did some work behind the cameras. She has, at least, one daughter.

Raïna Paris Manuel Gracia is Teresita's daughter. She has worked as a TV actress, stage actress, producer, documentaries director... but also she's been studing the spiritual side of the humanity and she's written books, poems and makes some speeches about the subject, she also makes some workshops and tarot readings. Being a single child, sometimes has been difficult for her as all the family burden was on her.

Dominic Fuentes Gracia is Maria Isabel's daughter. Just as her auntie Raïna, Dominic has worked on TV and cinema as an actress, but nowadays makes workshops and speeches about spirituality. She is a divorced mum but has a beautiful relationship with her ex-husband.

♀️💜✊🏽

In this International Women's Day I honour all these strong and brave women who made (and still do) a wonderful family that has spread around the world but has a strong bond.

All these women are different, some were rich, some were poor, some had lots of kids, some had none, some had lovely families, others were just divorced women, but all of them had to fight for their rights, their lives and their truth.

To all of them, the ones who came first and the ones who'll came later, I honour you.

We fight every day ♀️💜✊🏽

Eleni xx

[tina-aumont]

Description from alamy website:

Maria Montez, (second from left), with her sisters, (from left), Lucita de Courbiere, Adita, Consuelo, Chicago, October 21, 1944.

The beautiful sisters were Lucita aged 17, being the youngest one in this photo, Maria was 32 but at that time said she was 23, Adita was 19 and Consuelo 18.

At the time this photo was taken, the only one who was married was Maria, Lucita would marry Jean Roy the 12th April 1946 and Consuelo would marry Kenneth Carter in August 1946. Maria becaming mother in February 1946, we could say 1946 was a great year for the family.

I'm wondering why Alamy would labed Lucita as Lucita de Courbiere, maybe it was an artistic name... who knows!

[tina-aumont]

Thank you for all the information about Tina and her extended and talented family, the photos, etc. Consuelo was not good with her English and that's why she didn't pursue a career in film, yet she married an American. And Maria, Luz and Teresita went to live to France and worked there. Allmarried French men and Teresita also dated an Italian... maybe their level was low but I think they spoke 3 languages at least! Not too bad in the 40s and 50s!

Thank you very much fro writing me!!!

All sisters spoke Spanish very fluently as it was their mother tongue.

Maria spoke well English but you can listen she has a strong Spanish accent, that's why she was very successful, it sounded exotic. I've seen some of her French films too and she spoke better French than English, she did some films in Italy as well, and I'm guessing she spoke a little bit of Italian.

You're right about Consuelo. I guess she didn't feel comfortable because she had to learn the scrip fast, but my guessing is that when she got married, she could learnt it little by little. She lived in the States too, where are lots of Hispanics, but maybe in the end she was quite fluent in the language. I don't know about her levels of French and Italian...

Lucita and Teresita married Frenchmen and they became French, and I guess they spoke the language very fluent as is the language they spoke at home and within the family. I don't know about their English level, but Teresita had to knew Italian as she dated an Italian actor and went to live to Rome!! (as Tina would do some years later!!)

Adita was fluent in English besides Spanish as you can see here in this post. And recently, thanks to FamilySearch.org page I found she married twice, once with an English man, or at least the name is of English origin, so I guess she was good in that language.

Jaime was also good in English as he went to Hollywood to become an actor but he also joined the US Army and was Sergeant, so I guess he could speak and write in this language besides Spanish. I don't know about French or Italian...

And now... let's continue with the list!!

Raïna Paris speaks well English and French since she was born and raised in France and then went to live to England and nowadays she lives in California. I guess she knows and understands Spanish, but I really don't know that!!

Tina spoke French really good and you know she spoke English and Italian too. I think the mother tongue used within her family was French, with her cousins, uncles, aunties and nieces, and I don't know about her level of Spanish. I guess she spoke Spanish with her mum when she was little, but I don't know if she kept it or not as some sources say she was fluent in Spanish and some sey she wasn't...

And the last one of this list is María Montez Gracia Fiallo!! Tina's and Raïna's cousin and niece of the Queen of Technicolor!!! Maria knows Spanish as her mother tongue, she knows as well English as she worked in lots of theatre productions there, she knows French as well as she lived in France in a Theatrical Company for at least four years, she knows Italian as well... and German!!! So I guess from all the family members she is the one who speaks more languages!!

[tina-aumont]

Beautiful photos of María Montez and her sisters.

These photos come from the personal archive of Armando Gracia Sanfiel who gave them to Antonio Perez Arnay who published them in the biographical book of María Montez "La Reina del Tecnicolor" (Editorial Filmoteca Canaria, 1995).

Armando Gracia Sanfiel was Aquilino Gracia García's son, and Aquilino was María's uncle (her dad's brother), so Armando was María's cousin.

María sent these three photos to her cousin Armando as they kept contact through letters, Armando was living in Madrid and he didn't know anything about María's private life or from his Dominican family, he just knew from his uncle Isidoro and from his family from La Palma and Teruel.

María and her cousin Armando first reached contact when he sent her a letter when she was living in Hollywood telling her he was her cousin as their dads were brothers and from that day María started sending him letters with photos and she was really interested about her family in Spain and asked him lots of questions about them.

Very special thanks to @74paris for sending me these photos and the information that comes with them.

[tina-aumont]

Adita, Lucita, María and Consuelo pictured in 1944 for the Universal Pictures.

Very special thanks to @74paris for sending me this gem ✨

[tina-aumont]

Two page spread in a US magazine from 1944 about the arriving in Hollywood of María's younger sisters Adita, aged 19; Consuelo, aged 18 & Lucita aged 17 (according to the magazine).

The beautiful sisters had lots of good times together singing the old folk song mother taught them and even making some fortune tellings by reading the cards!

Ebay.

[tina-aumont]

Tina Aumont's Family Tree

Sources:

Jean-Pierre Aumont family tree (you can go up to 1787)

Árbol Genealógico de Isidoro Gracia García (you can go up to 1465!)

Regla María Teresa Vidal at Geni, at Familysearch and at Ancestry.

Dos Actrices Internacionales descendientes de un Luño (Plenas Zaragoza 14.12.2016)

"De María África a María Montez, un mito en Technicolor" documentary directed by Jesús Reyes Mota, 2014.

La Exposición de María Montez viaja a Gran Canaria (El Apurón, 21.11.2013)

Personalidades Garafianas (12.2012)

Los orígenes turolenses y canarios de la actriz de Hollywood María Montez by María Victoria Hernández Pérez. Cabildo de la Palma, 2012.

"María: Montez Su Vida", edición especial del Centenario, book written by Margarita Vicens de Morales, Dirección General de Cine de la República Dominicana, 2012.

"Enrique Meneses, un flash" article in Spanish from Orsay magazine wriiten by José Luís Perdomo, 2011.

Los Orígenes palmeros de la actriz María Montez (October/November 2009)

Las raíces Turolenses de una diva (Heraldo, 26.10.2008)

"María Montez La Reina del Tecnicolor", book written by António Pérez Arnay and Terenci Moix, Filmoteca Canaria 1995.

*Very special thanks to Dominic Fuentes, @74paris and @shannendoherty-fans for their help.

Any contribution is welcomed and credited, this family tree is growing as more info comes to light.

Thank you very much!

Eleni xxx

[tina-aumont]

“The Gracia Family what we inherit is both Grace, beauty and intelligence and a lot of gifts and on the other side of that, almost as if we have to pay a price for it, here comes this sense of fate or destiny which means that we can die early”...

Raïna Paris ("Maria Montez, Mysteries and Scandals", 26th April 1998)

Joaquín Gracia Anadón - This story begins with Joaquín Gracia Anadón's father, Pablo Gracia González, little is known about him, but he died when he was 20 years old, leaving a young wife and a baby boy who was Joaquín Gracia Anadón, aged only one year and a half. Joaquín Gracia Anadón was a very smart and clever man, he worked as primary school teacher, secretary of the Peace Court, official and Secretary of the Town Hall in Garafía but in 1884, when he was 43 years old he was processed and sentenced to prison for a fire in Garafía's Town Hall. He served the entire sentence in prison and was released after 16 years and 7 months, in july 1900. He claimed always his innocence and in 2005, after a long investigation by his great granddaughter Pilar Cabrera Pombrol, his innocence was proven and the autorithies had to apologize to the family. He passed away in 1913 at 71 years old.

Isidoro Gracia García - He was born in 1873 and was the eldest of Joaquín Gracia Anadón's children. When he was ten years old he was subjected to a judicial interrogation, today totally unlawful, regarding the fire at the Garafía Town Hall, the charges for which had been brought against his father. This is, unfortunately, the manifestation of a minor, without procedural guarantees, which was included in the sentence and which should have marked Isidoro Gracia García for life. He settled in Baraona in 1904 as a very creditable merchant. He dedicated himself to the prosperous textile business and the export of guayacán wood. His final residence in the Dominican Republic must have been influenced by the advice of his father, who had known first-hand the possibilities of the Latin American country when he was young. His business capacity and human abilities earned him the appointment by the then Minister of State (today, Minister of Foreign Affairs) as honorary vice-consul, upon request of the Royal Consulate of Spain in the country. He died in 1933 in Barahona at 60 years old.

Gaudencia Gracia García - She was the youngest child of Joaquín Gracia Anadón who lived until adulthood as she had a younger brother, Agustín, who died when he was very young. She was born the 12th February 1882. She married José Pedro Pombrol Hernández and had eight kids: María Adoración, Araceli, José Antonio, Gaudencia, Enrique, María del Pilar, Mario and Antonina "Nina" Pombrol Gracia. She passed away in 1921 aged 39.

Isidoro Gracia Vidal - He was Isidoro's Gracia García eldest son and he was born in 1911 and passed away in 1956 at 45 years old leaving a fatherless girl who was only five years old.

Maria Montez - She was Isidoro's Gracia García's first daughter and was called María África for his dad's Country of Origin - The Canary Islands belong to Spain but are located next to Africa - . She was born in 1912. Since her childhood, María was different from other girls and boys her age, she created her own theater stages, and always said from a very young age that she would succeed in the world of cinema. Many children made fun of her for what she said, Maria then complained to her mother that others laughed at her but her mother encouraged her to go ahead, so she would sit under the palm trees and do her plays. On June 3, 1939, Maria arrived in NY for the first time. At that time it was very difficult to climb positions, especially if you came from the rural world. She used the resource of provocation to be able to do it. She not only used her beauty, but also her intelligence. She decided to go scouting, hired two designers to make her the most spectacular dresses ever seen. She begins to frequent night clubs and doesn’t go unnoticed so she begins to appear in the press. In July 1940 she arrived in Hollywood, there she changed her name (until then she was called Marie McFeeters) and also completely reinvented herself. After a successful carreer in Hollywood, she decided to travel to Europe to make some dramatic roles and she was receiveng very good reviews from the chritics and the public. Sadly, she passed away in 1951 at 39 years old leaving a motherless girl aged five...

Adita Gracia Vidal - She was María's younger sister and was born in 1924. Although María put big efforts in her younger sisters to succeed as actresses, they prefered a more classic way of life. In 1949 Maria with her husband and daughter left Hollywood to live in France, Adita went to live with them and so did Teresita. Is not known if Adita ever married or had children. At the time of María’s passing (1951) she was an unmarried woman and María gave her a big sum of money from her will as a way to protect her. Then Adita went to live with Consuelo and her family in Southern California. She passed away at 69 on 8th February 1993.

Lucita Gracia Vidal - She was María and Adita's younger sister, she was born in 1926. Lucita married Frech photo-journalist Jean Roy the 12th April 1946 and had three children: Yves, Jean-Pierre and Marcos. Jean Roy's real name was Yves Leleu and was a war photo-journalist. He was killed in Egypt on an assigment in 1956. Lucita was a young mother with three little kids on her own. She never remarried. Lucita passed away in 1979 in Paris at 53 years old due to cancer.

Jaime Gracia Vidal - He was María, Adita and Lucita's youngest brother and was born in 1927. In 1954, when he was 26 years old, he went to Hollywood to start a career was an actor and with his tall height and green eyes, he was quite a sensation there. After trying luck in Hollywood he went to the US Army and fought in Corean war and ended up having the grade of Sergeant. Regarding his personal life, he dated Merle Oberon while in Hollywood but later married Rosmery Didonato from whom had his only child Jimmy. They eventually separated. In 1977 he married again with Janet González in Santo Domingo. He died at 51 of a heart attack in 31st May 1979.

Teresita Gracia Vidal - She was María's youngest sister, born in 1929 or 1930. Teresita began her modelling in 1949 in France after taking modelling lessons. The photographers who mainly worked with her were Willy Maywald and Georges Saad and she was regularly seen in fashion spreads in magazines like L'Officiel, L'Art et la Mode and Vogue. She usually modelled Jacques Heim designs. She had a very successful carrer as a model in the 50s. In the early 50s, Teresita and Yves Manuel started dating and by February 1952 they got married and years later, by 1956/57 they had their daughter Raïna Manuel Paris Gracia. By 1959 Teresita had a strong and passionate relationship with Italian actor Maurizio Arena that meant the ending of her marriage with Yves Manuel and she settled in Rome as some italian producers spotted her, sadly, her relationship with Maurizio Arena didn’t last as he fooled her. Teresita passed away on January 17th 2023 at 93 years old.

Tina Aumont Gracia - She was María Montez only daughter. She was born in 1946 and when she was only five years old she lost her mum. She lived with her father and aunties but when he married Italian actress Marisa Pavan, aunties and uncles had to flee the house. The relationshio she had with her step-mother was very difficult and at the time she was 17, she married a friend of her dad just to get away from that crazy house. In 1964 a stillborn girl was born. One year later she separated Christian Marquand and went to live with Frédéric Pardo, the love of her life according to their closest friends. After breaking up in 1972, Tina started to use hard drugs and she became hooked to heroin. Although she had great success in cinema, by March/April 1978 Tina travelled to Thailand and send back to home two deities statues filled with opium, Frabrizio Lori received the statues at home and went directly to jail although he didn’t knew a thing. That meant the end of their relationship. Tina was arrested in Italy, and charged with illegal importation of 400 grams of opium. She was eventually sentenced to three years imprisonment, which she managed to reduce on appeal to nine months. Then she was banned from Italy, her country of adoption. Leaving Italy had broken her heart. She moved back to France. In the mid 80s her lifestyle was of partying everynight with her fiend Alain Pacadis and with her partner in crime actor Jean-François Ferriol who she married in January 1985. In the late 1990s Tina couln’t afford pretty much. After her glory days, her father’s heritage was in the hands of her stepmother and she was reduced to living in a minuscule apartment located in a modest Parisian quarter full of penniless immigrants, and the rent was paid by the city’s social services. In the year 2000 Tina’s health was failing as she suffered from a major stroke and had to live with medication for her lungs although she never gave-up smoking. She eventually cut loose from the metropolis and settled in Port-Vendres near the Catalunyan border. After a quiet couple of years she died in her sleep at home in late 2006. She was 60 years old.

María Montez Gracia Fiallo - She was born in 1951, two weeks after her famous auntie's passing, that's why she was called María Montez as name. Her dad Isidoro, passed away in 1956 when she was 5 years old, just as her cousin Tina. Since she was a little girl, María Montez Gracia Fiallo showed she had talent for performing. As a teenager, she earned a scolarship from the Fundación de Crédito Educativo, and with it she was able to travel to Madrid, Spain, in order to study dramatic art. She moved with her mother Safo. Later, she appeared in Spanish TV shows and films, and she was also very active in theatre for many years there too. Maria also starred in international productions from films, TV and the stage from the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany and France. For years she was part of the Roy Hart Theatre company in London. She stopped her artistic career when she was expecting her first child, daughter Desiree D'Alessandro, who was born with down syndrome, and two years later she had a son, Ricardo D'Alessandro. She lives in Dominican Republic.

Raïna Manuel-Paris Gracia - She is Teresita's only child and she was born between 1956 and 1959. Her parents divorced when she was little. Fairy tales and Legends were her refuges. They helped her understand the difficulties of her childhood. By the age of twelve, she had read most of the myths and legends of the world. From Ireland and Russia to Arabia. Her love of transformational story telling has taken her from an MFA in Film from Columbia University to a Ph.D. in Mythological studies and Depth Psychology. She is a published writer of non-fiction, poetry, and several scholarly articles, as well as a documentary filmmaker. Her understanding of what gives meaning to daily life has led her to her work with dreams, and to include meditation practice in her classrooms. She is a lecturer and scholar who speaks on several subjects. Nowadays, she lives in Ojai, California with her husky mix Numen and her horse Quincy.