María Antoineta Pons, also known as The Caribbean Cyclone, was one of the most important rumberas of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema, so her retirement and even more so her reluctance to appear in front of the media was very surprising.
María Antoineta was born on June 11, 1922 in Havana, Cuba, where she realized that her vocation was to be a dancer, although she tried her hand at sports. During her youth, Pons strived to perfect her dance steps, until she decided to venture as a rumbera in theater and cabarets.
He participated in dance competitions, from which he always stood out for his strength on the floor. She assured that her success as a dancer did not lie in her sensual movements, in attracting attention or following the rhythm of the music, but in enjoying and emanating happiness.
After captivating Juan Orol, actor and filmmaker, she married him and came to Aztec lands. He ventured into the seventh Mexican art with the film Siboney. Thanks to her movements, she began to position herself as one of the most important actresses, even, it is thought that she was the most successful rumbera in cinema.
Some of his most famous films are The Queen of Mambo, The Queen of the Tropics and The Caribbean Cyclone, from which his artistic nickname emerged.
Although he divorced Orol in 1946, the filmmaker always claimed that Pons had been one of the most valuable histrionists in Mexican cinema. According to film researcher Fernando Muñoz, Orol said that his ex-wife was equal to or higher grossing than Maria Felix.
Marie Antoinette remarried in 1950, this time to Ramón Pereda. During her second marriage she had her only daughter, Maria Guadalupe Pereda Pons. The rumbera knew about her fame on the big screen, but she was passionate about dancing, so, after divorcing Juan Orol, she decided to return to the stage.
Since then, his life was divided between cinema and cabarets, even, since then it was believed that he would retire from the film industry to devote himself entirely to his vocation, but he did not do so until some time later.
Pons did announce that she intended to retire, possibly to dedicate herself to her daughter and her husband, since he was 25 years older than her and, moreover, had decided to retire from cinema at the age of 68, in 1965. The actress would have followed in her footsteps and made her last film, Caña Brava, when she was 43 years old.
Shortly before her husband died, in 1986, El Cyclone del Caribe was no longer active in cinema, but she did make some appearances in the nightclubs, although she did not perform any shows, which heralded her early retirement. Finally, when Pereda died, the dancer decided not to show herself in public again.
Later, the National Association of Actors announced that the rumbera ceased to belong to the union since 1970, as it decided to stop contributing its dues since then. As close friends of the histrionist, as well as employees of the ANDA, came to reveal, Marie Antoinette had since made her retirement due to her husband's health, although this was not confirmed by her third husband, journalist Benjamin Álvarez.
Somos magazine reported that Pons would have refused to be photographed or given greater statements about his private life and away from the cameras because “everything that can be said about me is reflected in my films”.
Marie-Antoinette Pons died on August 20, 2004, at the age of 82 in a private hospital in Mexico City. The cause of her death was cardiac arrest, which the public did not know about until four days later, as she asked that news of her death not be released until the funeral services ended.
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