Who were the loves of Juan Orol, “the worst director of all time”

Juan Orol was heavily criticized for the cinema he made and the way he became romantically involved with the actresses he worked with, as he married the four stars he released in his films and triumphed in rumberas cinema.

One of the forerunners of rumberas and film noir was Juan Orol, who brought Marie Antoinette Pons, one of the first women who inspired him to stardom release unique films like Siboney, although it was not with him that she made her most important films.

Orol and Pons would have met in Havana, Cuba, where she was born. He was passionate about dancing, as was she, which brought them together in dance competitions. After knowing each other for a while, they began a courtship that quickly progressed to marriage.

After getting married, Orol made her debut in Mexican cinema with the film Siboney (1938) and, although she was successful and other filmmakers started looking for her, Juan wanted her to try her luck only with him. Therefore, they began a tour together in the United States.

When they returned to Mexico, they again made several films together, but their relationship began to fall apart, so in 1946 they divorced.

Orol wasted no time in heartbreak and began the search for his new muse in Havana, where he did not find a single dancer who caught him enough attention to make her the new protagonist of his films.

He returned to Mexico willing to continue looking for another vedette, but his representative contacted him from Cuba to let him know that he had found his ideal wife, a young woman who studied dance and who also liked to sing, Rosa Carmina.

The director returned to Havana and there he met what would be the Queen of the Gangsters. He immediately offered her a contract for three films, which was the usual treatment given to young film promises. She thought about refusing because she was engaged, but accepted when she saw that Orol was willing for her to take her whole family to Mexico and surround her with luxury.

When she was just 17 years old, Carmina made her debut in Mexico as a histrionist in the film Un mujer de Oriente. From then on she also became almost exclusive to Juan, so they shared all their days, which led them to courtship and then marriage.

They married in 1949, but, as with Pons, the relationship came to an end in 1954, when Rosa was no longer just working for him and rumberas cinema was reaching its era of decline.

After his divorce, the director of Gangsters Against Charros immersed himself in the search for his new muse, but he didn't have to look far as one of those who was a candidate for success in his cinema was rediscovered before he met Marie Antoinette Pons, Maria Esquivel.

Mary, also Cuban, fell in love with Orol, married him and they returned to Mexico to make films together. The most important film they had was Zonga, the diabolical angel. Their marriage lasted from 1956 to 1964, divorcing because their interests were no longer the same.

Once again, Juan sought a new muse, but this time it was not necessary to leave Mexico because one of his close friends introduced him to his niece, Dinorah Judith.

Dinorah was only 16 years old when she made her debut in Juan's film The Curse of My Race. From that moment on, she also began to gain fame alongside the controversial filmmaker and lived the same fate as the other Orol muses: they began a courtship and got married.

It was with Judith he stayed until her death. In 1988 Juan Orol died at the age of 90.

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