Soledad Miranda
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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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 pop singer who was born in Seville, Spain. She starred in many films directed by Jess Franco, such as Count Dracula (1969) and Vampyros Lesbos (1971). She also released numerous Spanish-language pop songs throughout the mid-sixties. She died in a car accident on a Lisbon highway at age 27.
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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 nearly two years off to raise her son (see "Personal life"), she turned to acting with a role in the western 100 Rifles. She went on appear in additional films and in Spanish television shows. Director Jess Franco, for whom Miranda had done a small role in his musical La reina del Tabarín nearly a decade before, made Miranda his frequent star in films including Count Dracula, Eugénie de Sade, Vampyros Lesbos, She Killed in Ecstasy, and The Devil Came From Akasava. Miranda took the stage name Susann Korda (alternately spelled Susan Korday).
Personal life
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, near the end of filming The Devil Came From Akasava, Miranda and her husband were involved in a collision with a small truck. Simões suffered minor injuries but Miranda died as a result of major head and back trauma.
Filmography
- La reina del Tabarín (1960) – Duchess (uncredited)
- Ursus (1961) aka Ursus, Son of Hercules – Fillide
- La bella Mimí (1961) – First Dancer
- Canción de cuna (1961) – Teresa
- The Castilian (1963) – Maria Estevez
- Eva 63 (1963) – Soledad
- Cuatro bodas y pico (1963) – Mari-Luci
- Bochorno (1963) – Piluca
- The Daughters of Helena (1963) – Mari Pó
- Pyro... The Thing Without a Face (1964) – Liz Frade
- Los gatos negros / A canção da Saudade (1964) – Babá
- Un día en Lisboa (1964) – Herself (documentary short)
- Fin de semana (Weekend) (1964) – Sonsoles
- Sound of Horror (1964) – Maria (filmed in Mexico)
- Playa de Formentor (1965) – Sandra
- Currito of the Cross (1965) – Rocío Carmona
- La familia y uno más (1965) – Patricia
- He's My Man! (1966) – Leonor Jiménez
- The Mimí del Franval (1966) – Susan
- Sugar Colt (1966) – Josefa
- Cervantes (1967) – Nessa
- Comanche blanco (1968) - India (uncredited)
- 100 Rifles (1969) – Girl in Hotel
- Estudio amueblado 2-P (1969) – Maribel
- Soltera y madre en la vida (1969) – Paloma
- Lola la piconera (1969) – Rosarillo
- Count Dracula (1970) – Lucy Westenra
- Juliette (1970, uncompleted) – Juliette (short film)
- Cuadecuc/Vampir (documentary, 1971) – Herself
- The Devil Came from Akasava (1971) – Jane Morgan
- Vampyros Lesbos (1971) aka "Las Vampiras" – Countess Nadine Carody
- She Killed in Ecstasy (1971) aka "Mrs. Hyde" – Mrs. Johnson
- Nightmares Come at Night (1972) – Neighbor's Girlfriend
- Sex Charade (1972) – Anne (apparently a lost film)
- Eugénie de Sade (1973) – Eugénie Radeck de Franval
Discography
- Soledad Miranda – Belter 51.451 (1964)
- Soledad Miranda – Belter 51.598 (1965)
