Google Doodle Celebrates Dolores del Río

Thursday’s Google Doodle is celebrating Mexican Hollywood star Dolores del Río, with a colorful illustration of her surrounded by flowers.

Before she died in 1983, del Ríos had an acting career spanning three decades and two continents, and is considered to be the first Latin American actress to crack Hollywood. She was also the first woman to sit on the jury of the Cannes film festival.

Google dubbed her “a trailblazer for women in Hollywood and beyond.”

Her acting career began when American filmmaker Edwin Carewe persuaded her to move to California. “Once there,” says Google, “Del Río’s acting career would establish her as an iconic figure during the Golden Age of Mexican cinema.”

Her first major break came in 1926, with silent war-comedy film What Price Glory?, but unlike many stars of the silent era, Del Rio survived the transition to talkies. “I had to work very, very hard at my English,” she later recalled.

She later went on to star in Bird of Paradise, Flying Down to Rio (the movie that first brought Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers together) and Journey into Fear throughout the early-mid 1900s. Eventually she returned to Mexico where she enjoyed continued success.

Decades before Arianna Huffington picked up the topic, she was a firm believer in the power of sleep to sustain wellness. So much so that she had to deny rumors that she slept 14 hours a day. She was also, according to IMDb, an enemy of dieting and beauty products, saying: “Beauty comes from the inside out. Creams are a waste of money if you don’t take care of your health”

Del Rio later set up the Society for the Protection of the Artistic Treasures of Mexico, a group that was dedicated to protecting Mexico’s historical buildings and artworks. And in 1970 she helped to open a childcare center for members of the Mexican Actor’s Guild – it still bears her name today.