- Born
- Died
- Birth nameSara Rita de la Luz García Hidalgo
- Nicknames
- La Abuelita del Cine Mexicano
- Doña Sara
- The legendary "granny of Mexican cinema" began her movie career when she was a 22-year-old teacher in a nun's school for girls. One day, young Sara's attention was attracted to a small building in downtown Mexico City. Inside it was Azteca Films, one of the very first Mexican film production companies, about to produce its first feature: Alma de sacrificio (1917). The leading lady was stage actress turned film producer (and writer, actress, editor and, maybe director) Mimí Derba. After some screening tests, young Sara was offered a contract. She accepted although she didn't say a word in her college until many months after. Her early experiences in movies lead her to a career in stage. She only made one film between 1918 and 1933. She returned to the screen in Death Flight (1934) and began a very long career of 148 films. Almost from the beginning, Sara García specialized in portraying mothers and grandmas, hence her nickname. This specialization began when she dared to remove her entire teeth to get the role of a granny in Allá en el Trópico (1940). After that tremendous tour-de-force her entire career, with very few exceptions, was devoted to this kind of roles. She co-starred with almost the entire cast of Mexican movie stars from the '30s to the '70s. Her films are still popular because they're on TV very often.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Maximiliano Maza <mmaza@campus.mty.itesm.mx>
- SpouseFernando Ibáñez(February 3, 1919 - 1923) (divorced, 1 child)
- Children
- Tough but lovable screen roles
- Her only child, daughter María Fernanda Ibáñez, also became an actress but died tragically young at the age of 20.
- Sara's image was used for Chocolate Abuelita (Grandma's Chocolate) brand, made by Fábrica de Chocolates la Azteca (La Azteca Chocolate Factory) a Mexican company bought by Nestle which still use the image of Sara, because it is a symbol since 1973 that is very loved by Mexicans.
- Sara played elder roles since the beginning of her career, so, in order to be more accurate, she ordered a dentist to remove her real teeth.
- She was also famous as the female half of a comedy duo with Joaquín Pardavé in films such as El baisano Jalil (1942), El barchante Neguib (1946), El ropavejero (1947), La familia Pérez (1949), and Dos pesos dejada (1949).
- Played the grandmother/aunt/mother-in-law opposite many Mexican movie stars, including Pedro Infante, Cantinflas, Antonio Espino "Clavillazo", Flor Silvestre, Luis Aguilar, and Antonio Aguilar.
- I make all my films with great affection because I dedicated myself to this as a hobby and out of affection since my career was teaching. Of course, there are always successes and failures. But, first of all, I can say that I have filmed more than 300 movies in which I have done everything. Some in which I had starring roles were When Children Leave Home (1941), then La gallina clueca (1941), No matarás (1943) and several more, but above all I remember the first one because of its very human story.
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