Although she is unknown to most people, Soledad Miranda was one of the most interesting actresses of the 1960s. Her appeal on the movie screen was something that could not be captured nor readily described. She had a quality that made her the center of attention in any scene she was in. Her dark eyes, finely-featured face and feline grace were enchanting to watch. Soledad Miranda was a Spanish actress who appeared in many horror films in the 1960s. She is most famous for her work in Jess Franco movies such as COUNT DRACULA and VAMPYROS LESBOS. Her remarkable beauty and her tragic untimely death make her story the stuff of legend.

Soledad Miranda was born on July 9, 1943 in Seville, Spain. She was christened Soledad Redon Bueno (which translates as “good solitude"). The daughter of Portuguese parents, she started her career when only eight years old as a flamenco dancer and singer at the San Fernando Talent Competition. She was the niece of the famous Spanish singer, actress, and flamenco dancer Paquita Rico. She made her film debut at age 16 as a ballerina in a movie called La Bella Mim?. She first worked with prolific Spanish director Jess Franco in La Reina del Tabar?n, a vehicle for singer/dancer Mikaela Wood. According to the book Immoral Tales, Franco met Soledad through Mikaela as Soledad was one of a lively mob of gypsies living in Mikaela’s house, where Franco visited frequently. During the following years, the fragile beauty appeared in numerous Spanish and Italian B-movies (spaghetti westerns and horror films) such as The Castilian, Pyro, and Sound of Horror. She also appeared in a few international productions such as 100 Rifles. She played in over 30 films altogether from 1960 to 1970.

She eventually gave up and married a Portuguese racing driver-a very nice fellow, by the way-and they had a child. She retired for a while into her own private life but, in the end, she couldn’t resist returning to the cinema.” Franco said that Spanish cinema “tried to turn her into the usual idiot, into a doll.” Several years after La Reina del Tabar?n, Franco had the opportunity to cast in Spain for his movie Count Dracula. He cast Soledad and managed to save her from becoming just any old actress. Soledad’s return to moviemaking resulted in further collaborations with Franco, who said: “When she began working in my films, it was like watching her undergo a transformation. She told me it was the first time in her life she felt so fulfilled.” Her transformation was physical as well: the young, dimpled, bubbly starlet became the pale, haunted, mysterious icon of Franco’s movies. Soledad is generally regarded as Franco’s greatest discovery. She became his star and appeared in films such as Vampyros Lesbos, She Killed in Ecstasy, Eug?nie, and The Devil Came from Akasava. Her films with Franco are virtually the only ones with any lasting fame and are what have made her a star.

A couple of weeks after the wrap of The Devil Came from Akasava, Soledad and her husband were out driving in her new convertible on a highway near Lisbon, Portugal. They were involved in a collision with another vehicle which crushed Soledad’s side of the car, resulting in her death on August 18, 1970. Her husband was driving and he survived with minor injuries. One source mentions that Soledad spent several agonizing days in the hospital. Another source says they were traveling from Estoril to Lisbon and that Soledad suffered serious fractures in the skull and the spine and passed away hours later at the Hospital of the Red Cross in Lisbon, where she was buried. Jess Franco’s recollection is a bit different. A couple of weeks before the accident, Vampyros Lesbos had opened in West Berlin to great success. “The day before she died, she received the greatest news of her life,” Franco recounted. “I visited her apartment in Lisbon with a German producer [Karl Heinz Mannchen], who came to offer her a two-year contract with CCC, which would assure her of at least two starring roles per year in big-budget films. She was going to become a major star in Germany. The next day, as her contract was being drafted, she had the accident. When the hospital called me to break the news...I nearly passed out.” Franco has said that she died the day of her accident, but has also said at various times that Soledad’s accident was the day of the meeting (as opposed to the day after in his above quote) and that she died a day after the accident. So it’s very difficult, if not impossible, to put forth an authoritative chronology of the events, especially since it wasn’t really covered in the news until a few months later when her last films were finally released.

The legend is compounded by a very eerie coincidence between Soledad’s death and one of her movies: Un d?a en Lisboa. It is a short film about a couple traveling between Lisbon and Estoril. Soledad was said to have been traveling between those two cities when she had the accident, yet Franco believes she was making a short trip that day. However, it is possible that her trip had begun in Estoril. Even more strange is that it seems that her costar in the movie was her future husband in real life, Jos? Manuel Concei?ao Simoes (whom she married in 1967). The actor credited with the role, Jos? Manuel Sim?es, is undoubtedly the same person. He only appeared in three movies, all in 1964 and all costarring Soledad. Jess Franco said her husband was a racecar driver, but it certainly is possible that he appeared in those movies (non-professional actors often appeared in Spanish films). Kevin Collins of One Shot Productions (which now produces Franco’s movies) said that Soledad’s husband did do some minor acting, but could not confirm any specific movies. Soledad and her husband had a son born around 1967, but Franco has lost touch. He is probably still alive somewhere in Spain or Portugal.

Resources

Amy Brown ( Soledad Miranda - The Blood Queen )
Jess Baricsonn ( My Soledad’s Mind )

Tag: Soledad Miranda