Old Hollywood Stars Who Were Forced to Live a Double Life

Universal Pictures needed a glamorous star to rival Hedy Lamarr and Dorothy Lamour when Dominican actress María África Gracia Vidal arrived in Hollywood. Renamed Maria Montez, she became famous through colorful adventures such as Arabian Nights, Cobra Woman, and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.

Universal promoted Montez as the “Queen of Technicolor,” placing her in jewels, harem costumes, and settings that mixed Arabian, tropical, Asian, and Latin fantasies. Montez helped build the dramatic persona herself, but the studio kept offering variations of the same indistinct exotic enchantress.