Isabel Sarli

Isabel Sarli
Sarli in the late 1960s
Born	Hilda Isabel Gorrindo Sarli (1929-07-09)9 July 1929[1] Concordia, Entre Ríos, Argentina
Died	25 June 2019(2019-06-25) (aged 89) Buenos Aires, Argentina
Occupations	Actress model
Years active	1954–1980 1996–2009
Known for	Starring in several cult films directed by Armando Bó
Notable work	Thunder Among the Leaves The Female: Seventy Times Seven Carne Fuego Fiebre
Spouse	Ralph Heinlein ​ ​ (m. 1953; div. 1954)​
Partner	Armando Bó (1956–1981, his death)
Children	2

Hilda Isabel Gorrindo Sarli (Spanish pronunciation:

Argentine cinema

.

As the muse and protagonist of Bó's films, Sarli became the quintessential

Hilda Isabel Sarli Gorrindo Tito was born in Concordia, Entre Ríos Province, into a very poor family, as one of the daughters of Antonio Gorrindo and María Elena Sarli. Her father left the family when she was 3 years old. Those he had left behind, including Isabel and her mother, then moved to Buenos Aires. Her youngest sibling, and only brother, died at the age of five. Although, years later, her father tried to contact her, she refused angrily.^[5]

Sarli trained to become a secretary and, upon completing this training, started working for a publicity agency to support her mother. Then she was offered to work as a model, at which she proved to be so successful that she ended up resigning from her secretarial work. She won an award as the "most photographed model".^[6]

Contrary to what has sometimes been stated,^[where?] she was nicknamed "Coca" by her mother.

Career

In 1955 she was chosen Miss Argentina and met the then Argentinian President, Juan Domingo Perón.

In June 1956, she met

Bó's films were controversial at the time and most of them were banned, but this ban led them to be even more successful. Films like Fuego (1969) and Fiebre (1970) reached the American and European markets.

She received offers to work in the United States with Robert Aldrich,^[7] along with two offers extended to her from the United Kingdom, to appear in the Hammer Film production The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll and the American co-production The Guns of Navarone, but she declined them; Sarli chose to work instead in Latin America, although always under Bó's direction: she made La Diosa Impura in México, Lujuria tropical in Venezuela, Desnuda en la arena in Panamá, La Burrerita de Ypacaraí in Paraguay and Favela and La Leona in Brazil.

Following Bó's death in 1981, Sarli retired from the cinema industry altogether but came back in the mid-'90s for

In 2011 she starred in the movie Mis días con Gloria, where she played a character based on herself. The film was her first major role since La Dama Regresa in 1996. In a later radio interview, Sarli said the film did not do well at the box office because of the poor promotion it had received.

Personal life

Before meeting Bó, Sarli was married to Ralph Heinlein and later divorced. Contrary to popular belief, Bó and Sarli never married. Sarli had two adopted children, Martin and Isabelita, who was her goddaughter. In June 2016, she and her daughter Isabelita were living in Martínez, Buenos Aires.

Recognition

In 2007 Argentinian film critic Diego Curubeto made the documentary Carne sobre carne – Intimidades de Isabel Sarli (Flesh on Flesh – Isabel Sarli's Personal Matters), with the collaboration of Isabel, Argentine actor Gastón Pauls and Spanish director Álex de la Iglesia. It is a well-received homage that includes deleted scenes from her films, censored material, rehearsals, anecdotes and interviews.

On 12 October 2012 it was reported that the Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner had named Sarli as Argentinian Ambassador of Popular Culture.^[8] The Boletín Oficial de la República Argentina, under Decree 1876/2012, stated:

"Isabel Sarli is considered a true representative of the national culture, as much for her acting skills in films as for being considered a popular icon of her day and an emblematic figure of Argentine cinema."^[9]

In 2010, the movie Fuego premiered at the Lincoln Center in New York, where it was shown with English subtitles.^[10] This showing was covered in Time Magazine by its then film critic Richard Corliss in his piece "Isabel Sarli: A Sex Bomb at Lincoln Center".^[11]

The popular expression "What do you want from me?", erroneously believed to have been spoken by Sarli in the movie Carne (1968), has become a catchphrase in Argentina. In fact, the line was originally used for the movie ...y el Demonio creó a los hombres.

Film director John Waters has stated several times that Sarli's movies have inspired some of his own films.^[12] In April 2018, Waters presented Fuego in Argentina and met Sarli.^[13]

Filmography

References