#37 Soledad Miranda

Born in Seville in 1943 as Soledad Rendon Bueno, the actress later known as Soledad Miranda or Susan Korday began performing as a flamenco dancer at age eight, and worked as a dancer and actress throughout her youth in support of her parents and five siblings.

She worked in over 30 films in the 60’s and 70’s, and met her husband, race car driver José Manuel da Conceiçao Simões on the set of one of his films.  They were married and had a son, Antonio, and Soledad took a brief retirement to enjoy his early years.  When she returned to cinema in 1969, she had already appeared in a few horror pictures, but would resume an association with Spanish director Jess Franco which would establish her Queen ‘O Scream creds.  The films they made together, beginning with The Nightmares Come at Night, then Sex Charade, Juliette, Count Dracula (the one with Christopher Lee and Klaus Kinski), The Devil Came From Akasava, Vampyros Lesbos, She Killed In Ecsatasy, and Eugenie de Sade, finally gave her the international recognition she sought.  When she died in 1970 at the age of 27 in an auto accident, she had just signed a contract witha German movie studio which was to launch her into the world of big budget international cinema.