Carmen Larrabeiti Urquiza (2 June 1904 – June 1968) was a stage and screen actress from the Basque region in Spain.

Biography

Carmen Larrabeiti was born in

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early in the twentieth century. At the age of 17, despite parental opposition, she embarked on a stage career, joining the company run by the impresario couple

María Guerrero María Ana de Jesús Guerrero Torija (April 17, 1867 - January 23, 1928), better known as María Guerrero, was a prominent Spanish theatre actor, producer and director. Life and work María Guerrero Torija was born in Madrid in 1867. She enrol ...

and Fernando Díaz de Mendoza y Aguado. This gave Larrabeiti the chance to appear in works by some of the leading playwrights of the time. There were numerous tours in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

with the Guerrero-Mendoza company during these years. In 1926 she married , the son of Guerrero and Mendoza. Her mother in law died in 1928 and her father in law in 1930, leaving Carlos in charge of the theatre company. However, Argentinian audiences were deserting live shows in favour of the new radio broadcasts, and a proliferation of rival theatres in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

persuaded Larrabeiti and her husband that their future lay in Spain. They joined the Teatro Infanta Isabel in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, where stage successes included their appearance in "The Bonires of St John" (''"Las hogueras de San Juan"'' – 1930) by

Juan Ignacio Luca de Tena Juan Ignacio Luca de Tena y García de Torres, 2nd Marquis of Luca de Tena (Madrid, 23 October 1897 – 11 January 1975) was a Spanish politician, diplomat, journalist and playwright. Career Luca de Tena was Member of the Cortes (1958� ...

. By this time Larrabeiti had made her screen debut in 1926 in Alejandro Pérez Lugín's film adaptation of his own novel, " Currito of the Cross (''Currito de la Cruz'')". She moved on to Paris with her husband, working on the

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productions "Doña Mentiras" (1930), "Toda una vida" (1930) "La Carta" (1931) and "La fiesta del diablo" (1931). In February 1931 she embarked for New York, accompanied by her husband, arriving on 17 March. She signed a six-month contract with

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, which ran till 27 September 1931. During her time with Fox she recorded a series of Spanish language

voice-overs Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique where a voice—that is not part of the narrative (non-diegetic)—is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentations. ...

for various Hollywood blockbusters including David Howard's "Esclavas de la moda" (''"On Your Back"'') and "Conoces a tu mujer?" (''"Don't Bet on Women"'') with Rafael Rivelles. She returned to Spain in 1932 suffering an attack of partial paralysis which ruled out further acting work. Carmen Larrabeiti died in Madrid on 26 June 1968. Her husband had sustained a career in theatre and film during the 1940s and 1950s, but had died in 1960. By this time their daughter, Mari Carmen Díaz de Mendoza, had established her own career as a

based actress.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Larrabeiti, Carmen 1904 births 1968 deaths Actresses from the Basque Country (autonomous community) Spanish stage actresses Spanish film actresses Spanish silent film actresses Actors from Bilbao 20th-century Spanish actresses