First Years in Hollywood (1951–1954)
In addition to acting, Jurado worked as a movie columnist, radio reporter and bullfight critic to support her family. She was on assignment when Director Budd Boetticher and actor John Wayne spotted her at a bullfight. Neither knew at the time that she was an actress. However, Boetticher, who was also a professional bullfighter, cast Jurado in his 1951 film Bullfighter and the Lady, opposite Gilbert Roland as the wife of an aging matador. Jurado stayed close to home, as the film was made on location in Mexico. At that time, Jurado had very limited English language skills. She memorized and delivered her lines phonetically. Despite this handicap, her strong performance brought her to the attention of Hollywood producer Stanley Kramer. Kramer cast her in the classic Western High Noon, starring Gary Cooper, Grace Kelly, and Eve McVeagh. Jurado quickly learned to speak English for the role, studying and taking classes two hours a day for two months. Jurado delivered a powerful performance as the saloon owner Helen Ramírez, former love of reluctant hero Will Kane, in one of the most memorable films of the era. She earned a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress and gained widespread notice in the American movie industry.
Despite her notable Hollywood success in the early 1950s, Jurado continued with some performances in Mexico. In 1953 she starred in Luis Buñuel's box-office success El Bruto, for which she received an Ariel Award. Jurado intended to buy the rights from the author, Luis Alcoriza, to remake it in Hollywood with Ernest Borgnine, but desisted, explaining "In the United States it would be very different".
In 1954 Jurado replaced Dolores del Río in the film Broken Lance, for which she received an Academy Award nomination, playing Spencer Tracy's Comanche wife and the mother of Robert Wagner's character. At first, there was resistance for her to play the character, because of her youth. Spencer Tracy himself asked: What will she be, my wife or my granddaughter?. The studios wanted her off the film, but Jurado asked for 24 hours to review footage of her scenes. After all, the studios were impressed. Only two other Mexican actresses have been nominated since then: Salma Hayek as Best Actress in 2002 for Frida and Adriana Barraza as Best Supporting Actress in 2006 for Babel.
The same year, she starred in Arrowhead with Charlton Heston and Jack Palance, playing a Comanche woman, the love-interest of Heston's character. In a 1955 interview with Louella Parsons, Jurado commented on the mostly Indian roles she was given: " I don't mind dramatic roles. I love to act, any character at all. But just once I would like to be my Mexican self in an American motion picture".
Read more about this topic: Katy Jurado
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