Happy Birthday Katy Jurado, trailblazing film star extraordinaire

Today's Google Doodle Celebrates A Trailblazing Mexican Star

Pink and red roses, a yellow scarf, and the kind of power pose that would impress Hillary Clinton are the standout features of today's Google Doodle. The illustration that adorns the search engine's homepage depicts trailblazing Mexican actress Katy Jurado (born María Cristina Estela Marcela Jurado García), who would have been 94 today.




Jurado, who passed away in 2002 at 78, was one of the earliest Mexican actresses to crossover to Hollywood. After achieving fame playing various femme fatales during what IMDB hails as the "golden age of Mexican cinema," Jurado broke into Hollywood in the early 1950s with roles in Bullfighter and the Lady and the Western classic High Noon, the latter of which won her a Golden Globe. According to her obituary in The Guardian, Jurado did not know English and memorized her lines by sounding words out, making her mastery of roles all the more impressive.

Jurado, like other Mexican actresses, fought against stereotyping in the American film industry, much of which typecast Mexican women as seductresses. Her range of roles has had a lasting impact, and "helped to expand the parts available to Mexican and other Latinx actresses in Hollywood today," Google's Doodle Blog says.
This isn't the first Google Doodle honoring an important Mexican actress. Last August, the search engine celebrated another crossover star, Dolores Del Rio. The two women had much in common: Like Del Rio, Jurado focused on building the Mexican cinema industry back home, where she starred regularly on TV after achieving fame in the U.S.

Today's illustration, drawn by Doodler Ana Ramirez, includes references to various aspects of Jurado's life. The roses represent her birthplace, Guadalajara, while the background resembles the set of High Noon. Jurado's strong central stance, however, is the feature that will stay with you long after you leave the homepage.

http://www.refinery29.com/2018/01/187982/who-is-katy-jurado-google-doodle