Google Doodle Celebrates Mexican Actress Katy Jurado

Today’s Google Doodle is celebrating the Mexican actress Katy Jurado, whose birthday was January 16.

KATY JURADO CELEBRATED IN GOOGLE DOODLE

Jurado was a pioneering Mexican actress who didn’t sacrifice her identity for her Hollywood acting career. Google is honoring her on what would have been her 94th birthday. She rose to fame for her accurate portrayals of complex women in the 1950s. Though her family forbid her from acting, Jurado signed her first contract in secret because she was determined to act. Her first few films came out during the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema, with La via inútil de Pito Pérez (1943) one of her most successful.

Her first American film was Bullfighter and the Lady in 1951. Despite not speaking much English, Jurado memorized the way the lines sounded when spoken, and her performance caught the attention of a Hollywood Producer, who then cast her in the Western classic High Noon (1952).

Jurado was the first Mexican actress to be nominated for an Academy Award. In addition, she won the Golden Globe for best supporting actress for her role as Helen Ramirez in High Noon. She also won multiple Silver Ariel Awards, the highest acting honor for Mexican cinema.

“I am very proud to make this picture because I look and act like a Mexican — not imitation,” she said of High Noon. “Some Mexicans go to Hollywood and lose [their] career in Mexico, because they play imitation. I don’t want this to happen to me.”

Jurado also made it a point not to play simplistic and sexualized women in films. “I didn’t take all the films that were offered,” she said, according to her Washington Post obituary. “Just those with dignity.”

Jurado died in 2002 of heart and lung ailments. She was 78. The Google Doodle was created by artist Ana Ramirez, and includes a backdrop that was “inspired by the set of her film High Noon.” It also features a rose to represent her birthplace of Guadalajara, Mexico. The Doodle is being featured in 12 countries.