“The Gracia Family what we inherit is both Grace, beauty and intelligence and a lot of gifts and on the other side of that, almost as if we have to pay a price for it, here comes this sense of fate or destiny which means that we can die early”...
Raïna Paris ("Maria Montez, Mysteries and Scandals", 26th April 1998)
Joaquín Gracia Anadón - This story begins with Joaquín Gracia Anadón's father, Pablo Gracia González, little is known about him, but he died when he was 20 years old, leaving a young wife and a baby boy who was Joaquín Gracia Anadón, aged only one year and a half. Joaquín Gracia Anadón was a very smart and clever man, he worked as primary school teacher, secretary of the Peace Court, official and Secretary of the Town Hall in Garafía but in 1884, when he was 43 years old he was processed and sentenced to prison for a fire in Garafía's Town Hall. He served the entire sentence in prison and was released after 16 years and 7 months, in july 1900. He claimed always his innocence and in 2005, after a long investigation by his great granddaughter Pilar Cabrera Pombrol, his innocence was proven and the autorithies had to apologize to the family. He passed away in 1913 at 71 years old.
Isidoro Gracia García - He was born in 1873 and was the eldest of Joaquín Gracia Anadón's children. When he was ten years old he was subjected to a judicial interrogation, today totally unlawful, regarding the fire at the Garafía Town Hall, the charges for which had been brought against his father. This is, unfortunately, the manifestation of a minor, without procedural guarantees, which was included in the sentence and which should have marked Isidoro Gracia García for life. He settled in Baraona in 1904 as a very creditable merchant. He dedicated himself to the prosperous textile business and the export of guayacán wood. His final residence in the Dominican Republic must have been influenced by the advice of his father, who had known first-hand the possibilities of the Latin American country when he was young. His business capacity and human abilities earned him the appointment by the then Minister of State (today, Minister of Foreign Affairs) as honorary vice-consul, upon request of the Royal Consulate of Spain in the country. He died in 1933 in Barahona at 60 years old.
Gaudencia Gracia García - She was the youngest child of Joaquín Gracia Anadón who lived until adulthood as she had a younger brother, Agustín, who died when he was very young. She was born the 12th February 1882. She married José Pedro Pombrol Hernández and had eight kids: María Adoración, Araceli, José Antonio, Gaudencia, Enrique, María del Pilar, Mario and Antonina "Nina" Pombrol Gracia. She passed away in 1921 aged 39.
Isidoro Gracia Vidal - He was Isidoro's Gracia García eldest son and he was born in 1911 and passed away in 1956 at 45 years old leaving a fatherless girl who was only five years old.
Maria Montez - She was Isidoro's Gracia García's first daughter and was called María África for his dad's Country of Origin - The Canary Islands belong to Spain but are located next to Africa - . She was born in 1912. Since her childhood, María was different from other girls and boys her age, she created her own theater stages, and always said from a very young age that she would succeed in the world of cinema. Many children made fun of her for what she said, Maria then complained to her mother that others laughed at her but her mother encouraged her to go ahead, so she would sit under the palm trees and do her plays. On June 3, 1939, Maria arrived in NY for the first time. At that time it was very difficult to climb positions, especially if you came from the rural world. She used the resource of provocation to be able to do it. She not only used her beauty, but also her intelligence. She decided to go scouting, hired two designers to make her the most spectacular dresses ever seen. She begins to frequent night clubs and doesn’t go unnoticed so she begins to appear in the press. In July 1940 she arrived in Hollywood, there she changed her name (until then she was called Marie McFeeters) and also completely reinvented herself. After a successful carreer in Hollywood, she decided to travel to Europe to make some dramatic roles and she was receiveng very good reviews from the chritics and the public. Sadly, she passed away in 1951 at 39 years old leaving a motherless girl aged five...
Adita Gracia Vidal - She was María's younger sister and was born in 1924. Although María put big efforts in her younger sisters to succeed as actresses, they prefered a more classic way of life. In 1949 Maria with her husband and daughter left Hollywood to live in France, Adita went to live with them and so did Teresita. Is not known if Adita ever married or had children. At the time of María’s passing (1951) she was an unmarried woman and María gave her a big sum of money from her will as a way to protect her. Then Adita went to live with Consuelo and her family in Southern California. She passed away at 69 on 8th February 1993.
Lucita Gracia Vidal - She was María and Adita's younger sister, she was born in 1926. Lucita married Frech photo-journalist Jean Roy the 12th April 1946 and had three children: Yves, Jean-Pierre and Marcos. Jean Roy's real name was Yves Leleu and was a war photo-journalist. He was killed in Egypt on an assigment in 1956. Lucita was a young mother with three little kids on her own. She never remarried. Lucita passed away in 1979 in Paris at 53 years old due to cancer.
Jaime Gracia Vidal - He was María, Adita and Lucita's youngest brother and was born in 1927. In 1954, when he was 26 years old, he went to Hollywood to start a career was an actor and with his tall height and green eyes, he was quite a sensation there. After trying luck in Hollywood he went to the US Army and fought in Corean war and ended up having the grade of Sergeant. Regarding his personal life, he dated Merle Oberon while in Hollywood but later married Rosmery Didonato from whom had his only child Jimmy. They eventually separated. In 1977 he married again with Janet González in Santo Domingo. He died at 51 of a heart attack in 31st May 1979.
Teresita Gracia Vidal - She was María's youngest sister, born in 1929 or 1930. Teresita began her modelling in 1949 in France after taking modelling lessons. The photographers who mainly worked with her were Willy Maywald and Georges Saad and she was regularly seen in fashion spreads in magazines like L'Officiel, L'Art et la Mode and Vogue. She usually modelled Jacques Heim designs. She had a very successful carrer as a model in the 50s. In the early 50s, Teresita and Yves Manuel started dating and by February 1952 they got married and years later, by 1956/57 they had their daughter Raïna Manuel Paris Gracia. By 1959 Teresita had a strong and passionate relationship with Italian actor Maurizio Arena that meant the ending of her marriage with Yves Manuel and she settled in Rome as some italian producers spotted her, sadly, her relationship with Maurizio Arena didn’t last as he fooled her. Teresita passed away on January 17th 2023 at 93 years old.
Tina Aumont Gracia - She was María Montez only daughter. She was born in 1946 and when she was only five years old she lost her mum. She lived with her father and aunties but when he married Italian actress Marisa Pavan, aunties and uncles had to flee the house. The relationshio she had with her step-mother was very difficult and at the time she was 17, she married a friend of her dad just to get away from that crazy house. In 1964 a stillborn girl was born. One year later she separated Christian Marquand and went to live with Frédéric Pardo, the love of her life according to their closest friends. After breaking up in 1972, Tina started to use hard drugs and she became hooked to heroin. Although she had great success in cinema, by March/April 1978 Tina travelled to Thailand and send back to home two deities statues filled with opium, Frabrizio Lori received the statues at home and went directly to jail although he didn’t knew a thing. That meant the end of their relationship. Tina was arrested in Italy, and charged with illegal importation of 400 grams of opium. She was eventually sentenced to three years imprisonment, which she managed to reduce on appeal to nine months. Then she was banned from Italy, her country of adoption. Leaving Italy had broken her heart. She moved back to France. In the mid 80s her lifestyle was of partying everynight with her fiend Alain Pacadis and with her partner in crime actor Jean-François Ferriol who she married in January 1985. In the late 1990s Tina couln’t afford pretty much. After her glory days, her father’s heritage was in the hands of her stepmother and she was reduced to living in a minuscule apartment located in a modest Parisian quarter full of penniless immigrants, and the rent was paid by the city’s social services. In the year 2000 Tina’s health was failing as she suffered from a major stroke and had to live with medication for her lungs although she never gave-up smoking. She eventually cut loose from the metropolis and settled in Port-Vendres near the Catalunyan border. After a quiet couple of years she died in her sleep at home in late 2006. She was 60 years old.
María Montez Gracia Fiallo - She was born in 1951, two weeks after her famous auntie's passing, that's why she was called María Montez as name. Her dad Isidoro, passed away in 1956 when she was 5 years old, just as her cousin Tina. Since she was a little girl, María Montez Gracia Fiallo showed she had talent for performing. As a teenager, she earned a scolarship from the Fundación de Crédito Educativo, and with it she was able to travel to Madrid, Spain, in order to study dramatic art. She moved with her mother Safo. Later, she appeared in Spanish TV shows and films, and she was also very active in theatre for many years there too. Maria also starred in international productions from films, TV and the stage from the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany and France. For years she was part of the Roy Hart Theatre company in London. She stopped her artistic career when she was expecting her first child, daughter Desiree D'Alessandro, who was born with down syndrome, and two years later she had a son, Ricardo D'Alessandro. She lives in Dominican Republic.
Raïna Manuel-Paris Gracia - She is Teresita's only child and she was born between 1956 and 1959. Her parents divorced when she was little. Fairy tales and Legends were her refuges. They helped her understand the difficulties of her childhood. By the age of twelve, she had read most of the myths and legends of the world. From Ireland and Russia to Arabia. Her love of transformational story telling has taken her from an MFA in Film from Columbia University to a Ph.D. in Mythological studies and Depth Psychology. She is a published writer of non-fiction, poetry, and several scholarly articles, as well as a documentary filmmaker. Her understanding of what gives meaning to daily life has led her to her work with dreams, and to include meditation practice in her classrooms. She is a lecturer and scholar who speaks on several subjects. Nowadays, she lives in Ojai, California with her husky mix Numen and her horse Quincy.
