Biography

Nati Mistral

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Spanish actress born in Madrid on 13 December 1923, into the bosom of a middle-class family. Her mother was the one who inculcated her artistic gifts. She entered the Conservatory, where she studied singing and music. Still being an adolescent, she entered a children's company performing shows for children at the 'Teatro Español de la Plaza de Santa Ana' in Madrid. This way, she was hired several times to act in groups or with little roles in the classic theatre plays offered by Cayetano Luca de Tena, who was the director of the theatre at that time. She had her first chance with a part at Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. In 1944 she won a radio song contest, and then she was hired, together with Tony Leblanc, by the company owned by Lola Flores and Manolo Caracol, to play as secondary stars or 'Vedettes Americaines'. That was the starting point of her popularity. Her first works were in the cinema (Oro y marfil (1947), La muralla feliz (1948), Currito de la Cruz (1949), Servicio en la mar (1951)), but her best facet is theatre. She has a wide repertoire, including musical plays ('El hombre de la Mancha' [Man of La Mancha], 'La Perrichola', 'La corte del Faraón') and dramatic plays ('Fortunata y Jacinta', 'María Reyes', 'La zapatera prodigiosa', 'Anillos para una dama', among others). In 1997 she won a National Theatre Award.
- IMDb mini biography by: Miguel Ángel Díaz González

Great-niece of Spanish sculptor Victorio Macho (1887-1966).
Daughter of Ramón Macho Calvo, a patternmaker of footwear whose family hailed from Palencia.
Her paternal grandfather, Castor Macho Galindo, was born in Herrera de Valdecañas, Province of Palencia. Her paternal grandmother, Benedicta Calvo Burgos, was born in Magán, Province of Toledo.
She thought María Fernanda, la Jerezana (1947) and Currito de la Cruz (1949) were her most important movies.
She was first known as Natividad Macho (her birth name). Shortly after her debut, she decided to choose a different name. Rafael de León, the famous Spanish lyricist, suggested the names Nati Madrid, Nati Sevilla, or Nati Córdoba, but Nati's mother chose "Mistral" (an Occitan word that means "masterly").

[when asked if she attended a Goya Awards ceremony] I did not go because they did not invite me, and the truth is that I have only made four films in my life, although at the gala there were people who have made less.
[on Tony Leblanc, her first boyfriend] He was adorable when he wanted to be, but also the exact opposite. He had two faces. When we broke up, I suffered a great heartbreak. He was very jealous. We did not speak to each other for decades.
[when asked why she never had children] I would not have let my son take a step without giving him some advice, and God is so clever He left me sterile.
I have not remarried because I have not found the right person again. Joaquín Vila, my husband, was 23 years older than me. He was a great man. . . He was a wonderful Catalan.
My first recording was "Canción de ropa blanca", a fado, with which I won a newcomer contest at Radio Madrid.

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