Teresita Montez(1930-2023)
- Actress
Teresa Gracia Vidal aka Teresita Montez was an international model and occasional actress in the 1950s, and the youngest sister of Holywood actress Maria Montez, "Queen of Technicolor".
Teresita was the youngest child of Isidoro Gracia y García, a Spaniard from Garafía, La Palma, Canary Islands (Spain), and Regla María Teresa Vidal y Recio, a Dominican of Criollo descent.
She was the ninth child, her older siblings being Isidoro Rafael (b. 1911), Maria África "Maria Montez" (b. 1912), Aquilino Mario (b. 1914), Joaquín David (b. 1915), Luis Antonio (b. 1923), Ada "Adita" (b. 1924), Consuelo aka Julia Andre (b.1925), Jaime (b. 1928), and Luz "Lucita" (b. 1929).
In 1932 her oldest sister Maria left Barahona to Hollywood and there she became famous. Thanks to this, Maria sent gifts to her family.
Teresita was the last of Maria's siblings to go to Hollywood to make a career under the wing of her famous sister.
Soon after Teresita arrived to Hollywood, María and her husband Jean-Pierre Aumont decided to go to live to France, so in 1948, all of them and Maria's and Teresita's sister Ada went to Paris. In due time, this was the best option as Teresita preferred fashion than cinema.
In France, after taking modeling lessons, she began modeling in 1949 and she was booked for Vogue magazine and usually modeled Jacques Heim designs. The photographers who mainly worked with her were Willy Maywald and Georges Saad and was regularly seen in fashion spreads in magazines like L'Officiel and L'Art et la Mode.
On September 7, 1951, Teresita and her sister Adita, who were living together with María and Jean-Pierre, found the body of her sister Maria in her bathtub and managed to take her out from here, immediately they called the emergency services and the firefighters but nothing could be done to revive the Dominican Star.
In 1952 Teresita was dating Yves Manuel, whom she later married, and by 1956/57 they had their daughter Raina Paris.
Around 1959 Teresita had a strong and passionate relationship with Italian actor Maurizio Arena that meant the ending of her marriage to Yves Manuel. However, her relationship with the Italian actor didn't last as he fooled her.
In 1963 Teresita attended her niece Tina Aumont’s wedding to Christian Marquand. She had kept some jewels of her late sister María Montez (Tina's mother) so eventually she gave them to her.
Teresita traveled a lot, she first lived in France, then she had been in Mallorca (Spain), Brussels (Belgium), then she lived in Vienna (Austria), and Los Angeles (USA).
Later on, she went to live to Mexico to be close to her sister Lucita and her nephews Yves, Jean-Pierre and Marco Flavio Leleu.
In 2016 she decided to go to Brussels, Belgium, and with the help of her only child Raïna Paris, she settled there for good.
She lived there until her passing, on 17th January 2023 at 93 years old.
Teresita was the youngest child of Isidoro Gracia y García, a Spaniard from Garafía, La Palma, Canary Islands (Spain), and Regla María Teresa Vidal y Recio, a Dominican of Criollo descent.
She was the ninth child, her older siblings being Isidoro Rafael (b. 1911), Maria África "Maria Montez" (b. 1912), Aquilino Mario (b. 1914), Joaquín David (b. 1915), Luis Antonio (b. 1923), Ada "Adita" (b. 1924), Consuelo aka Julia Andre (b.1925), Jaime (b. 1928), and Luz "Lucita" (b. 1929).
In 1932 her oldest sister Maria left Barahona to Hollywood and there she became famous. Thanks to this, Maria sent gifts to her family.
Teresita was the last of Maria's siblings to go to Hollywood to make a career under the wing of her famous sister.
Soon after Teresita arrived to Hollywood, María and her husband Jean-Pierre Aumont decided to go to live to France, so in 1948, all of them and Maria's and Teresita's sister Ada went to Paris. In due time, this was the best option as Teresita preferred fashion than cinema.
In France, after taking modeling lessons, she began modeling in 1949 and she was booked for Vogue magazine and usually modeled Jacques Heim designs. The photographers who mainly worked with her were Willy Maywald and Georges Saad and was regularly seen in fashion spreads in magazines like L'Officiel and L'Art et la Mode.
On September 7, 1951, Teresita and her sister Adita, who were living together with María and Jean-Pierre, found the body of her sister Maria in her bathtub and managed to take her out from here, immediately they called the emergency services and the firefighters but nothing could be done to revive the Dominican Star.
In 1952 Teresita was dating Yves Manuel, whom she later married, and by 1956/57 they had their daughter Raina Paris.
Around 1959 Teresita had a strong and passionate relationship with Italian actor Maurizio Arena that meant the ending of her marriage to Yves Manuel. However, her relationship with the Italian actor didn't last as he fooled her.
In 1963 Teresita attended her niece Tina Aumont’s wedding to Christian Marquand. She had kept some jewels of her late sister María Montez (Tina's mother) so eventually she gave them to her.
Teresita traveled a lot, she first lived in France, then she had been in Mallorca (Spain), Brussels (Belgium), then she lived in Vienna (Austria), and Los Angeles (USA).
Later on, she went to live to Mexico to be close to her sister Lucita and her nephews Yves, Jean-Pierre and Marco Flavio Leleu.
In 2016 she decided to go to Brussels, Belgium, and with the help of her only child Raïna Paris, she settled there for good.
She lived there until her passing, on 17th January 2023 at 93 years old.
