Blanquita Suárez

Life and career

Suárez was born in San Sebastián to family that had been in show business for several generations. Her father was a baritone singer and her mother sang in a zarzuela chorus. Her grandfather was a prompter at the Teatre Apolo and her younger sister, Cándida Suárez, was a well-known soprano whose career was at its height the 1930s and 1940s.

She began her stage career at the age of 12 when she appeared in Puerto de la Luz. She worked as a cabaret singer as well as performing in revues, operettas, and comic zarzuelas. Rafael Adam Baiges (1886 – 1952.) composed "El fado Blanquita" in 1918 expressly for her. Later in her life, she appeared in character roles in films.

Picasso may have first seen her as possible model for his paintings when she was performing in the theatres and cabarets of Barcelona which he frequented at the time. His sketches of her are conserved in the Museé National Picasso in Paris and his oil painting of her from 1917 is held in the Museu Picasso in Barcelona.

She had a daughter, Teresa Mora, out of wedlock on April 5, 1928. (March 27, 2009) (http://www.barriodebenalua.es/2009/03/benaluenses-ilustres-k-hito.html) Teresa Mora was raised by her father Juan Mora in Barcelona, Spain. She showed a talent for singing at an early age and began singing professionally at the age of thirteen and went on to become an international singer through the 40's and 50's. She has resided in the U.S.A since 1960 (personal interview 2010)

Stage performances

Filmography