The half-German, half-Mexican, Raquel Torres
provided another sexy, feisty and exotic edition to Precode comedies, dramas
and adventure films. Born Paula Marie Osterman on November 11, 1908 in Hermosillo, Mexico, the Osterman family migrated early to Hollywood and
Torres spent most of her childhood there. She began her film career twenty
years later in the innovative film ‘White Shadows in the South Seas’ (1928)
which was the first of MGM’s silent productions to feature synchronized music
and effects. The film went on to receive
the Best
Cinematography Oscar and was a fabulous entry for Torres into the film
industry. Her exotic ancestry did not affect her elevation into talking
pictures unlike some of the popular European beauties and she was featured in
the part-talkie ‘The Bridge of San Luis Rey’ (1929) together with Lili Damita and Ernest Torrence after her
debut picture. This film began Torres typecast as the ‘Island Girl’ in a number
of tropical, foreign adventure movies. Her Spanish beauty and dark eyes made
her a favourite in B-graders, ‘The Sea Bat’ (1930) and ‘Aloha’ (1931) and, a
welcome change, as the female counterpart to the hilarious Precode comedy team
Wheeler and Woolsey in ‘So This is Africa’ (1933). She landed her most memorable role alongside
the Marx Brothers in their unforgettable film, ‘Duck Soup’ (1933). It would be
one of the last films in her short career.
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| Raquel Torres with Wheeler and Woolsey |
In 1934 at a party, Torres first met New York stockbroker
Stephen Ames in Hollywood with his wife actress, Adrienne Ames. They were
attracted to each other and bonded over cold remedies – as Torres was ill at
the time – but they relationship did not go any further because of Ames’
marriage. A year later the pair met again, this time in New York, Ames now
divorced and Torres newly single they struck up a relationship. They married
some time later. It was Ames who, although became a fairly successful movie
producer in the mid-1940’s, persuaded Torres to retire from the film industry
and her last appearance was a bit part in the 1936 Mae West comedy, ‘Go West
Young Man’. Ames died almost 20 years later in 1955.
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Raquel Torres and Stephen Ames
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Four years later Torres
married actor Jon Hall famous for his handsome and equally exotic good looks.
The son of actor Felix Hall and a Tahitian princess he enjoyed a long but not
overly popular movie career. The couple reportedly were divorced a few years
later and then subsequently remarried. Hall committed suicide in 1979 probably
due to severe pain from bladder cancer.
Torres, after the ending of both her marriages,
retreated into a private life in Malibu, California. She once again reached
headlines in 1985 when her house was one of many destroyed by a fire that swept
through the area. Her place was mostly destroyed but she escaped unharmed by
the flames. She died two years later August 10, 1987 from complications
following a stroke aged 78. Although her career was not long, Torres will
always be remembered to Precode fans as a sexy, feisty Spanish beauty to rival
the more popular likes of Lili Damita or Dolores del Rio.
