Biography for
Eva Perón More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

7 May 1919, Los Toldos (now General Viamonte), Buenos Aires, Argentina

Date of Death

26 July 1952, Buenos Aires, Argentina (uterine cancer)

Birth Name

María Eva Ibarguren

Nickname

Evita
Santa Evita

Height

5' 5" (1.65 m)

Mini Biography

Eva Maria Duarte was born into a small poor village, Los Toldos. When she was still a child she always knew she wanted to break out and get more than the others from her life. She wanted to become an actress. At the age of 15, she seduced the singer Augustin Magaldi to take her with him on his journey to Buenos Aires, where she soon found work on stage and as a photo model. Some affairs later, she got her first film contract and starred in some minor roles. She soon realized that she hadn't a very big talent on the stage and on the screen, but that she had quite some voice talent, and started working with great success in radio shows. Because she got friends in high ranks of politics, her film career also flourished. She started dating the revolutionist Juan Peron and they soon married. With the help of the military Peron took over Argentina, and Eva became something like the "queen of hearts" of the poor. She tried to make the situation better for the lots of poor people in Argentina, and she will never be forgotten by them. She was the one who kept the spirit alive, and after her tragic death in 1952 Peron was never as successful as he was with her. Some years after her death, some other regime took over the country and he had to leave Argentina.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Lukas Fichtinger

Mini Biography

María Eva Ibarguren was born in Los Toldos, Argentina, on May 7, 1919. The youngest of five born to Juana Ibarguren and her married employer, Eva was subject from a very young age to unjust discrimination simply because she was an illegitimate child. According to popular legend, she left Los Toldos at the age of 15 with the help of tango singer Agustín Magaldi, and moved to Buenos Aires to pursue an acting career. Although her acting skills were nothing spectacular, she captured the eye of Colonel Juan Domingo Perón, who was well on his way to becoming President of Argentina. They married shortly before Perón became president, at which point Eva had her birth certificate altered to show her maiden name as Duarte and show that her parents were married.

Eva soon became the spiritual leader of Argentina. While the upper and middle classes frowned upon her for her illegitimacy and promiscuous past, the lower class, known as the "descamisados" (shirtless workers). She insisted on being known affectionately as "Evita", a term of endearment between her and her descamisados. After her tragic death on July 26, 1952, the entire nation fell into despair. Juan Perón was soon overthrown, and Evita's embalmed body was moved overseas to Europe to be kept safe from the Anti-Perónists. Years later, the body was returned to Argentina where it remains to this day.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Robert T. Koehler

Spouse

Juan Domingo Perón

(22 October 1945 - 26 July 1952) (her death)

Trivia

Had a big dispute and fallout with Argentine actress 'Libertad LaMarque', which caused LaMarque to be blacklisted by the Peron regime. LaMarque went into exile into Mexico afterwards.

Wife of the Argentinean political Juan Domingo Perón. During her acting career she was mostly well-known as Eva Duarte. In her political career she adopted the last-name of her husband. So she was known as Eva Perón, or, simply, Evita. She inspired the rockopera and the movie "Evita (1996)".

After her death, her body was embalmed by doctor Pedro Ala. When Peron had to leave Argentina, so did Evita's body. Her body was buried for 14 years in Italy, under the name of Maria Maggi.

She died at 8.25pm.

Her mother was Juana Ibaguren. She also had 4 siblings: Elisa, Blanca, Juan and Erminda. She was the youngest.

She founded the Maria Eva Duarte de Peron Foundation in 1948.

Briefly ran for vice-president of Argentina.

Is portrayed by Faye Dunaway on Evita Peron (1981) (TV) and Madonna on Evita (1996).

Created the Female Peronist Party, which was the first large female political party in the nation in year 1948.

Only a few months after "the Renouncement," Evita underwent a secret radical hysterectomy in an attempt to cure her of her advanced cervical cancer. She was the first person who had a hysterectomy in Argentina (1952).

Personal Quotes

"Perón is the heart, the soul, the nerve, and the reality of the Argentine people. We all know that there is only one man in our movement with his own source of light. We all feed off of that light. And that man is Perón!" [1951 speech]

Browse biographies section by name

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z