Hope Iris was a singer, vedette and actress of Mexican theater. She is recognized as "the queen of the operata" and as "the empress of grace". He was born in Villahermosa, Tabasco, in 1884. He participated in important works of the time, reaching a large part of the country and some international tours..
He also participated in works such as The bells of Carrión, The fourth flat Y The merry widow. In the biography written by Silvia Cherem, the tragic family life that Esperanza Iris endured is recounted. While the public acclaimed her in magazine works, Esperanza suffered great losses: three of her children died while she was alive.
Esperanza married the singer Paco Sierra. During their marriage there was the explosion of an airplane that they attribute to Sierra to collect insurance. In any case, Iris was an exceptional artist who, ahead of her time, knew how to win over the Mexican public.
Such was its renown that the Tabasco State Theater was renamed "Esperanza Iris Theater" in honor of it. In addition, he founded his own theater, the “Gran Teatro Esperanza Iris”. He died in November 1962 in Mexico City..
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On March 30, 1884, María Esperanza Bofill Ferrer was born in the city of Villahermosa, Tabasco, Mexico. He emigrated to Mexico City at an early age and at the age of 9 he made his debut in the Austri y Palacios children's theater company.
There he participated in the work Correón purchases, where he performed and sang for 5 years. From her first participation, both the public and the theater entrepreneurs discovered the prodigious artist. At the age of 12, she adopted the stage name Esperanza Iris, with which she would be recognized until today..
In 1902 she was hired by the Teatro Principal to participate in the play Fourth Flat. This work would be such a success that he managed to make a stupendous international tour. He toured much of Europe and America, where in his passage through Brazil he obtained the nickname of "queen of the operetta".
On the same tour, during her visit to Spain, King Alfonso XIII decorated her after her visit. Already in 1910, continuing with his successes, he took the work The merry widow to Cuba, where she adopted a new pseudonym: "the empress of grace." In addition to the theatrical works, he filmed two films: Mater nostra Y Glory nights.
In 1922 she was declared the favorite daughter of Mexico..
In 1918 he managed to build his own theater in Mexico City, at the hands of the Mexican architect Federico E. Mariscal. He named it Gran Teatro Esperanza Iris, known as El Iris. The inauguration was attended by President Venustiano Carranza.
For some years this theater was known as the City Theater. However, during the government of Marcelo Ebrard it was renamed the Esperanza Iris Theater of the city. It was later named a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
This theater is considered one of the most beautiful attractions in the Historic Center of Mexico City. It is located next to the Legislative Assembly of Mexico City.
It has a Neoclassical style and has a capacity for 1,344 people. It was the space where the greatest figures of the national and international theater performed.
In 1984, the theater suffered a fire and had to be restored in 1999, by the government of Mexico City. Later, the state theater of Tabasco was renamed the Esperanza Iris Theater, in homage to the artistic career of this artist.
After being widowed by her first husband Juan Palmer, opera singer, Esperanza marries Paco Sierra.
Francisco Sierra Cordero was a baritone singer 20 years younger than Esperanza Iris. They met through the theater, since Sierra works for Esperanza's company in their theater.
In 1952 Paco Sierra and Emilio Arellano, an engineer for the Mexican Aviation Company, were accused of blowing up an airplane. It is considered that they were the cause of the incident of the flight of the Mexican airline.
Sierra and Arellano carried out an elaborate plan. They posted a job offer ad with a great salary, lots of benefits, and simple jobs. They quickly hired five employees and Arellano included his uncle.
Both insured the employees with life insurance of 2 million Mexican pesos, in the name of Sierra and relatives. Arellano built a homemade bomb that he put in a leather suitcase and gave it to his uncle before boarding the plane.
On September 24, 1952, the plane took off with delays, which caused the bomb to explode at a low altitude. The pilot was able to maneuver for an emergency landing at the Santa Lucia military airport.
A single passenger died in the explosion, ejected through the hole produced by the bomb. The day after the incident, Sierra and Arellano were arrested.
Esperanza always trusted in the innocence of Paco Sierra. They argued that they had been victims of fraud by Arellano. However, it was possible to testify that Sierra accompanied Arellano in the purchase of explosives for the bomb.
The sentence for Paco Sierra was 9 years in prison. Arellano, on the other hand, received a 30-year prison sentence.
In order not to get away from Paco Sierra's company, Esperanza Iris organized a prison choir in the Lecumberri prison, known as The Black Palace.
After the attack, Esperanza Iris' artistic career was overshadowed by the controversy that the event aroused.
For several years, Mexican society replaced the image of the theater's glory with that of her husband's accomplice. Esperanza suffered the humiliation of having been betrayed by Sierra and lost the respect of a large part of her audience.
Esperanza Iris passed away on November 7, 1962 in Mexico City. The remains of the actress are buried in the Panteón Jardín cemetery.
Despite the adversities that she had to go through in her life, the artistic value left by Esperanza Iris is still recognized. The first Mexican actress internationally recognized for her theatrical legacy.
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