Acquanetta

Acquanetta (born July 17, 1921 – August 16, 2004), nicknamed "The Venezuelan Volcano", was an American B-movie actress during the 1940s and 1950s. Acquanetta was most known for her "exotic" beauty.

Early years The facts of Acquanetta's origins are not known with certainty. Acquanetta claimed she was born Burnu Acquanetta, meaning "Burning Fire/Deep Water", in Ozone, Wyoming. Orphaned from her Arapaho parents when she was two (or three), Other accounts suggest she was a light-skinned African American who concealed her heritage due to the racial discrimination of the era. Her career was followed closely by the African American press. In 1942, Life magazine noted her mysterious origins, but reported that she had lived with a Spanish family in Spanish Harlem posing as a Venezuelan before moving to Mexico, then Venezuela to obtain citizenship. The article suggests that the Arapaho orphan story was invented because she was unable to produce any identification for the Screen Actors Guild.

According to the 1940 US Census, she had five siblings, including a sister, Kathryn Davenport, and a brother, Horace Davenport, who was, according to the Pennsylvania Bar Association, "the first African-American judge in Montgomery County."

Film career Acquanetta started her career as a model in New York City in which Universal attempted to create a female monster movie series with Acquanetta as a transformative ape. After her contract with Universal expired, Acquanetta signed on with Monogram Pictures but did not appear in any movies; she then signed with RKO where she acted in her only big-budget movie, Tarzan and the Leopard Woman. after the couple's bitter divorce in 1950, where she lost her suit for half his fortune when no record of their marriage could be produced. That year she retired from films and became a disk jockey for radio station KPOL (AM) in Los Angeles. a car dealer who later ran for governor of Arizona in 1970 and 1974. The couple settled in Mesa, Arizona, and she returned to a degree of celebrity by appearing with Ross in his local television advertisements, In 1987, Acquanetta sold the Mesa Grande ruins to the city of Mesa.

Acquanetta wrote a book of poetry, published in 1974, titled The Audible Silence. She did not smoke, and did not drink alcohol, tea, or coffee. She is buried in Paradise Memorial Gardens in East Shea, Scottsdale, Arizona.

In popular culture

In 1987, the all-female band The Aquanettas adopted (and adapted) their name from hers.

Acquanetta's obituary inspired the composer Michael Gordon to collaborate with librettist Deborah Artman on the opera Acquanetta (2005/2017). Produced by Beth Morrison Projects, the chamber version received its world premiere at the Prototype Festival in Brooklyn, New York, in January 2018.

Opera

Acquanetta, based on her life, premiered as a Grand Opera in 2006 in Aachen, Germany. The chamber version of Acquanetta had its world premiere at the 2018 Prototype Festival, followed by a subsequent run at Bard SummerScape in 2019.

Filmography +Acquanetta filmography Year Film Role Notes 1942 Arabian Nights Ishya (uncredited) 1943 Rhythm of the Islands Luani as Burnu Acquanetta Captive Wild Woman Paula Dupree – the Gorilla Girl 1944 Jungle Woman Paula Dupree – the Gorilla Girl Dead Man's Eyes Tanya Czoraki 1946 Tarzan and the Leopard Woman Lea, the High Priestess 1951 The Sword of Monte Cristo Felice Lost Continent Native Girl Callaway Went Thataway Native Girl with Smoky Uncredited 1953 Take the High Ground! Bar Girl Uncredited 1989 Grizzly Adams – The Legend Never Dies Direct-to-video release