Thank you, Kimmich, for a more than usually interesting question.
Here in the end of Canada where I live, it is difficult to gain any
exposure to the current heroes of international cinema, let alone
those of the past!
As with any film-related inquiry, I began researching your answer by
visiting the Internet Movie Data Base. Their listing for Jose Mojica
may be found at the link below:
http://us.imdb.com/Name?Mojica,+Jos%E9#a1950
As for his career, it seems that he did revisit the film world after
taking orders. In 1953, Mojica played himself in the film "El Portico
de la Gloria," which he also co-wrote. In 1959, he played himself
again in the film adaptation of his autobiography, "Yo Pecador" ("I,
Sinner). Finally, in 1966, he appeared in "Seguire tus Pasos,"
playing - surprise! himself.
Having mined IMDB for what sketchy information they had, I searched on
Google using the following terms:
"Jose Mojica" actor -marins
The quote marks are necessary to prevent the search from returning all
pages containing the name "Jose," while the -marins was added after
the fact to filter out filmmaker Jose Mojica Marins. Although I'd
initially hoped to find the information you wanted on english-language
pages (I'm monolingual) I eventually found what you were looking for
on a Spanish-language page. Thank goodness for translation software!
I will not go into any events prior to 1947, as you will undoubtedly
be aware of them from Mojica's autobiography. The following details
are from his entry in the Encyclopedia of Mexico, shown on this
biographical site:
http://www.jalisco.gob.mx/nuestroedo/muro/mojicajo.html
I translated the page using Google's automatic translation feature,
cross-checking it with other translation software for clarity.
After taking orders in 1947, Mojica was sent out by his superiors in
the order to establish a seminary in Arequipa, Peru, with the aim of
providing priests for the numerous parishes which were vacant at that
time. To raise funds for this effort, Mojica returned to singing. He
performed on radio in 1949, and toured seven countries between 1950
and 1952. He apparently also appeared on television during this time,
but no detail is given.
Interestingly, in the mid-1950's, Jose Mojica helped influence another
Mexican movie star, Humberto Almazan, to abandon his acting career for
the Church. For more details, see Almazan's story on this site:
http://puffin.creighton.edu/jesuit/pro/pro_alazar.html
In 1958, as a means of raising funds to rebuild a school which had
been demolished by an earthquake, Mojica put pen to paper and wrote
his autobiography, "Yo Pecador." The book evidently had some success,
being reprinted in several editions, as well as inspiring the film
version you'd mentioned.
In his later years, Mojica was forced to give up singing because of
advancing deafness. He returned to Mexico in 1969 for a tribute to
mark the fiftieth anniversary of his singing career, his last visit to
his homeland. The remainder of his life he apparently spent in
retirement, living quietly at his monastery in Lima, Peru, as one
monk among many. He died there of heart trouble in September 1974,
just a few weeks past his 79th birthday.
Incidentally, if you should be travelling to Mexico soon, Mojica's
former residence (La Casa de Liza en el Parque) is now a spectacularly
beautiful bed and breakfast. Their website may be found at this link:
http://www.casaliza.com/casaliza/index.html
Finally, if you want to hear the voice that made Mojica a star, you
may purchase the CD "Historia de Exitos" at CDNOW (or the alternate
vendor of your choice):
http://www.cdnow.com/pagename=/RP/CDN/FIND/album.html/itemid=41336/from=sr-2381487-1
Thank you again for providing me with an interesting break in my daily
routine!
If you wish any further details of how I searched, or how to use the
translation software, by all means use the Clarification feature.
I'll be happy to help. |
