Elsa Cárdenas

Prolific Mexican leading actress, born Elsa Cardenas Renteria in Tijuana to Victor Cardenas and Hortencia Renteria. On screen from 1954, Elsa has acted in numerous Mexican films and telenovelas. Her first international exposure was through the independently produced movie The Brave One (1956), shot in Mexico and distributed in the U.S. by RKO. On the strength of her performance she was then chosen by the director George Stevens to play the part of a Mexican girl in the film Giant (1956), based on Edna Ferber's novel (her role had originally been earmarked for the Italian actress Pier Angeli). Elsa later recounted that acting alongside Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson and James Dean had been the most memorable experience of her professional life. She subsequently co-starred with Elvis Presley in Fun in Acapulco (1963). According to interviews, she was briefly in a relationship with 'The King' four years before his marriage to Priscilla. Elsa later married Houston-based oilman Guy Preston Patton (1918-66), a union which ended in divorce.

Elsa had featured roles in several other American films: For the Love of Mike (1960), Of Love and Desire (1963) and Sam Peckinpah's seminal western The Wild Bunch (1969). During her stint in Hollywood between 1959 and 1960, she also portrayed assorted senoritas and Indian girls on such TV westerns as Black Saddle (1959), Have Gun - Will Travel (1957) and Pony Express (1959). Elsa Cardenas remained gainfully employed on Mexican television until her retirement from acting in 2015. In 1992, she qualified with a Bachelor of Communication Sciences from the National Autonomous University of Mexico.