The Real Eva Peron

Eva Duarte was born in Argentina and when she married she made up the date of May 7, 1919 for her date of birth on the marriage certificate. She grew up in a place called Junin. Her father was a wealthy rancher and since her mother and her father never married, Eva was not allowed to attend her father's funeral when he died when Eva was very young. This is because her father was married to someone else and eva's mother was his mistress. Eva and her family were very poor and because Eva was conceived out of wedlock she was considred an illegitimate baby and her birth certificate was destroyed.

Growing up, Eva was very much involved in drama and music at her school, where she developed a love for acting. In 1935, at the age of 15, Eva moved to Buenos Aires in oder to pursue her dream of becoming a famous actress. She traveled to Buenos Aires with her mother.

Eva struggled once she arrived in Buenos Aires, financially but finally started getting involved in local theatres and working her way up to the top. In 1936, Eva toured with a theatre group, worked as a model and acted in a few low budget films. By 1942, Eva became financially stable when she landed a role in a soap opera for t.v. Later that same year, she signed a five year contract withn a local radio broadcast and she later came to co-own the radio company.

Eva Duarte met Juan Peron in 1945. After the two were married, Eva became a huge political figure to the people of Argentina. She was a symbol to them of hope in their time of poverty.

In 1945, Eva went on a tour across Europe called "The Rainbow Tour". On her tour she met with important people like the pope and Francisco Franco, the Spanish head of state at the time. She supposedily went on this tour for politcal reasons. Eva was welcomed in Spain but was not welcomed in other countires, in Europe. This was because she was not accepted because of her poor background.

In 1948, the Eva Peron foundation was created. It was a charitable foundation for social welfare.

On July 26, 1952, Eva Peron passed away. She died of lung cancer and was given an official state funeral. The film/musical depicts her death quite accurately, in that, Argentina was literally sent into a state of hysteria over the death of their first lady.