{{Short description|Spanish writer and actress}} {{family name hatnote|Nelken|Mansberger|lang=Spanish}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2016}} {{Infobox person | name = Magda Donato | image = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Carmen Eva Nelken Mansberger | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1898|02|06}} | birth_place = Madrid, Spain | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1966|11|03|1898|02|06}} | death_place = Mexico City, Mexico | occupation = Writer, journalist, playwright, actress | relatives = Margarita Nelken (sister) }} '''Carmen Eva Nelken Mansberger''' (6 February 1898 – 3 November 1966), known by the pseudonym '''Magda Donato''', was a Spanish writer, journalist, playwright, and actress who went into exile in Mexico after the Spanish Civil War. She was the sister of writer and politician Margarita Nelken.
==Biography== Carmen Eva Nelken Mansberger was born on 6 February 1898 in Madrid,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rodrigo |first=Antonina |title=Mujer y exilio |trans-title=Woman and Exile |publisher=Flor del Viento |location=Barcelona |year=2003 |page=32 |language=Spanish}}</ref> to a merchant family of German Jewish ancestry.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.lavozlibre.com/noticias/ampliar/55882/los-reportajes-de-magda-donato-revelan-el-periodismo-vivido-de-los-anos-30 |title=Los 'Reportajes' de Magda Donato revelan el 'periodismo vivido' de los años 30 |trans-title=The 'Reports' of Magda Donato Reveal the 'vivid journalism' of the 1930s |work=La Voz Libre |language=Spanish |date=3 April 2010 |access-date=19 October 2016 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304122033/http://www.lavozlibre.com/noticias/ampliar/55882/los-reportajes-de-magda-donato-revelan-el-periodismo-vivido-de-los-anos-30 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Her father was a Spanish jeweler. Her mother, born in France, was the daughter of a watchmaker who, in 1889, had gone to Madrid to work as a palace watchmaker, and also owned a watch and jewelry store on the Puerta del Sol, No. 15. Her wealthy family gave her access to higher education, which was uncommon for women at that time.{{citation needed|date= October 2022}}
In 1917 she began writing for ''El Imparcial'', a newspaper of the Gasset family, and later for other Madrid papers such as ''Estampa'', ''El Liberal'', and ''La Tribuna''.<ref name=CVC>{{Cite web |url=http://cvc.cervantes.es/el_rinconete/anteriores/abril_09/29042009_02.asp |title=Intelectuales de la Edad de Plata (11). Magda Donato |trans-title=Intellectuals of the Silver Age (11). Magda Donato |first=Concepción |last=Bados Ciria |publisher=Instituto Cervantes |language=Spanish |date=29 April 2009 |access-date=2023-02-25}}</ref> She signed these articles Magda Donato, as a self-affirmation against the strong personality of her older sister, Margarita Nelken.<ref name=CVC/>
In 1939 she was forced into exile by the Spanish Civil War, first going to France, and reaching Mexico in November 1941. She began her acting career in the group Les comediéns de France.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://escritores.cinemexicano.unam.mx/biografias/D/DONATO_magda/biografia.html |title=Donato, Magda |publisher=UNAM |language=Spanish |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303233123/http://escritores.cinemexicano.unam.mx/biografias/D/DONATO_magda/biografia.html |archivedate=3 March 2016 |access-date=19 October 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref> With partner Salvador Bartolozzi she co-wrote plays for children such as ''Pinocho en el país de los cuentos o Las aventuras de Cucuruchito y Pinocho'', released in Mexico in the 1940s.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Medina Ortiz |first=Xóchitl |year=2013 |title=70 años de teatro escolar del Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes. Memoria 1942–2012 |trans-title=70 Years of school theater of the National Institute of Fine Arts. Remembrance 1942–2012 |publisher=INBA |pages=23–27 |language=Spanish}}</ref> Some of her best-known films were ''La liga de las muchachas'' (1950), ''Curvas peligrosas'' (1950), ''El amor no es negocio'' (1949), and ''Caperucita y Pulgarcito contra los monstruos'' (1962). Her work as an actress was recognized in 1960 with a Best Actress award from the Association of Theater Critics.<ref name=CVC/>
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After her death on 3 November 1966 in Mexico City, the Magda Donato Award was created to recognize and reward the best written play of the year.<ref name=CVC/> It was given by the National Association of Actors ({{langx|es|link=no|Asociación Nacional de Directores y Actores}} – ANDA) until 1973, when it was discontinued.{{citation needed|date= October 2022}}
==Bibliography== * ''La carabina'' (1924) * [https://archive.org/details/malditaseamicara14917dona ''¡Maldita sea mi cara!''] (1929), with {{ill|Antonio Paso y Cano|es|lt=Antonio Paso}} * ''Las otras dos'' (1931) * ''La protegida de las flores''
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb name|0232276}} * [http://historia.memoriaalburquerque.es/documentos/M.Donato%204.3.37.htm War Reporting of Magda Donato] at Memoria Albuquerque {{in lang|es}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Donato, Magda}} Category:1898 births Category:1966 deaths Category:20th-century Spanish actresses Category:20th-century Spanish dramatists and playwrights Category:Actresses from Madrid Category:Exiles of the Spanish Civil War in Mexico Category:Mexican film actresses Category:20th-century pseudonymous women writers Category:Spanish women journalists Category:Writers from Madrid Category:20th-century Spanish women writers Category:20th-century pseudonymous writers Category:Spanish women dramatists and playwrights