María Antonia Abad Fernández MML (10 March 1928 – 8 April 2013), known professionally as Sara Montiel, and as Sarita Montiel, was a Spanish singer and actress. She has been called a "sexual, feminist, and gay icon for Francoist Spain."
Montiel was born in Campo de Criptana in the region of Castile–La Mancha in 1928. She worked in Europe, Latin America and United States. Her films The Last Torch Song and The Violet Seller netted the highest gross revenues ever recorded for films made in the Spanish-speaking movie industry during the 1950s/60s.
She was portrayed in the Pedro Almodóvar film Bad Education by a male actor in drag (Gael García Bernal) as the cross-dressing character Zahara, and a film clip from one of her movies was used, as well.