Stella Garcia

Stella Garcia (born July 6, 1942) is an American actress who appeared in the films The Private Lives of Adam and Eve, Change of Habit, The Last Movie, and Joe Kidd. Career Early roles Garcia's first film role was in the early 1960s in The Private Lives of Adam and Eve. In 1963, she had a small part in the Elvis Presley film Fun in Acapulco as the Señorita at Torito's. Success At the beginning of the 1970s, she was cast in the film The Last Movie (1971) which was the second directorial effort for Dennis Hopper, who had just finished Easy Rider. In the film she played Hopper's girlfriend. The review from Variety included positive recognition for her part in the movie. This impressed Universal Studios, who cast her as the female lead in the western Joe Kidd, starring Clint Eastwood. Her role in the film was that of Helen Sanchez, a Mexican-American activist who was the lover of Luis Chama, played by John Saxon. Her performance received positive reviews, especially from the Los Angeles Times. In spite of the attention she attracted for The Last Movie and Joe Kidd, her career in films subsequently began to decline. She appeared in one other film during the 1970s, the Albert Band-directed She Came to the Valley, as a Christmas party guest.