* Meche Barba; Rumba Dancer in Mexican Films

Meche Barba, 77, a dancer in Mexican films during that country’s Golden Age of cinema. Mercedes Barba Feito was born in New York City where her Spanish-born father, Antonio, had been performing with a circus. When her father became ill, she and her sister Carmen began performing to support the family. Appearances on Mexico’s premier stages led to film roles starting in 1937. The modest Barba insisted that she wasn’t pretty enough to be a film star, but nevertheless won acclaim for her smoldering beauty and for her acting presence. She was cast with such stars as singer Jorge Negrete and the comedian German Valdes, known as Tin Tan. Barba came to be known as “the queen of the rumba” for her sensuous dancing in more than 50 films. On Friday in Mexico City of pulmonary emphysema.