Leonora Hughes

Leonora Marion Hughes (March 31, 1897 – February 1978), also known as Leonore Hughes, was an American dancer born in Chicago and raised in New York City. She was one of eight children born to Thomas Hughes and Mary McGuire Hughes, Irish immigrants to the United States.

Before establishing herself as a performer, Hughes worked as a telephone operator. She went on to become the third dance partner of Belgian dancer Maurice Mouvet, taking on that role following his divorce from Florence Walton. Together, Hughes and Mouvet toured extensively across Europe and North America, and their Broadway collaboration culminated in the 1922 musical Good Morning Dearie. A 1927 account noted that her principal qualification as Mouvet's partner was her ability to meet his moods, and that their work together was remarkable. Hughes retired from dancing in 1925 upon her marriage.

Beyond the stage, Hughes appeared in two silent films: The Indestructible Wife (1919), which starred Alice Brady, and The Rejected Woman (1924), featuring Bela Lugosi and Alma Rubens. Her profile as a public figure extended into fashion and portraiture; photographer Edward Steichen captured her image in 1923 for Vogue and again in 1924 for Vanity Fair.

In her personal life, Hughes attracted the attention of Alfonso of Spain and his cousin, Duke Ferdinand of Dúrcal, both of whom pursued her in the early 1920s. In 1925, she married wealthy Argentinian Carlos Ortiz Basualdo at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City. The couple had two children, Carlos Fermín and María Matilde, and entertained notable guests — among them British princes, John J. Pershing, and Noël Coward — at the Basualdo family's cattle ranch near Lake Nahuel Huapi. Her husband died in a speedboat accident in 1935. Hughes died in Buenos Aires in February 1978 at the age of 80.