Maria Menado (born Liesbet Dotulong; 2 February 1932), also known as Liesje Mandagi, is an Indonesian-born Malay actress, model, and producer who is known for her contributions to Malaysian cinema in the 1950s and 1960s. At the height of her fame she was voted “Malaya’s Most Beautiful” by Times Magazine and the “Best Dressed Woman in South East Asia” by publisher United Press International.^[1] In addition to acting, she also sang and went on to direct and produce films under her own production company, Maria Menado Productions.^[2] Menado is Minahasan and was born in Manado, Dutch East Indies (present Indonesia).^[3]

Maria Menado was born Liesbet Dotulong on 2 February 1932 at Tonsea Lama in North Tondano, Dutch East Indies, to Abdullah Dotulong.^[4][5] When she was seven years old, her parents died, and she was sent to live with her aunt and uncle in Makassar.^[5] They eventually moved to Jakarta to escape fighting between the Dutch and Indonesian nationalists.^[5] By the time Liesbet was seventeen, she was known locally for her beauty, and appeared as a fashion model in magazines and newspapers.^[5] In 1950, she travelled from Bandung to Singapore in a group led by Fifi Young, who held a kebaya fashion show there.^[6]

While she was with her aunt and uncle in Malaysia, Liesbet became interested in the Maria Hertogh riots, which were occurring at the time. Maria Hertogh was a Dutch girl who was sent to live with a Malay Muslim family, and became the subject of a highly publicized custody battle which led to religious race riots in Singapore. Due to Liesbet's interest in the case, and her birthplace of Manado, Indonesia, she was dubbed "Maria of Manado" by friends. The name stuck, and for the rest of her career in films she was referred to as Maria Menado.

After Maria's photos appeared in newspapers and magazines as a fashion model, her career as a film actress began in 1951. Shaw Brothers offered Maria the role of the leading lady alongside P. Ramlee in the film "Penghidupan".

However, it was her role as a vampire in the film "Pontianak" that gave Maria fame in 1957. "Pontianak" was the first Malay horror film. The script for this film is a collaboration with her ex-husband, A. Razak Sheikh Mohamed. Maria supplied the vampire stories she had heard while in Indonesia and they weaved the film's plot together.

Her transformation from a beautiful woman to a hunchback and then a vampire took hours of decorating. Maria also had to lean back without moving so that the change could be filmed little by little. Unlike now, there were no computer graphics back then to make corrections, and everything had to be done manually. However, the film reaches a fairly realistic level as can be seen from the reports of several people fainting after watching the shocking scenes. Its screening in Cathay cinemas lasted for 12 days. This is a major achievement, especially because Malay films have never been shown in Cathay cinemas. Maria then acted in the following two sequels, Dendam Pontianak (1957) and Sumpah Pontianak (1958).

At the height of her fame, she was given the role of an evil character alongside Shammi Kapoor in a Hindi film titled "Singapore". The film was shot in Singapore and Mumbai. In a period of 12 years, Maria acted in more than 20 films including her own production, Maria Menado Production (M. M Production) through the film Siti Zubaidah in 1961. She was the first Malay female film producer.

Maria herself plays the main role as Siti Zubaidah. Her involvement as a producer is not only proud but she has played the role of producer and actress at the same time which is rarely done by a producer.

Three other films produced by her company are Darahku, Bunga Tanjung and Pontianak Kembali.

In 1963, Menado married Sultan Abu Bakar of Pahang, who was 27 years her senior. The marriage ended Menado's film career as her films were no longer allowed to be screened in the theatres or on television.^[7] They had three children: Tengku Norashikin Sultan Abu Bakar, Tengku Idris Sultan Abu Bakar, and Tengku Baharuddin Sultan Abu Bakar.^[7]

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