Antonio Moreno (actor, 1887)

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Antonio Moreno (1916)

Antonio Moreno (born Antonio Garrido Monteagudo Moreno on September 26, 1887 in Madrid , Spain , † February 15, 1967 in Beverly Hills , California , USA ) was a Spanish-American actor and director . During the silent film era , he became a movie star as a romantic lover.

life and career

Born the son of a sergeant in Madrid and orphaned on his father's side at an early age, Antonio immigrated to the United States at the age of 14 with his mother's permission , where he took his mother's surname and called himself Antonio Moreno. He first lived in Massachusetts , where he finished his schooling. After the Williston Northampton School he became a stage actor in regional theater productions, without initially achieving any major success. In 1912 he went to Hollywood . He signed with Vitagraph Studios and began his career in short films. It wasn't until 1914 that Moreno appeared in larger films such as Judith of Bethulia , The Dust of Egypt , The Angel Factory and The First Law . Within a short time he became a film star through his appearances at the side of Norma Talmadge . In addition to Ramón Novarro and especially Rudolph Valentino , Moreno rose to become one of the most popular Latin lovers of the silent film era because of his good southern appearance . In doing so, he acquired a large female fan base. In the early 1920s, Moreno joined the cinema group Cineplex Entertainment and became one of the highest paid performers here. His film partners included Pola Negri in The Spanish Dancer (1923), Greta Garbo in Demon Woman (1926) and Clara Bow in That Certain Something (1927). In particular, the comedy That Certain Something was a big box-office success and showed Moreno as a department store heir who turned the heads of all saleswomen.

With the start of the talkie era in the late 1920s, Moreno's star began to decline rapidly. This was particularly due to his strong Spanish accent, which was now noticeable. During this time, he made only a few films in Hollywood and instead increasingly worked in Mexican productions. During the early 1930s, he also directed several films there, such as the first Mexican sound film Santa (1932) and the drama Águilas frente al sol (1932). Moreno tried to rebuild his Hollywood career as early as the 1930s, including an appearance in the Laurel and Hardy film The Bohemian Forest Girl , where his character has an affair with Oliver Hardy's wife. But it wasn't until the mid-1940s that he managed to get better roles in American films, including as a character actor in The Captain of Castile and Mortal Enmity . In 1954, the old star took over the lead role in the cheaply produced horror film The Horror of the Amazon , which has become a cult classic over the years. His last significant appearance followed in 1956 in John Ford's western epic The Black Falcon , where he shows John Wayne and Jeffrey Hunter the way to become an Indian chief in the role of a Mexican .

Moreno married the wealthy American Daisy Canfield Danziger in 1923, but she died in a car accident in 1933. Antonio Moreno retired from acting in the late 1950s. He died of heart failure in Beverly Hills in 1967 at the age of 79. A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is dedicated to his filmmaking .

Filmography (selection)

Antonio Moreno at a young age

As an actor

As a director

literature

  • Eve Golden: Antonio Moreno. In: dies .: Golden Images. 41 Essays on Silent Film Stars. McFarland Publishers, Jefferson (North Carolina) 2001, ISBN 978-0-7864-0834-4 , pp. 103-108.
  • Clara E. Rodríguez: Antonio Moreno. In: dies .: Heroes, Lovers, and Others. The Story of Latinos in Hollywood. Oxford University Press, Oxford / New York 2004, ISBN 978-0-19-533513-2 , pp. 44-48.
  • Michael Locke: The Crestmont Mansion Part 1: The Life and Times of Antonio Moreno. In: ders .: Silver Lake Chronicles. Exploring at Urban Oasis in Los Angeles. The History Press, Charleston 2014, ISBN 978-1-60949-958-7 , pp. 122-129.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Moreno, Antonio
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Garrido Monteagudo Moreno, Antonio (maiden name); Moreno, Tony (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Hispanic-American actor and director of the silent era and 1950s
DATE OF BIRTH September 26, 1887
PLACE OF BIRTH Madrid , Spain
DATE OF DEATH February 15, 1967
Place of death Beverly Hills , California