Cantinflas
Cantinflas | |
---|---|
Born | Mario Fortino Alfonso Moreno Reyes 12 August 1911 Santa María la Redonda, Mexico City, Mexico |
Died | 20 April 1993 Mexico City, Mexico | (aged 81)
Burial place | Panteón Español, Mexico City, Mexico |
Other names | Mario Moreno |
Education | Instituto Politecnico Nacional Chapingo Autonomous University (Agronomy, few months) |
Occupation(s) | Comedian, actor, screenwriter, film producer, singer |
Years active | 1937–1993 |
Political party | Institutional Revolutionary Party |
Spouse |
Valentina Ivanova Zubareff
(m. 1936; died 1966) |
Children | Mario Arturo Moreno |
Website | www |
Mario Fortino Alfonso Moreno Reyes (12 August 1911 – 20 April 1993), known by the
He often portrayed impoverished farmers or a peasant of
As a pioneer of the cinema of Mexico, Moreno helped usher in its
Moreover, his character Cantinflas, whose identity became enmeshed with his own, was examined by media critics, philosophers, and linguists, who saw him variously as a danger to Mexican society, a bourgeois puppet, a verbal innovator, and a
Early and personal life
Mario Fortino Alfonso Moreno Reyes was born in
He made it through difficult situations with the quick wit and street smarts that he would later apply in his films. His comic personality led him to a circus tent show, and from there to legitimate theatre and film.
He married Valentina Ivanova Zubareff, of Russian ethnicity, on 27 October 1936 and remained with her until her death in January 1966. A son was born to Moreno in 1961 by another woman;[5] the child was adopted by Valentina Ivanova and was named Mario Arturo Moreno Ivanova, causing some references to erroneously refer to him as "Cantinflas' adopted son".[6] Moreno Ivanova died on 15 May 2017, of a presumed heart attack.[7]
Moreno served as president of one of the Mexican actors' guilds known as Asociación Nacional de Actores (ANDA, "National Association of Actors") and as first secretary general of the independent filmworkers' union
He was a Freemason, initiated at Chilam Balam Lodge.[8][9]
In 1961, Cantinflas appeared with U.S. Vice President
Origin of name
As a young man, Cantinflas performed a variety of acts in travelling tents, and it was here that he acquired the nickname "Cantinflas". According to one obituary, "Cantinflas" is a meaningless name invented to prevent his parents from knowing he was in the entertainment business, which they considered a shameful occupation. Cantinflas confirmed as much in 1992, in his last television interview.[11]
Entertainment career
Before starting his professional life in entertainment, he explored a number of possible careers, such as medicine and professional boxing, before joining the entertainment world as a dancer. By 1930 he was involved in Mexico City's carpa (travelling tent) circuit, performing in succession with the Ofelia, Sotelo of Azcapotzalco, and finally the Valentina carpa, where he met his future wife. At first he tried to imitate Al Jolson's use of blackface, but later separated himself to form his own identity as an impoverished slum dweller with baggy pants, a rope for a belt, and a distinctive mustache.[12] In the tents, he danced, performed acrobatics, and performed roles related to several different professions.
Film career
In the mid-1930s, Cantinflas met publicist and producer Santiago Reachi and subsequently partnered with him to form their own film production venture. Reachi produced, directed, and distributed, while Cantinflas acted. Cantinflas made his film debut in 1936 with No te engañes corazón (
In 1941, Moreno first played the role of a police officer on film in
Ni sangre, ni arena ("Neither Blood, nor Sand" a play on words on the bullfighter/gladiator phrase
The 1940s and 1950s were Cantinflas' heyday. In 1941, Reachi, the Producer rejected Mexican Studios companies and instead paid Columbia Pictures to produce the films in its Studios in Hollywood.[12] By this time, Cantinflas' popularity was such that he was able to lend his prestige to the cause of Mexican labor, representing the National Association of Actors in talks with Mexican President Manuel Ávila Camacho. The talks did not go well, however, and, in the resulting scandal, Moreno took his act back to the theatre.[citation needed]
Theater
On 30 August 1953, Cantinflas began performing his theatrical work Yo Colón ("I, Columbus") in the Teatro de los Insurgentes, the same theatre that had earlier been embroiled in a controversy over a Diego Rivera mural incorporating Cantinflas and the Virgin of Guadalupe. Critics, including the PAN and archbishop Luis María Martínez, called the mural blasphemous, and it was eventually painted without the image of the Virgin.
Yo Colón placed Cantinflas in the character of
Hollywood and beyond
In 1956,
Moreno's second Hollywood feature,
After returning to Mexico, Cantinflas starred in the comic drama
Like
Death
A life long smoker, Cantinflas died of lung cancer on 20 April 1993 in Mexico City. Thousands appeared on a rainy day for his funeral. The ceremony was a national event, lasting three days. He was honored by many heads of state and the United States Senate, which held a moment of silence for him. His ashes lay at the crypt of the Moreno Reyes family, in the Panteón Español ("Spanish Cemetery") in Mexico City.[19][20][21][22]
A 20-year legal battle followed between Mario Moreno Ivanova, Cantinflas' son and heir to his estate, and the actor's blood nephew Eduardo Moreno Laparade over the control of 34 films made by Cantinflas. The nephew claimed his uncle gave him a written notice, Moreno Ivanova argued that he was the direct heir of Cantinflas and that the rights belonged to him. In 2014, Eduardo Moreno Laparade won the rights at the Mexican Supreme Court to 39 films and the name.[23] At the same time, there was another legal battle between Columbia Pictures and Moreno Ivanova over control of these films. Columbia claimed that it had bought the rights to the 34 films four decades earlier, although the court noted several discrepancies in the papers. Moreno Ivanova wanted the rights to the films to remain his, and more generally Mexico's, as a national treasure. On 2 June 2001 the eight-year battle was resolved with Columbia retaining ownership over the 34 disputed films.[24]
Career
Among the things that endeared him to his public was his comic use of language in his films; his characters (all of which were really variations of the main "Cantinflas" persona but cast in different social roles and circumstances) would strike up a normal conversation and then complicate it to the point where no one understood what they were talking about. The Cantinflas character was particularly adept at obfuscating the conversation when he owed somebody money, was courting an attractive young woman, or was trying to talk his way out of trouble with authorities, whom he managed to humiliate without their even being able to tell. This manner of talking became known as Cantinflear, and it became common parlance for Spanish speakers to say "¡estás cantinfleando!" (loosely translated as you're pulling a "Cantinflas!" or you're "Cantinflassing!") whenever someone became hard to understand in conversation. The
In the visual arts, Mexican artists such as Rufino Tamayo and Diego Rivera painted Cantinflas as a symbol of the Mexican everyman.
Cantinflas' style and the content of his films have led scholars to conclude that he influenced the many teatros that spread the message of the
A cartoon series, the
Although Cantinflas never achieved the same success in the United States as in Mexico, he was honored with a star on the
The Mario Moreno "Cantinflas" Award is handed out annually for entertainers who "represent the Latino community with the same humor and distinction as the legendary Mario Moreno "Cantinflas" and who, like Cantinflas, utilizes his power to help those most in need".[30]
On August 12, 2018, the Google Doodle paid homage to Cantinflas on his 107th birth anniversary.[31]
Characterizations
Moreno's life is the subject of the biographical film Cantinflas (2014, directed by Sebastian del Amo). It stars Óscar Jaenada, who portrays a young Mario Moreno attempting to gain respect and make a living as an actor, and award-winning actor Michael Imperioli as Mike Todd, an American film-producer struggling to film his masterpiece. The film is centered in Moreno's personal life, and in the development of Todd's Golden Globe Award-winning 1956 film Around the World in 80 Days.
Critical response
Cantinflas is sometimes seen as a Mexican Groucho Marx character, one who uses his skill with words to puncture the pretensions of the wealthy and powerful, the police and the government, with the difference that he strongly supported democracy. Historian and author of Cantinflas and the Chaos of Mexican Modernity, writes, "Cantinflas symbolized the underdog who triumphed through trickery over more powerful opponents" and presents Cantinflas as a self-image of a transitional Mexico. Gregorio Luke, executive director of the Museum of Latin American Art said, "To understand Cantinflas is to understand what happened in Mexico during the last century".[12][32]
Monsiváis interprets Moreno's portrayals in terms of the importance of the spoken word in the context of Mexico's "reigning illiteracy" (70% in 1930). Particularly in the film
The writer Salvador Novo interpreted the role of Moreno's character entirely in terms of Cantinflismo: "En condensarlos: en entregar a la saludable carcajada del pueblo la esencia demagógica de su vacuo confusionismo, estriba el mérito y se asegura la gloria de este hijo cazurro de la ciudad ladina y burlona de México, que es 'Cantinflas'". ("In condensing them [the leaders of the world and of Mexico], in returning to the healthy laughter of the people the demagogic essence of their empty confusion, merit is sustained and glory is ensured for the self-contained son of the Spanish-speaking mocker of Mexico, who Cantinflas portrays.")[34]
In his biography of the comic, scholar of Mexican culture Jeffrey M. Pilcher views Cantinflas as a metaphor for "the chaos of Mexican modernity", a modernity that was just out of reach for the majority of Mexicans: "His nonsense language eloquently expressed the contradictions of modernity as 'the palpitating moment of everything that wants to be that which it cannot be'."[35] Likewise, "Social hierarchies, speech patterns, ethnic identities, and masculine forms of behavior all crumbled before his chaotic humor, to be reformulated in revolutionary new ways."[36]
Filmography
Cinema of the United States | ||||
Year | Director | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1956 | Michael Anderson | Around the World in 80 Days | Passepartout | |
1960 | George Sidney | Pepe | Pepe | |
1969 | Norman Foster | The Great Sex War | General Marcos |
Cinema of Mexico | ||||
Year | Director | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1937 | Miguel Contreras Torres | Don't Fool Yourself, Dear | Canti | |
1937 | Arcady Boytler | Such Is My Country | El Tejón | |
1937 | Arcady Boytler | Heads or Tails | Polito Sol | |
1939 | Chano Urueta | The Sign of Death | Cantinflas | |
1939 | Fernando Rivera | Siempre listo en las tinieblas | Chencho Albondigon | Short |
1939 | Fernando Rivera | Jengibre contra Dinamita | Cantinflas | Short |
1940 | Juan Bustillo Oro | You're Missing the Point | Cantinflas / "Leonardo del Paso" | |
1940 | Carlos Toussaint | Cantinflas y su prima | Cantinflas | Short |
1940 | Fernando Rivera | Cantinflas ruletero | Cantinflas | Short |
1940 | Fernando Rivera | Cantinflas boxeador | Cantinflas | Short |
1941 | Alejandro Galindo | Neither Blood Nor Sand |
El Chato / Manuel Márquez "Manolete" | |
1941 | Miguel M. Delgado | The Unknown Policeman | El Chato / Badge Number 777 / The King of Diamonds | |
1942 | Carlos Villatoro | Carnival in the Tropics | Himself | Cameo |
1942 | Miguel M. Delgado | The Three Musketeers | Cantinflas / D'Artagnan | |
1943 | Miguel M. Delgado | The Circus | Cantinflas | |
1943 | Miguel M. Delgado | Romeo and Juliet | Cantinflas / Romeo de Montesco / Abelardo Del Monte | |
1944 | Miguel M. Delgado | Gran Hotel | Cantinflas | |
1945 | Miguel M. Delgado | A Day with the Devil | Cantinflas / Juan Pérez | |
1946 | Miguel M. Delgado | I Am a Fugitive | Cantinflas | |
1947 | Miguel M. Delgado | Fly Away, Young Man! | Cantinflas | |
1948 | Miguel M. Delgado | The Genius | Cantinflas | |
1949 | Miguel M. Delgado | The Magician | Cantinflas | |
1950 | Miguel M. Delgado | The Doorman | Cantinflas | |
1951 | Miguel M. Delgado | El Siete Machos | Margarito / El Siete Machos | |
1952 | Miguel M. Delgado | If I Were a Congressman | Cantinflas | |
1952 | Miguel M. Delgado | The Atomic Fireman | Cantinflas / Badge Number 777 | |
1953 | Raúl Medina | Bella, la salvaje | ||
1953 | Miguel M. Delgado | The Photographer | Cantinflas | |
1954 | Miguel M. Delgado | A Tailored Gentleman | Cantinflas | |
1955 | Miguel M. Delgado | Drop the Curtain | Cantinflas | |
1957 | Miguel M. Delgado | El bolero de Raquel | Cantinflas | |
1958 | Tulio Demicheli | Ama a tu prójimo | Luis | |
1959 | Miguel M. Delgado | Sube y baja | Cantinflas / Falso Jorge Maciel | |
1961 | Miguel M. Delgado | The Illiterate One | Inocencio Prieto y Calvo | |
1962 | Miguel M. Delgado | The Extra | Rogaciano | |
1963 | Miguel M. Delgado | Immediate Delivery | Feliciano Calloso / XU 777 | |
1964 | Miguel M. Delgado | El padrecito | Sebastián | |
1965 | Miguel M. Delgado | El señor doctor | Salvador Medina | |
1967 | Miguel M. Delgado | Su excelencia |
Lopitos | |
1968 | Miguel M. Delgado | Por mis pistolas |
Fidencio Barrenillo | |
1969 | Miguel M. Delgado | Un Quijote sin mancha | Justo Leal, Aventado | |
1971 | Miguel M. Delgado | El profe | Sócrates García | |
1973 | Roberto Gavaldón | Don Quijote cabalga de nuevo | Sancho Panza | |
1973 | Miguel M. Delgado | Conserje en condominio | Úrsulo | |
1976 | Miguel M. Delgado | El ministro y yo | Mateo Melgarejo | |
1978 | Miguel M. Delgado | El patrullero 777 | Diógenes Bravo / Badge Number 777 | |
1982 | Miguel M. Delgado | El barrendero | Napoleón |
Awards and nominations
Year | Award | Category | Film | Outcome |
---|---|---|---|---|
1952 | Ariel Awards[37]
|
Special Ariel | Won | |
1987 | Golden Ariel | Won | ||
1957 | Golden Globe Awards[38] | Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical |
Around the World in 80 Days | Won |
1961 | Pepe | Nominated | ||
1961 | Laurel Awards | Top Male Comedy Performance | Nominated | |
1962 | Menorah Awards[39] | Best Comic Actor | El analfabeto
|
Won |
See also
- Mononymous person
- Chespirito
References
- ^ "The peladito is the creature who came from the carpas with a face stained with flour or white paint, dressed in rags, the pants below the waist and covered with patches, the belt replaced by an old tie, the peaked cap representing a hat, the ruffled underwear that shows at any provocation, the torn shirt, and gabardine across his left shoulder." – Cantiflas
- ISBN 0-313-33210-X.
- ^ a b Cantinflas biography by Allmovie Retrieved 24 January 2006. [dead link]
- ^ Yahoo Cantinflas biography. Retrieved 9 February 2006.
- ISBN 0-8263-1860-6. Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico. 1998, p. 37.
- ^ Biography from Vanity Magazine Retrieved 29 January 2006.
- ^ Sughey Baños (15 May 2017). "Mario Moreno Ivanova dejó todo en orden: viuda" (in Spanish). Eluniversal.com.mx. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
- ^ Diario Masónico (12 August 2017). "Solicitud de ingreso en la masonerĂa de Mario Moreno "Cantinflas"". Diariomasonico.com. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
- ^ "Cantinflas". Freemasonry.bcy.ca. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
- ^ Gilbert Garcia, "Castro unlike O'Rourke has much to lose," San Antonio Express-News, 31 March 2017, p. A2.
- ^ "Mario Moreno "Cantinflas" (1992) Su Ultima Entrevista Por Television" (in Spanish). YouTube. Archived from the original on 11 December 2021. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
- ^ a b c d Cantinflas article by the Los Angeles Times Retrieved 24 January 2006
- ^ "Las 100 mejores películas del cine mexicano". Somo Magazine. Archived from the original on 8 February 2010. Retrieved 28 January 2006.
- ^ Film awards for Cantinflas Retrieved 29 January 2006.
- ^ Variety magazine review of film Retrieved 29 January 2006
- ^ Box office figures from Box Office Mojo Retrieved 31 January 2006
- ^ Biederman, Christine (19 October 2000). "The Power and No Story". Dallas Observer. Archived from the original on 15 April 2006. Retrieved 27 January 2006.
- ^ Article on theatre re-enactment of Cantinflas' humor Retrieved 30 January 2006
- ^ "Recuerdan a 'Cantinflas' en el Panteón Español" [Cantinflas remembered at the Spanish Cemetery] (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 May 2022.
- ^ "Recuerdan a Cantinflas en Panteón Español" [Cantinflas remembered at the Spanish Cemetery] (in Spanish). 12 August 2011. Retrieved 26 May 2022.
- ^ "Profanan la tumba de "Cantinflas" en la Ciudad de México" [Cantinflas tomb defiled] (in Spanish). 8 August 2018. Retrieved 26 May 2022.
- ^ "Carmen Salinas: Spanish Cemetery, beloved actress final resting place". 10 December 2021. Retrieved 26 May 2022.
- ^ "Tras 21 años de pleito, el sobrino de Cantinflas gana juicio por los derechos del actor" (in Spanish).
- ^ "Columbia gains ownership of films" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 December 2008. Retrieved 28 January 2006.
- ^ Cantinflear at the Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy Retrieved 21 January 2006
- ^ D'Souza, Karen. Mercury News "Remembering Cantinflas"
- ^ Yahoo entry on the Cantinflas Show Retrieved 24 January 2006
- ^ "Hollywood Walk of Fame – Cantinflas". walkoffame.com. Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. Archived from the original on 1 September 2016. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
- ^ Biography from Barnes & Noble Retrieved 25 January 2006.
- ^ "Mario Moreno "Cantinflas" Award". ErnieG. Archived from the original on 23 February 2006. Retrieved 29 January 2006.
- ^ "Mario Moreno "Cantinflas'" 107th Birthday". Google. 12 August 2018. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
- ^ Cantinflas and the Chaos of Mexican Modernity. Retrieved 1 February 2006
- ^ Monsiváis, p. 52
- ^ Novo, p. 47
- ^ Pilcher, p. xxii
- ^ Pilcher, p. xviii
- ^ "Ariel – Ganadores y nominados – Mario Moreno". academiamexicanadecine.org.mx. Archived from the original on 24 October 2014. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
- ^ "Golden Globe Awards Official Website – Cantinflas". goldenglobes.org. Archived from the original on 17 October 2013. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
- ISBN 9789688955406.
Sources
- Garcia Riera, Emilio, 1970. Historia documental del cine mexicano, vol. II.
- Leñero, Vicente. Historia del Teatro de los Insurgentes.
- Monsiváis, Carlos, 1999. Cantinflas and Tin Tan: Mexico's Greatest Comedians. In Hershfield, Joanne, and Maciel, David R. (Eds.), Mexico's Cinema: A Century of Film and Filmmakers, pp. 49–79. Wilmington, Delaware: Scholarly Resources, Inc. ISBN 0-8420-2681-9
- Morales, Miguel Ángel, 1996. Cantinflas: Amo de las carpas. México: Editorial Clío, Libros y Videos, S. A. de C. V. ISBN 968-6932-58-5
- Novo, Salvador, 1967. Nueva grandeza mexicana. México: Ediciones Era.
- Pilcher, Jeffrey M., 2001. Cantinflas and the chaos of Mexican modernity. Wilmington, Delaware: Scholarly Resources. ISBN 0-8420-2769-6
- Smith, Ronald L. (Ed.), (1992). Who's Who in Comedy pp. 88–89. New York: Facts on File. ISBN 0-8160-2338-7
- ISBN 0-8263-1860-6
External links
- Official website
- Cantinflas at IMDb
- Cantinflas at the ITESM(in Spanish) (archived 25 September 2011)
- Cantinflas Fan site (in Spanish)
- Cantinflas Movie – official Facebook page of the 2014 Biopic Movie Cantinflas (in Spanish)
- Cantinflas Movie Official Page of the 2014 Biopic Movie Cantinflas (in Spanish) (archived 16 December 2013)
- Cantinflas 107th Birthday at Google Doodles