Anthony Quinn was an Oscar winning Mexican-American stage, film and television actor, writer and painter. He is best remembered for his roles in the movies 'Viva Zapata!' (1952), 'Lust for Life' (1956), 'Lawrence of Arabia' (1962), 'Zorba the Greek' (1964) and for his role on the television series 'Hercules' which ran in the early 1990s. He also holds the record for being the Oscar winner who has starred in more movies with other Oscar winners than any other Oscar winner. And that's a lot of Oscar winners. Antonion Rudolfo Oaxaca Quinn was born in Chihuahua, Mexico on April 21, 1915. His Irish father and Mexican mother lent him a racial background that allowed him some diversity in the roles he would be able to play as an adult. Though a native to Mexico, he spent most of his childhood growing up in Los Angeles, California in the Boyle Heights area. Dropping out of high school, Quinn pursued work as a boxer and as a painter. He achieved moderate success in both areas, but would not come into prominence until began his acting career in 1936. Quinn's first work was on stage in a number of small roles, though he found bigger roles in the films 'Parole', and 'The Milky Way'. His ethnicity landed him in a number of villain roles throughout the 1940s, that being a period when the darker skinned actor usually played the darker toned roles. His first real breakthrough role came with 'Viva Zapata!' in 1952, starring Marlon Brando. The role won him his first Oscar, for best supporting actor. With an Oscar under his belt, he began getting a better selection of roles, and appeared in a few movies in Italy in the coming years. He won a second best supporting actor Oscar for the movie 'Lust for Life' in 1956. The 1960s offered Quinn a couple of roles that he is arguably best known for. He played the devious Bedouin villain in 'Lawrence of Arabia', and played the lead in 'Zorba the Greek'. His role as Zorba won him an Oscar nomination. Towards the end of the decade, his career seemed to be on a downspin and many people began to loose interest in his work. This trend continued through the 1970s, and Quinn did not make many film appearances. The nature of acting in movies around this time was changing dramatically, and Quinn was something of a relic. His career seemed to breath a little new life in the 80s when he performed in the Broadway musical version of 'Zorba' and starred in the movie 'The Lion of the Desert'. In the 90s he continued to act in a strange variety of movies, including 'Jungle Fever' (1991), and 'Last Action Hero' (1993). His last film role was in the 2001 movie 'Avenging Angelo'. He died shortly after, on June 3rd, 2001, from a respiratory failure. With two Oscars to his name, and countless movies, Anthony Quinn's career was all in all hugely successful, and he will go down in memory as being one of early Hollywood's more versatile actors. |
