Cantinflas

Mario Moreno , born Mario Fortino Alfonso Moreno Reyes and professionally known by the nickname Cantinflas , was an important actor , producer, and screenwriter for many films belonging to the Mexican comedy genre . He was born in an early 20th century in Mexico City and began his acting career in a circus tent. One night, he performed a routine that featured a combination of skits, mispronunciation, wild exaggeration, and mimicry. Realizing his potential, he clung to it and became very popular. He later gained popularity with his famous Cantinflas character, an impoverished peasantwho wears his pants tied with a rope, a coat and an old hat. He managed to turn his character into an iconic figure not only in Mexico , but also in other parts of Latin America and the world. He later became world famous for his portrayal of Passepartout in the epic Hollywood movie ” Around the World in 80 Days .” Although he was often referred to as the “Charlie Chaplin of Mexico”, Chaplin himself once referred to him as the greatest comedian of the day.

Cantinflas biography

Mario Fortino Alfonso Moreno Reyes was born on August 12, 1911 in a simple neighborhood in the Santa María la Ribera neighborhood of Mexico City . His father, Pedro Moreno Esquivel, was a postal carrier and his mother’s name was María de la Soledad Reyes Guízar. Despite the lack of resources, Mario’s parents enrolled him in a good school for him to study. However, he was more interested in seeing street plays and, when he grew up, he tried to imitate the actors. At the age of fifteen, his parents sent him to a government agricultural school; but escaped to Jalapa where he joined a circus tent place where he began his career as an actor. However, he knew that his parents would never approve of him and so he started looking for a name so he took Cantinflas as his stage name.

Cantinflas relationships

In 1934 he met the Russian-born actress named Valentina Ivanova Subarev , whom he married on October 27 of the same year and they adopted their only son, Mario Arturo Moreno Ivanova . Some comments arose from this situation, as many said that the boy had been the product of an extra-marital relationship with the artist Marion Roberts .

Death

Mario Moreno died of lung cancer on April 20, 1993 in Mexico City. His funeral was declared a great national event , which lasted for three days. Despite heavy rains and bad weather, thousands of people attended the ceremony and funeral services for the great Mexican artist, even the United States Senate observed a moment of silence for him.

Cantinflas offspring

His only son was Mario Moreno Ivanova who married twice. The first time she had two children and in her second marriage she had three, who were Cantinflas’s grandchildren. Also, Cantinflas had a nephew, Eduardo Moreno Laparade , who fought for the rights to several films.

Cantinflas Featured Movies

In 1939, Post Films began producing a series of short series of Cantinflas as the main character. Played by Moreno, whose stage name was also Cantinflas, the character became almost iconic. Some of his main films are:

• ” There is the detail “, where he acted as the protagonist and was released on September 11, 1940.
• “The Unknown Gendarme ” in 1941.
• ” Neither Blood nor Sand ” in 1941, which was a great success. The film broke box office records for all Mexican films in Spanish-speaking countries.
• ” The Three Musketeers “, in August 1942, was another of his most important films. In it, Cantinflas dreamed that he was D’Artagnan fighting for Queen Anne
• In 1956, he was offered the role of Passepartout in the movie called ” Around the World in 80 Days “. It was his first Hollywood movie and he co-starred with David Niven.
• ” The street sweeper “, in 1981.

Famous phrases

Some famous phrases by Cantinflas were:

• Something bad must have the job or the rich would have already hoarded it.
• I love, you love, he loves, we love, you love, they love. I wish it were not conjugation but reality!
• I do the difficult immediately, the impossible takes a little longer.
• I have a question: is everything very expensive or is it that I am poor?
• Political power is simply the organized power of one class to oppress another.
• As that great poet said, who said nothing because they didn’t give him time, but as “Chicaspear” said, the “ philosophy ” of life is “to be or not to be” which means “I saw you or not”.
• How do you say you told me you said?

Acknowledgments

In 1957, Mario received the Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Comedy or Musical Film for his role as Passepartout in “Around the World in 80 Days .” He managed to get a star on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood on February 8, 1960. He was also awarded the Special Prize Ariel in 1952 and the Prix Golden Ariel in 1987 by the Mexican Academy of Film . This award is considered the most prestigious in the Mexican film industry.