Anthony Quinn
Anthony Quinn

Anthony Quinn

Quinn was born Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca in Chihuahua, Mexico, during the Mexican Revolution. His mother, Manuela "Nellie" Oaxaca, was of Aztec ancestry. His father, Francisco (Frank) Quinn, was also born in Mexico, to an Irish immigrant father from County Cork and a Mexican mother. Frank Quinn rode with Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa, then later moved to the East Los Angeles neighborhood of City Terrace and became an assistant camera man at a movie studio. In Quinn's autobiography The Original Sin: A Self-portrait by Anthony Quinn he denied being the son of an "Irish adventurer" and attributed that tale to Hollywood publicists. Quinn grew up first in El Paso, Texas, and later the Boyle Heights and the Echo Park areas of Los Angeles, California. He attended Hammel Street Elementary School, Belvedere Junior High School, Polytechnic High School and finally Belmont High School in Los Angeles, with future baseball player and General Hospital star John Beradino, but left before graduating. Tucson High School in Arizona, many years later, awarded him an honorary high school diploma. After a short time performing on the stage, Quinn launched his film career performing character roles in the 1936 films Parole (his debut) and The Milky Way. He played "ethnic" villains in Paramount films such as Dangerous to Know (1938) and Road to Morocco, and played a more sympathetic Crazy Horse in They Died with Their Boots On with Errol Flynn. By 1947, he had appeared in over 50 films and had played Indians, Mafia dons, Hawaiian chiefs, Filipino freedom-fighters, Chinese guerrillas, and Arab sheiks, but was still not a major star. He returned to the theater, playing Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire on Broadway. In 1947, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States. He came back to Hollywood in the early 1950s, specializing in tough roles. He was cast in a series of B-adventures such as Mask of the Avenger (1951). His big break came from playing opposite Marlon Brando in Elia Kazan's Viva Zapata! (1952). Quinn wanted to play the lead role of Zapata but Brando, coming off his recent success in the film Streetcar Named Desire, was Kazan's first choice. However, his supporting role as Zapata's brother won Quinn an Oscar while Brando lost the Oscar for Best Actor to Gary Cooper in High Noon. He was the first Mexican-American to win any Academy Award. Anthony Quinn died June 3, 2001(2001-06-03) (aged 86), Boston, Massachusetts, United States. As a Mexican national (he did not become an American citizen until 1947). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Quinn http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000063/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

Area: Central / Chihuahuita

Source: El Paso County Historical Society

Reference ID: 013-1998-013

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Comments

Add a comment
Thank you for your comment

Report this entry

Choose the most important reason for this report

Your name

Your email address

Optional detail

Thank you for your report

More from the same community-collection

Helix Garden - El Paso, Texas

Designed to communicate healing and wellness, Helix Garden is ...

Gayle Hunt Baby Cafe

A Baby Café breastfeeding drop-in center is a place of ...

Gayle Hunt Baby Cafe Support

The Gayle Hunt Baby Cafe is supported in part by the William ...

Gayle Greve Hunt School of Nursing

The Topping Ceremony for the Hunt School of Nursing in Central ...

Hunt Family Foundation Donates to UTEP - El Paso, Texas

In the single largest gift to date in The University of Texas at ...

Hunts with Rick Perry

Mr. Woody L. Hunt, Governor Rick Perry, and Mrs. Gayle Hunt at ...

Woody & Gayle Hunt Family Pediatric Intensive Care Unit

The generous $1 million dollar gift of the Hunt family named the ...

El Paso Children's Hospital

Since 1987, the Hunt Family Foundation (the "Foundation") has ...

Woody and Gayle Hunt

Texas Tech University System Chancellor Kent Hance has announced ...

Woody Hunt: Formula for Success

Financed by many of El Paso’s biggest names in business, a ...

MCA Foundation Reception

The Medical Center of the Americas Foundation hosted a reception ...

Kids Excel

Since 1987, the Hunt Family Foundation (the "Foundation") has ...

Woody & Gayle Hunt Family Pediatric Intensive Care Unit

The generous $1 million dollar gift of the Hunt family named the ...

Reception for Dr. Jeanne Novotny

Community leaders and government officials met the founding dean ...

St. Ignatius' School First Grade Class

St. Ignatius Parish was the third church founded by Padre Pinto ...

Mural of Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl - El Paso, Texas

Segundo Barrio Mural Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl. It's ...

Family

Spending time together.

Princesses

Children at play near the El Paso Museum of History. Children ...

Fam bam

Little family at history museum

Easter - 2016

Park - children at play near the El Paso Museum of History.

Muah

Easter - 2016 - photograph of family near the digital wall in El ...

The Virgin Mary, circa 2015

Me and my daughter in the segundo barrio. I took her down their ...

home.search_collection