From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Early life
He was born Antonio Rudolfo Oaxaca Quinn in Chihuahua, Chihuahua, Mexico to an Irish father and a Mexican mother, a combination that would later allow him to play many different ethnicities. He grew up in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Quinn left school early (much later, he received his first high school diploma from Tucson High School in Tucson, Arizona in the 1990s), and was a prizefighter and a painter before becoming an actor.
Acting
Quinn launched his film career playing character roles in several 1936 films, including Parole (his debut) and The Milky Way, after a brief stint in the theater. Quinn remained relegated to playing "ethnic" villains in Paramount films through the 1940s. By 1947, he was a veteran of over 50 films and had played everything from Indians, Mafia dons, Hawaiian chiefs, Chinese guerrillas, and comical Arab sheiks, but he was still not a major star. So he returned to the theater, where for three years he found success on Broadway in such roles as Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire.
Upon his return to the screen in the early 1950s, Quinn was cast in a series of B-adventures like Mask of the Avenger (1951). He got one of his big breaks playing opposite Marlon Brando in Elia Kazan's Viva Zapata! (1952). His supporting role as Zapata's brother won Quinn his first Oscar and after that, Quinn was given larger roles in a variety of features. He went to Italy in 1953 and appeared in several films, turning in one of his best performances as a dim-witted, thuggish, and volatile strongman in Federico Fellini's La Strada, having as his main partner the Italian actress Giulietta Anna Masina (1954). Quinn won his second Best Supporting Actor Oscar portraying the painter Gauguin in Vincente Minnelli's Lust for Life (1956). The following year, he received another Oscar nomination for George Cukor's Wild is the Wind.
During the 1950s, Quinn specialized in tough, macho roles, but as the decade ended, he allowed his age to show. His formerly trim physique filled out, his hair grayed, and his once smooth, swarthy face weathered into an appealing series of crags and crinkles. His careworn demeanor made him a convincing Greek resistance fighter in the war film The Guns of Navarone (1961), an ideal ex-boxer in Requiem for a Heavyweight and a natural for the villainous Bedouin he played in Lawrence of Arabia (both 1962). The success of Zorba the Greek in 1964 was the high water mark of Quinn's career during the '60s – it offered him another Oscar nomination – He also started in the title role of John Fowles' The Magus. As the decade progressed, the quality of his film work noticeably diminished.
The 1970s offered little change and Quinn became known as a ham, albeit a well-respected one. In 1971, he starred in the short-lived television drama Man in the City. In 1977, He starred in the movie "The Message" about the origin of Islam, and the message of prophet Mohammad.. His subsequent television appearances were sporadic (among them Jesus of Nazareth).
In 1980 he starred in The Lion of the Desert movie, together with Irene Papas, Oliver Reed, Rod Steiger and John Gielgud. It was about the real-life Bedouin leader Omar Mukhtar (Quinn) who fought Mussolini's Italian troops in the deserts of Libya. The movie (which was produced and directed by late Moustapha Akkad) is now critically acclaimed after initially receiving negative publicity in the West for being partially funded by Libya's Muammar al-Qaddafi, thus its relatively poor performance at the box office.
In 1983 he revisited his most famous characterization when he played in a successful revival of Kander and Ebb's musical version of Zorba, which ran at the Broadway Theatre in New York for 362 performances.
In 1994, he became a semi-regular guest (playing Zeus) on the syndicated Hercules series. Though his film career slowed considerably during the 1990s, Quinn continued to work steadily, appearing in films as diverse as Jungle Fever (1991), Last Action Hero (1993), and A Walk in the Clouds (1995). Shortly after completing his final film role in Avenging Angelo (2001), Anthony Quinn died of respiratory failure at the age of 86 in Boston, Massachusetts.
Family
Quinn proved as volatile and passionate as his screen persona in his personal life. He divorced his wife Katherine, with whom he had three children, in 1956. The following year he embarked on a tempestuous thirty-one-year marriage to costume designer Iolanda Quinn. The union crumbled in 1993 when Quinn had an affair with his secretary that resulted in a baby; the two shared a second child in 1996. In total, Quinn fathered thirteen children, among them Alex A. Quinn, Francesco Quinn, Lorenzo Quinn, and Valentina Quinn, and had three known mistresses.
Painting and Writing
Quinn was a student and friend of Frank Lloyd Wright
In his free time, when he wasn't acting, Quinn continued to paint and became a well-known artist.
Anthony Quinn wrote and co-wrote two memoirs, The Original Sin (1972) and One Man Tango (1997). In the latter, Quinn is candid and apologetic about some of his past's darker moments.
"Camino de Santiago" (1999) (mini) TV Series .... Félix Foulé
Oriundi (1999) .... Giuseppe Padovani
Terra de canons (1999) .... Sr. de Sicart
Gotti (1996) (TV) .... Neil Dellacroce
Seven Servants (1996) .... Archie
Sindaco, Il (1996) .... Antonio Baracano
"Noche de los castillos, La" (1995) TV Series .... Rey Falop
A Walk in the Clouds (1995) .... Don Pedro Aragón
Hercules in the Maze of the Minotaur (1994) (TV) .... Zeus
Hercules in the Underworld (1994) (TV) .... Zeus
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys - Hercules and the Circle of Fire (1994) (TV) .... Zeus
Somebody to Love (1994) .... Emillio
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys - Hercules and the Lost Kingdom (1994) (TV) .... Zeus
Hercules and the Amazon Women (1994) (TV) .... Zeus
This Can't Be Love (1994) (TV) .... Michael Reyman
Last Action Hero (1993) .... Tony Vivaldi
Mobsters (1991) .... Don Giuseppe 'Joe the Boss' Masseria
Jungle Fever (1991) .... Lou Carbone
Only the Lonely (1991) .... Nick Acropolis
A Star for Two (1991)
Ghosts Can't Do It (1990) .... Scott
The Old Man and the Sea (1990) (TV) .... Santiago
Revenge (1990) .... Tiburon 'Tibby' Mendez
Mago, Il (1990) (TV)
Pasión de hombre (1989) .... Maurici
Stradivari (1989) .... Antonio Stradivari
Onassis: The Richest Man in the World (1988) (TV) .... Socrates Onassis
"Isola del tesoro, L'" (1987) (mini) TV Series .... Long John Silver
Valentina (1982) .... Mosen Joaquin
Regina Roma (1982)
High Risk (1981) .... Mariano
Lion of the Desert (1981) .... Omar Mukhtar
Crosscurrent (1981)
The Salamander (1981) .... Bruno Manzini
The Passage (1979) .... The Basque
The Children of Sanchez (1978) .... Jesus Sanchez
Caravans (1978) .... Zulffiqar
The Greek Tycoon (1978) .... Theo Tomasis
"Jesus of Nazareth" (1977) (mini) TV Series .... Caiaphas
Eredità Ferramonti, L' (1976) .... Gregorio Ferramonti
Bluff storia di truffe e di imbroglioni (1976) .... Philip Bang
The Message (1976) .... Hamza
Target of an Assassin (1976) .... Ernest Hobday
The Marseille Contract (1974) .... Steve Ventura
The Don Is Dead (1973) .... Don Angelo
Across 110th Street (1972) .... Capt. Mattelli
Amigos, Los (1972) .... Erastus 'Deaf' Smith
Asesinato de Julio César, El (1972)
The Voice of La Raza (1972) .... Narrator
"The Man and the City" (1971) TV Series .... Thomas Jefferson Alcala (1971-72)
The City (1971) (TV) .... Mayor Thomas Jefferson Alcala
Flap (1970) .... Flapping Eagle
R.P.M. (1970) .... Prof. F.W.J. 'Paco' Perez
Walk in the Spring Rain (1970) .... Will Cade
A Dream of Kings (1969) .... Matsoukas
The Secret of Santa Vittoria (1969) .... Italo Bombolini
The Magus (1968) .... Maurice Conchis
The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968) .... Kiril Lakota
Bataille de San Sebastian, La (1968) .... Leon Alastray
The Happening (1967) .... Roc Delmonico
Vingt-cinquième heure, La (1967) .... Johann Moritz
Avventuriero, L' (1967) .... Peyrol
Lost Command (1966) .... Lt. Col. Pierre Raspeguy
Fabuleuse aventure de Marco Polo, La (1965) .... Kublai Khan, Mongol Emperor of China
A High Wind in Jamaica (1965) .... Captain Chávez
Alexis Zorbas (1964) .... Alexis Zorba
The Visit (1964) .... Serge Miller
Behold a Pale Horse (1964) .... Vinolas
Lawrence of Arabia (1962) .... Auda abu Tayi
Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962) .... Louis 'Mountain' Rivera
Barabbas (1962) .... Barabbas
The Guns of Navarone (1961) .... Col. Andrea Stavros
Portrait in Black (1960) .... Dr. David Rivera
Heller in Pink Tights (1960) .... Tom Healy
Last Train from Gun Hill (1959) .... Craig Belden
Warlock (1959) .... Tom Morgan
The Savage Innocents (1959) .... Inuk
The Black Orchid (1958) .... Frank Valente
Hot Spell (1958) .... John Henry Duval
Wild Is the Wind (1957) .... Gino
The Ride Back (1957) .... Bob Kallen
The River's Edge (1957) .... Ben Cameron
The Wild Party (1956) .... Tom Kupfen
Notre Dame de Paris (1956) .... Quasimodo
Man from Del Rio (1956) .... Dave Robles
Lust for Life (1956) .... Paul Gauguin
Seven Cities of Gold (1955) .... Capt. Gaspar de Portola
The Naked Street (1955) .... Phil Regal
The Magnificent Matador (1955) .... Luís Santos
Ulisse (1955) .... Antinoos
Attila (1954) .... Attila
Strada, La (1954) .... Zampanò
The Long Wait (1954) .... Johnny McBride
Donne proibite (1954) .... Francesco Caserto
Blowing Wild (1953) .... Ward 'Paco' Conway
East of Sumatra (1953) .... Kiang
Ride, Vaquero! (1953) .... José Esqueda
Seminole (1953) .... Osceola/John Powell
City Beneath the Sea (1953) .... Tony Bartlett
Cavalleria rusticana (1953) .... Alfio
Più comico spettacolo del mondo, Il (1953) (uncredited)
Against All Flags (1952) .... Capt. Roc Brasiliano
The World in His Arms (1952) .... Portugee
The Brigand (1952) .... Prince Ramón
Viva Zapata! (1952) .... Eufemio
Mask of the Avenger (1951) .... Viovanni Larocca
The Brave Bulls (1951) .... Raul Fuentes
Tycoon (1947) .... Ricky Vegas
Black Gold (1947) .... Charley Eagle
The Imperfect Lady (1947) .... Jose Martínez
Sinbad the Sailor (1947) .... Emir
California (1946) .... Don Luís Rivera y Hernandez
Back to Bataan (1945) .... Capt. Andrés Bonifácio
Where Do We Go from Here? (1945) .... Chief Badger
China Sky (1945) .... Chen-Ta
Irish Eyes Are Smiling (1944) .... Al Jackson
Roger Touhy, Gangster (1944) .... George Carroll
Ladies of Washington (1944) .... Michael Romanescue
Buffalo Bill (1944) .... Yellow Hand (Cheyenne war chief)
Guadalcanal Diary (1943) .... Pvt. Jesus 'Soose' Alvarez
The Ox-Bow Incident (1943) .... Juan Martínez/Francisco Morez
The Black Swan (1942) .... Wogan
Road to Morocco (1942) .... Mullay Kasim
Larceny, Inc. (1942) .... Leo Dexter
The Perfect Snob (1941) .... Alex Moreno
They Died with Their Boots On (1941) .... Crazy Horse
Bullets for O'Hara (1941) .... Tony Van Dyne, Alias of Tony Millard
Blood and Sand (1941) .... Manola de Palma
Thieves Fall Out (1941) .... Chic Collins
Knockout (1941) .... Mr. Harry Trego
The Texas Rangers Ride Again (1940) .... Joe Yuma
City for Conquest (1940) .... Murray Burns
The Ghost Breakers (1940) .... Ramón
Parole Fixer (1940) .... Francis 'Big Boy' Bradmore
Road to Singapore (1940) .... Caesar
Emergency Squad (1940) .... Nick Buller
Television Spy (1939) .... Forbes
Union Pacific (1939) .... Jack Cordray (Campeau henchman)
King of Chinatown (1939) .... Mike Gordon
Island of Lost Men (1939) .... Chang Tai
King of Alcatraz (1938) .... Lou Gedney
Bulldog Drummond in Africa (1938) .... Fordine (henchman)
Hunted Men (1938) .... Legs
Tip-Off Girls (1938) .... Marty
Dangerous to Know (1938) .... Nicholas 'Nicki' Kusnoff
The Buccaneer (1938) .... Beluche
Daughter of Shanghai (1937) .... Harry Morgan
Partners in Crime (1937) .... Nicholas Mazaney
The Last Train from Madrid (1937) .... Capt. Ricardo Álvarez
Under Strange Flags (1937) (uncredited) .... Rebel Soldier
Waikiki Wedding (1937) .... Kimo
Swing High, Swing Low (1937) .... The Don
Night Waitress (1936) (uncredited) .... Gangster
The Plainsman (1936) .... Cheyenne Indian
Sworn Enemy (1936) (uncredited) .... Gangster
Parole (1936) .... Zingo Browning
The Milky Way (1936) (uncredited) .... Extra
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