Infante, Pedro (1917–1957)

Pedro Infante (b. 18 November 1917; d. 15 April 1957), Mexican actor and singer. Born in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, Infante learned the trade of carpentry, then made a guitar and taught himself music. In 1939, while in Mexico City, he began his singing career on the radio. He was "discovered" by the director Ismael Rodríguez and cast in the film La feria de las flores (1942). One year later he became a major star in ¡Viva mi desgracia! He starred in a total of forty-five films, including Nosotros los pobres (1947), Ustedes los ricos (1948), Escuela de vagabundos (1954), Dicen que soy mujeriego (1948), Las Islas Marías (1950), Ahi viene Martín Corona (1951), and Dos tipos de cuidado (1952). A versatile actor who performed comedy and drama with equal distinction, Infante has attained the status of a cultural icon in Mexico.

See alsoCinema: From the Silent Film to 1990 .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

E. Bradford Burns, Latin American Cinema: Film and History (1975).

John King, Magical Reels: A History of Cinema in Latin America (1990).

Carl J. Mora, Mexican Cinema: Reflections of a Society: 1896–1980 (1982).

Luis Reyes De La Maza, El cine sonoro en México (1973).

Additional Bibliography

García, Gustavo. No me parezco a nadie: La vida de Pedro Infante. Mexico City: Clío: Espejo de Obsidiana, 1994.

Rubenstein, Ann. "Bodies, Cities, Cinema: Pedro Infante's Death as Political Spectacle." In Fragments of a Golden Age: The Politics of Culture in Mexico since 1940. Joseph, Gil, Anne Rubenstein, and Eric Zolov, editors. Durham: Duke University Press, 2001.

                                           David Maciel