Quinn, Anthony (1915–2001)

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Quinn, Anthony (1915–2001)

Anthony Quinn's personal story is as legendary as many of the roles he played on film. He was born Antonio Rudolfo Oaxaca Quinn in Chihuahua, Mexico, on May 21, 1915. His Mexican-Indian mother, Manuela Oaxaca, and half-Irish father, Frank Quinn, both followed Pancho Villa's forces in the Mexican Revolution. The confusion of the war caused his parents to become separated when Antonio was only eight months old, after which his mother escaped to El Paso, Texas, and did not reconnect with her husband until nearly three years later. The Quinn family made the trek to Southern California, settling in the Boyle Heights and Echo Park neighborhoods of Los Angeles. Quinn grew up tough but also had experiences that tapped into his many talents. He began sculpting at age nine and later won a competition for a bust of Abraham Lincoln. He studied under Frank Lloyd Wright after winning a prize for architectural design during his junior year in high school. He would continue his artistic pursuits for the rest of his life, and in his later years he became rather well known as a painter and sculptor.

One of Quinn's early films, The Plainsman (1936), also forecast his future. He played a Native American, anticipating his frequent casting as swarthy ethnic "others." Additionally, the film was directed by Cecil B. DeMille, whose daughter, Katherine, Quinn married in 1937. Their nearly thirty-year union produced five children and also allowed Quinn to move in the upper echelons of Hollywood society. He did not become a naturalized U.S. citizen until 1947, so he did not fight in World War II, which opened up his acting prospects as he was available to work when others were off serving in the military.

Besides DeMille, Quinn worked with many important directors, including Elia Kazan and Federico Fellini. In 1953 he won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for Viva Zapata! (1952), the first Mexican American actor to receive an Academy Award, and another in 1957 for Lust for Life (1956). He was also nominated for Oscars for Best Lead Actor for Wild Is the Wind (1957) and Alexis Zorbas (a.k.a. Zorba the Greek, 1964) During the 1960s he made a number of films in Europe, mainly spaghetti westerns, and in the 1990s, when he was already in his eighties, he still had an active career, mainly in television. He died on June 3, 2001. Quinn's career spanned an amazing sixty-six years with the posthumous release of Avenging Angelo (2002).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cárdenas, Jaime, Jr. "Brusque and Exotic: Anthony Quinn, National Identity, and Masculinity, 1951–1966." Southern Quarterly 39, no. 4 (2001): 175-188.

García Jerez, Silvia, and Miguel Juan Payán. Anthony Quinn. Las Rozas, Madrid: Dastin, 2003.

Caryn C. Connelly

Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture