Cesar Romero

Cesar Romero
photo by Carl Van Vechten, 1934
Birth name	Cesar Julio Romero, Jr.
Born	February 15 1907(1907--) New York City, USA
Died	January 01 1994 (aged 86) Santa Monica, California, USA
Resting place	Inglewood Park Cemetery, Inglewood, California, USA\
Other name(s)	Butch, Latin from Manhattan
Years active	ca. 1930-1990

Cesar Julio Romero, Jr. (February 15, 1907 – January 1, 1994) was a Cuban-American film and television actor, known for his portrayal of the Joker in the television series Batman.

Biography

Romero was born in New York to wealthy Cuban parents. However that lifestyle would change dramatically when his parents lost their sugar import business and suffered losses in the Stock Market Crash of 1929. Fortunately, Romero's Hollywood earnings allowed him to support his large family, who all followed him to the West Coast, years later. Romero lived on and off with various family members, especially his sister, for the rest of his life.

Romero served admirably in various capacities in the United States Coast Guard in the Pacific for several years during WWII, with fellow Hollywood actors, Gig Young and Richard Cromwell.

Career

Romero played "Latin lovers" in films from the 1930s until the 1950s, usually in supporting roles. Initially, he attracted attention in Hollywood when he starred as Cisco Kid in six westerns made between 1939 and 1941. Romero's skill at both dancing and comedy can be seen in the classic 20th Century Fox films he starred in opposite Carmen Miranda and Betty Grable, such as A Night in Havana and Springtime in the Rockies, in the 1940s.

20th Century Fox, and mogul, Daryl Zanuck personally selected Romero to co-star with Tyrone Power in the Technicolor historical epic, The Captain From Castile (1947), directed by Henry King. While Power played a fictionalized character, Romero played the most famous Conquistador in Spain's conquest of the Americas. It is set in 1519, and sets out the general account of the first stages in the conquest of the Aztecs in Mexico. This film was meant as the vehicle to restart Tyrone Power's career, though many feel that Romero's career benefitted more from it. It was produced on a scale that would not be eclipsed as a visual epic, until years later when the cinema brought on Quo Vadis, The Robe, The Ten Commandments, Ben Hur or even later, Lawrence of Arabia. Romero was able to maintain the aura of "major stardom" for at least 10 years after this major role, as Hernan Cortez. The film was widely seen, and influenced the future depiction of the "Spanish Conquistadors". Countless monuments, logos, commercial art, and text books over the years picked up this forward shift of about 70 years in the armor and headgear of the conquering Spanish adventurers.

Television icon

Cesar Romero in his famous role as the Joker from Batman.

In 1966, Romero again achieved icon status when he played The Joker in ABC-TV's Batman television series. He refused to shave his trademark mustache and so it was covered with white makeup when playing the supervillain throughout the series' run. Romero also portrayed The Joker in the movie version of the show, and his performances as The Joker were an influence for Mark Hamill when he took the role of The Joker in Batman: The Animated Series and its varied follow-ups.

In 1965 Romero played the head of THRUSH in France in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. : (The Never Never Affair). Among Romero's guest star work in the 1970s was a recurring role on the western comedy Alias Smith and Jones, starring Pete Duel and Ben Murphy. Romero played Señor Armendariz, a Mexican rancher feuding with Patrick McCreedy (Burl Ives), the owner of a ranch on the opposite side of the border. He appeared in three episodes. He also appeared as Count Dracula on Rod Serling's Night Gallery.

In the 1970s, Romero portrayed Chico Rodriguez's (Freddie Prinze) absent father in Chico And The Man and later appeared as Peter Stavros in the television series Falcon Crest (1985-1987).

Personal life

Romero always claimed his grandfather on his mother's side was Cuban poet and patriot José Martí although his mother's parents were legally Carmen and Manuel Mantilla with Jose Martí as his godfather. There was some speculation that Maria was fathered by Martí who was a boarder in the Mantilla household but he never claimed Maria as his daughter in his lifetime.

Romero, who never married despite proposing to at least one woman, was known to be gay, even during the more discreet standards of his generation.^[1]

Political views

Romero believed in 'liberation theology,' a political system of Marxism-Christianity, which purports that, despite the fact that Karl Marx called religion 'the opiate of the masses,' religion and communism are still compatible. Romero was very Christian yet still believed in a utopian society whose belief is that Christ's kingdom would be very similar to Marx's envisionment of communism, and held to this belief until his death."^[2][3]

He was a mainstay of the Hollywood social circuit until his death in 1994.

Filmography

References

External links

• Cesar Romero at the Internet Movie Database
• Cesar Romero at Find A Grave
• Cesar Romero at The 1966 Batman TV Villains
• Cesar Romero's death certificate at findadeath.com

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