Fortino Mario Moreno y Reyes, known casually as Mario Moreno and
professionally as Cantinflas (12 August 1911 â€" 20 April 1993), was a
Mexican film actor, producer, and screenwriter. He is considered to
have been the most accomplished Mexican comedian and is celebrated
throughout Latin America and in Spain. His humor, loaded with Mexican
linguistic features of intonation, vocabulary, and syntax, is beloved
in all the Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America and in Spain
and has given rise to a range of expressions including cantinflear,
cantinflada, cantinflesco, and cantinflero.Though some of his films
were translated into English and French, the word games so particular
in Mexican Spanish were difficult to translate. He often portrayed
impoverished farmers or a peasant of pelado origin. The character
allowed Cantinflas to establish a long, successful film career that
included a foray into Hollywood. Charlie Chaplin once commented that
he was the best comedian alive, and Moreno has been referred to as the
"Charlie Chaplin of Mexico". To audiences in most of the world, he is
best remembered as co-starring with David Niven in the Academy Award
winner for Best Picture film Around the World in 80 Days, for which
Moreno won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor â€" Motion Picture
Musical or Comedy.As a pioneer of the cinema of Mexico, Moreno helped
usher in its golden era. In addition to being a business leader, he
also became involved in Mexico's tangled and often dangerous labor
politics. His reputation as a spokesperson for the downtrodden gave
his actions authenticity and became important in the early struggle
against charrismo, the one-party government's practice of co-opting
and controlling unions.
professionally as Cantinflas (12 August 1911 â€" 20 April 1993), was a
Mexican film actor, producer, and screenwriter. He is considered to
have been the most accomplished Mexican comedian and is celebrated
throughout Latin America and in Spain. His humor, loaded with Mexican
linguistic features of intonation, vocabulary, and syntax, is beloved
in all the Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America and in Spain
and has given rise to a range of expressions including cantinflear,
cantinflada, cantinflesco, and cantinflero.Though some of his films
were translated into English and French, the word games so particular
in Mexican Spanish were difficult to translate. He often portrayed
impoverished farmers or a peasant of pelado origin. The character
allowed Cantinflas to establish a long, successful film career that
included a foray into Hollywood. Charlie Chaplin once commented that
he was the best comedian alive, and Moreno has been referred to as the
"Charlie Chaplin of Mexico". To audiences in most of the world, he is
best remembered as co-starring with David Niven in the Academy Award
winner for Best Picture film Around the World in 80 Days, for which
Moreno won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor â€" Motion Picture
Musical or Comedy.As a pioneer of the cinema of Mexico, Moreno helped
usher in its golden era. In addition to being a business leader, he
also became involved in Mexico's tangled and often dangerous labor
politics. His reputation as a spokesperson for the downtrodden gave
his actions authenticity and became important in the early struggle
against charrismo, the one-party government's practice of co-opting
and controlling unions.
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