ANTHONY QUINN BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:
Anthony Quinn was born with the birth name Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca on April 21st, 1915 in Chihuahua, Mexico to parents Manualea 'Nellie' Oaxaca and Francisco Quinn. His father worked as an assistant cameraman at a movie studio in Los Angeles.
From a young age, Quinn was quite religious and attended a Catholic School having goals to one day become a priest. His life began in El Paso, Texas but later he moved with his parents to Echo Park, Los Angeles, California. He went to St. Hammel Elementary School and then Belvedere Junior High followed by Polytechnic High School and Belmont High. He left school before graduating, but did finally complete his High School education in Arizona at Tucson High School.
Quinn had a natural talent for drawing and painting. He won a variety of art competitions. After graduation to earn money, Quinn would box professionally and also continued to study art and architecture. He studied very briefly under Frank Lloyd Wright and it was at his suggestion that Quinn study acting to help with his speech that Quinn then became interested in a career in performing arts. At this time Quinn had been offered a contract with a film studio, but was not sure if he should take a chance at acting.
Quinn began with working as a stage actor before progressing to films. His first debut role was on, "Parole" (1936) follwed by, "The Milky Way" (1936). Anthony began to get cast in a variety of roles playing everything from a Hawaiian chief, Chines Guerilla, Arab Sheik to an Indian. By 1947, Quinn had allready appeared in over fifty films and his film career was still going strong. Anthony also became a United States citizen this same year.
He did not neglect his stage acting, as he returned tp perform on stage in, "A Streetcar Named Desire" on Broadway. In the 50's he went back to film and this time tried to portray a different type of character. He wanted to show his diversity in Hollywood with various tough guy roles in films such as, "Mask of the Avenger" (1951) and "Viva Zapata" (1952). For this role he won an Oscar and was the first ever Mexican-American to become a recipient of this award. He won his second Oscar for his role on the film, "Lust for Life" (1956) also starring Kirk Douglas, in which he portrayed the painter Gauguin.
Quinn's career was at an all time high, receiving his third Academy nomination for his role on, "Wild is the Wind" (1957). He continued to get chosen for a variety of roles. Quinn was cast in, "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962) and "Zorba the Greek" (1964) which resulted in yet another Oscar nomination.
Even though he was aging, Quinn did not let that stop him from undertaking more challenging roles. Quinn took a chance at television as well with a successful role as a Mayor in the tv movie, "The City" (1971) follwed by the ABC series, "The Man and the City".
Quinn took on a challenging and contreversal role in a film about the origin of Islam, "Mohammad, Messenger of God" (1976), also known as, "The Message". Quinn returned to stage for 362 performances playing Zorba, his most well known role for the musical titled, "Zorba".
Quinn never let go of his interest in art. He would still paint for fun and in the early 80's his work was actually noticed by some gallery's and was exhibited internationally.
As he entered into the 90's and was getting older he slowed down slightly, but continued to take on roles in some films such as, "Revenge" (1990), "Jungle Fever" (1991), "A Walk in the Clouds" (1995) and "Seven Servants" (1996). Quinn was nominated for a Golden Globe for his role on the HBO film, "Gotti" (1996) portraying the character Dellacroce.
Quinn's final film role was on, "Avenging Angelo" released after his death in 2002. He had been suffering from throat cancer and passed away from pnemonia and respiratory failure at the age of eighty six in Boston, Massachusetts on June 3, 2001. Anthony Quinn is buried in a family plot in Bristol, Rhode Island.
Anthony Quinn was married three times throughout his lifetime and fathered numerous children. He first married Katherine DeMille, an actress in 1937 and divorced in 1965. The couple had five children together. He then married a costume designer, Jolanda Addolori in 1966 and fathered three more children with her. This marriage too, ended in divorce in 1997. His final wife was his secretary, Kathy Benvin whom only after fathering a child with her, did he proceed to marry her and they had another child together. His third marriage was his final, remaining together until Quinn passed away. He did have a total of 12 children as he also had two children with Friedel Dunbar, in the mid 70's even though they did not marry.
Anthony Quinn's legacy lives on. He was honored in 1982 by having the Belvedere County Public Library in Los Angeles renamed in his honor and the National Council of La Raza gives out the Anthony Quinn Award for excellence in motion pictures as an ALMA Award.
Filmography
1936 Night Waitress
1936 The Milky Way
1936 Parole
1936 Sworn Enemy
1936 The Plainsman
1937 Swing High, Swing Low
1937 Waikiki Wedding
1937 Under Strange Flags
1937 The Last Train from Madrid
1937 Partners in Crime
1937 Daughter of Shanghai
1938 The Buccaneer
1938 Dangerous to Know
1938 Tip-Off Girls
1938 Hunted Men
1938 Bulldog Drummond in Africa
1938 King of Alcatraz
1939 King of Chinatown
1939 Union Pacific
1939 Island of Lost Men
1939 Television Spy
1940 Emergency Squad
1940 Parole Fixer
1940 Road to Singapore
1940 The Ghost Breakers
1940 City for Conquest
1940 The Texas Rangers Ride Again
1941 Knockout
1941 Thieves Fall Out
1941 Blood and Sand
1941 Bullets for O'Hara
1941 They Died with Their Boots On
1941 The Perfect Snob
1942 Larceny, Inc.
1942 Road to Morocco
1942 The Black Swan
1943 The Ox-Bow Incident
1943 Guadalcanal Diary
1944 Buffalo Bill
1944 Ladies of Washington
1944 Roger Touhy, Gangster
1944 Irish Eyes Are Smiling
1945 China Sky
1945 Where Do We Go from Here?
1945 Back to Bataan
1946 California
1947 Sinbad the Sailor
1947 The Imperfect Lady
1947 Black Gold
1947 Tycoon
1951 The Brave Bulls
1951 Mask of the Avenger
1952 Viva Zapata!
1952 The Brigand
1952 The World in His Arms
1952 Against All Flags
1953 Funniest Show on Earth
1953 Cavalleria rusticana
1953 City Beneath the Sea
1953 Seminole
1953 Ride, Vaquero!
1953 East of Sumatra
1953 Blowing Wild
1954 Angels of Darkness
1954 The Long Wait
1954 La strada
1954 Ulysses
1954 Attila
1955 The Magnificent Matador
1955 The Naked Street
1955 Seven Cities Of Gold
1956 Lust for Life
1956 Man from Del Rio
1956 The Hunchback of Notre Dame
1956 The Wild Party
1957 The River's Edge
1957 The Ride Back
1957 Wild Is the Wind
1958 Hot Spell
1958 The Black Orchid
1959 Warlock
1959 Last Train from Gun Hill
1960 Heller in Pink Tights
1960 The Savage Innocents
1960 Portrait in Black
1961 The Guns of Navarone
1961 Barabbas
1962 Requiem for a Heavyweight
1962 Lawrence of Arabia
1964 The Visit
1964 Behold a Pale Horse
1964 Zorba the Greek
1965 A High Wind in Jamaica
1965 Marco the Magnificent
1966 Lost Command
1967 The Rover
1967 The 25th Hour
1967 Guns for San Sebastian
1968 The Shoes of the Fisherman
1968 The Magus
1969 The Secret of Santa Vittoria
1969 A Dream of Kings
1970 A Walk in the Spring Rain
1970 R. P. M.
1970 Flap
1972 Deaf Smith & Johnny Ears
1972 Arruza
1972 Across 110th Street
1973 The Don Is Dead
1974 The Marseille Contract
1976 Target of an Assassin
1976 The Con Artists
1976 The Inheritance
1976 The Message
1977 Jesus of Nazareth
1978 The Greek Tycoon
1978 Caravans
1978 The Children of Sanchez
1979 The Passage
1981 The Salamander
1981 Crosscurrent
1981 Lion of the Desert
1981 High Risk
1982 Regina Roma
1982 Valentina
1987 L'isola del tesoro (Treasure Island in space)
1989 Stradivari
1989 A Man of Passion
1990 Ghosts Can't Do It
1990 Revenge
1991 A Star for Two
1991 Only the Lonely
1991 Jungle Fever
1991 Mobsters
1993 Last Action Hero
1994 Somebody to Love
1995 A Walk in the Clouds
1995 Gotti
1996 The Mayor
1996 Seven Servants
1999 Land Guns
1999 Oriundi
2002 From Russia to Hollywood: The 100-Year Odyssey of Chekhov and Shdanoff
2001 Avenging Angelo
