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Hispanics In The Film Industry

During the era of Frank Sinatra's and Esther Williams' being Hispanic in the film

industry was a struggle. Most were forced to change their names, accept roles as

members of other ethnic groups, and pretend to be of European descent. Dolores Del Rio

took a huge role in Hollywood. From 1925 through 1929 she starred in fifteen silent

films and still had yet to learn English. Her roles included her portrayal of French,

Russian, Polynesian, Indian and Italian women. During the cold-war era Del Rio was

barred from the United States for having aided anti-Franco refugees from the Spanish

civil war. She left Hollywood and throughout the forties and fifties worked in the

Mexican film industry and took part in introducing the fledging Mexican cinema to

international audiences.

Ricardo Montalban worked his way from Broadway, to Mexican Cinema, and

finally to Hollywood. His appearances in Hollywood films were never as a hero. In

Latin films he often played the lead role and hero but in Hollywood he was limited to the

portrayal of a Latin lover, a victim or the hero of the movies' right-hand man. His

characters ranged from Indians, Japanese warlords, French dukes, Italian lovers, and

priests. In the film "Neptune's Daughter," starring Esther Williams, Montalban marks

the first time a Latin actor pursues a romantic relationship with an Anglo and it became a

highly significant film for this reason. From the forties through the sixties Hispanic

actors were not profoundly accepted into the mainstream of Hollywood movie making,

few won critical acclaim and none received awards. Montalban founded Nosotros to

promote equal opportunities for Hispanic American actors and sponsored the golden

eagle awards to recognize their performances. After a thirty year career of steady

employment in the film industry Montalban found work became much harder to find with

a visible role as an equal...