Antonio Moreno: From Biograph to the Black Lagoon

Casual classic movie fans surely know at least two of the later supporting performances of Antonio Moreno (Antonio Monteagudo, 1887-1967); he has memorable roles in the horror classic Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) and John Ford’s The Searchers(1956). From these, however, you might little suspect that he had been a major screen star four decades earlier.

Originally from Madrid Spain, Moreno arrived in Massachusetts at age 14, where he got his first acting experience on stage with Maude Adams. His film career began at Biograph circa 1912, where he played small supporting parts, such as one of the gang members in The Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912). His Latin good looks rapidly got him promoted to lead roles at Vitagraph, where he often starred opposite Norma Talmadge in the mid teens. By the ’20s he was at Famous Players-Lasky and one of Hollywood’s biggest pictures, appearing in things like My American Wife (1921) with Gloria Swanson, The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (1923) with Mary Miles Minter (1923), The Spanish Dancer (1923) with Pola Negri,Beverly of Graustark (1926) with Marion Davies, The Temptress (1926) with Greta Garbo, It (1927) with Clara Bow, and Madame Pompadour (1928) with Dorothy Gish. That is QUITE a list of leading ladies.

When sound arrived, Moreno’s thick accent proved a hindrance to his continued stardom. He found success in Mexican films in the early ’30s, then returned to Hollywood in the middle of the decade as a character actor, often playing Mexicans and Native Americans in westerns, although he was also in such things as The Bohemian Girl (1936) with Laurel and Hardy, and Alfred Hitchcock’sNotorious (1946). Moreno’s last role was in Catch Me If You Can (1959) with Gilbert Roland,Greta Thyssen,Dina Merrill, and — wait for it — Jonathan Harris (who would later star opposite that other great Latin star Guy Williams on Lost in Space).

For more on silent film, please see Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube.