Ramón Novarro

Infobox actor
bgcolour = Silver
name = Ramón Novarro


imagesize = 200px
caption =
Photo by Carl Van Vechten

birthname = José Ramón Gil Samaniego
birthdate = Birth date|1899|2|6
location = Durango, Durango, Mexico
deathdate = Death date and age|1968|10|30|1899|2|6
deathplace = North Hollywood, California, United States
othername = "The New Valentino"
yearsactive = 1917-1965
spouse = Never married
homepage =
notable role = Ben Hur (1926)
as "Judah Ben Hur"
academyawards =
emmyawards =
tonyawards =

Ramón Novarro (February 2, 1899 - October 30, 1968) was a Mexican actor who achieved fame as a "Latin lover" in silent films.

Biography

Born José Ramón Gil Samaniego in Durango, Durango, Mexico, he moved with his family to Los Angeles, California, U.S., to escape the Mexican Revolution. A cousin of actress Dolores del Río, he entered films in 1917 playing bit parts, and supplemented his income by working as a singing waiter. His friends, the actor and director Rex Ingram and his wife, the actress Alice Terry, began to promote him as a rival to Rudolph Valentino and Ingram suggested he change his name to "Novarro". From 1923, he began to play more prominent roles. His role in "Scaramouche" (1923), brought him his first major success.

In 1925, he achieved his greatest success in "Ben-Hur", with his revealing costumes causing a sensation, and Novarro was elevated into the Hollywood elite. With Valentino's death in 1926, he became the screen's leading Latin actor, though ranked behind his MGM stablemate, John Gilbert, as a model lover. He was popular as a swashbuckler in action roles, and was also considered one of the great romantic lead actors of his day.

He appeared with Norma Shearer in "The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg" (1927) and appeared with Joan Crawford in "Across to Singapore" in 1928. A silent still shown occasionally on television is his 1929 "The Flying Fleet", an energetic story of early naval aviation. He made his first talking film, starring as a singing French soldier, in "Devil-May-Care" (1929). He starred with Greta Garbo in "Mata Hari" in 1932 and was a qualified success opposite Myrna Loy in "The Barbarian" (1933).

His star began to fade. When his contract with MGM Studios expired in 1935, the studio did not renew it. Novarro continued to act sporadically, appearing in a couple of films for Republic Pictures, a Mexican religious drama, and a French comedy. Later in the 1940s, he had several small roles in American films. A Broadway tryout was aborted in the 1960s, though Novarro kept busy on television, appearing in "The High Chaparral" as late as 1968.

At the peak of his success in the late 1920s and early 1930s, he was earning more than US$100,000 per film. He invested some of his income in real estate. After his career ended, he was still able to maintain a comfortable lifestyle.

There are rumors that MGM mogul Louis B. Mayer tried to coerce Novarro into a "lavender marriage", which he refused. However, some— including Novarro biographer André Soares— assert that there is no evidence that Mayer tried to coerce Novarro into a contractual marriage. Novarro had been troubled all his life as a result of his conflicting views over his Roman Catholic religion and his homosexuality.citation |last=Holliday |first=Peter J |title=Novarro, Ramon (1899-1968) |periodical=glbtq.com |url=http://www.glbtq.com/arts/novarro_r.html |accessdate=2007-11-01] He was a friend of adventurer and author Richard Halliburton.

Novarro was murdered by two teenage brothers, Tom and Paul Ferguson, whom he had hired from an agency to come to his Laurel Canyon home for sex. According to the prosecution in the murder case, the two young men believed that a large sum of money was hidden in Novarro's house. The prosecution accused them of torturing Novarro for several hours to force him to reveal where the nonexistent money was hidden. They left with a mere twenty dollars they took from his bathrobe pocket before fleeing the scene. Novarro allegedly died as a result of asphyxiation, choking to death on his own blood after being brutally beaten. He was buried in Calvary Cemetery in Los Angeles. The two brothers were later caught and sentenced to long prison terms, but were quickly released on probation. Both were later rearrested for unrelated crimes, for which they served longer terms than for their murder conviction. This event served as the influence for the short story by Charles Bukowski, "The Murder of Ramon Vasquez".

Ramón Novarro has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame commemorating his contribution to the Motion Picture industry, at 6350 Hollywood Boulevard.

In late 2005, the Wings Theatre in New York City staged the world premiere of "Through a Naked Lens" by George Barthel. The play combined fact and fiction to depict Novarro's rise to fame and a relationship with Hollywood journalist Herbert Howe.

Novarro's relationship with Herbert Howe is discussed in two biographies: Allan R. Ellenberger's "Ramon Novarro" and André Soares's "Beyond Paradise: The Life of Ramon Novarro".

Partial filmography

*"The Little American" (1917)
*"The Prisoner of Zenda" (1922)
*"Scaramouche" (1923)
*"Thy Name Is Woman" (1924)
*"The Red Lily" (1924)
*"The Midshipman" (1925)
*"Ben-Hur" (1925)
*"The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg" (1927)
*"Across to Singapore" (1928)
*"Call of the Flesh" (1930)
*"Mata Hari" (1931)
*"Huddle (1932)
*"The Barbarian" (1933)
*"The Cat and the Fiddle" (1934)
*"We Were Strangers" (1949)
*"The Big Steal" (1949)
*"Crisis" (1950)
*"Heller in Pink Tights" (1960)

References

External links

* [http://www.ramonnovarro.com/ Ramón Novarro Homepage]
* [http://silentgents.com/PNovarro1.html Ramón Novarro Photo Gallery]
*imdb|0003895
* [http://film.virtual-history.com/person.php?personid=616 Photographs of Ramon Novarro]
* [http://www.altfg.com/blog/actors/ramon-novarro-lloyd-wright-home/ Ramon Novarro's Lloyd Wright home]

Persondata
NAME= Novarro, Ramón
ALTERNATIVE NAMES= Samaniego, José Ramón Gil
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Actor
DATE OF BIRTH= 1899-2-6
PLACE OF BIRTH= Durango, Durango, Mexico
DATE OF DEATH= 1968-10-30
PLACE OF DEATH= North Hollywood, CA U.S.