The first Latin boom in Hollywood was perhaps one of the most impressive ones. There was a bundle of actors who owned the screen with their charisma. Alongside this boom, stereotypes about non-white people, and of course that doesn’t exclude Latinx, started to take shape.
As you may surmise, one of the most famous was “The Latin Lover.” In this post, we will talk about this stereotype and some notable pioneers who established it. These were predominantly non-Anglo men who made their mark in a majorly white industry. So, tip of the hat to them.
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What is the Latin Lover Stereotype
The Latin Lover is often an exotic character who is introduced in the life of the female lead. It is predicted that his destiny will be fulfilled upon the success of his romantic endeavors. He wreaks all kinds of havoc in her life. He is handsome, forthcoming, flirtatious, and mysterious.
Notable Actors Playing the Latin Lover
There are several notable actors who have passed the baton executing this American fantasy. Let’s discuss some of those.
Antonio Moreno
It started with this man, a Spaniard by the name of Antonio Moreno, deemed the true architect of the Latin lover role, with his dark features and expressive face, he was a natural.
Funny enough, the Latin lover did not originate from Latins themselves; Europeans gave shape to this Latin image, whereas Moreno is the architect of the Latin lover.
Rudolf Valentino
We may say that Rudolf Valentino was the founder. Valentino, who was Italian, passed away in 1926. He was known for his distant personal style, wearing makeup, and his refined European taste. Women went crazy over him.
You can even see the swarms of women attending his funeral. egend has it that a portion of his female fans ended it all in the wake of learning of his passing.
From the second Valentino showed up in “The Four Horsemen of the End of the world,” he was a star. Studio heads tied Valentino, the Latin lover, as an explanation to his persona; the Latin lover suddenly became a thing in Hollywood.
Ramon Novarro
Ramon Novarro, whose genuine name was Jose Ramon Samaniego, who played the lead spot in “Ben-Hur” in 1926, a significant blockbuster of its time in the quiet period.
Novarro starred in several other films, even acting opposite Norma Shearer, and Joan Crawford, and doing some talking with his melodious speaking voice alongside Greta Garbo in “Mata Hari,” one of the few times he got to use it and record it.
Novarro inherited Valentino’s Latin lover mantle for Latin Americans in the 1920s. The Latin lover evoked central sights, and as opposed to the bandit and the greaser, who were depicted as non-whites, as racialized others, the Latin lover could potentially be assimilated and become white. His trademark was a sweaty complexion, narrow lips, dark hair, and passionate eyes.
Gilbert Roland
There was another, perhaps unwilling candidate who was just on the verge of rising to stardom to fill that Latin lover void around the time of Valentino’s passing. That actor, who is perhaps, you may say, cursed by his good looks, was Mexican actor Gilbert Roland, whose real name was Luis Antonio Damaso de Alonso.
He coincidentally got a part in “The Migrant Ship” in 1925, which also starred Novarro. Novarro’s family had known Gilbert Roland’s family before they and Novarro moved out of Mexico. When Gilbert started his first leading roles in 1926, “The Blonde Saint” and later “Camille,” both films were not available to the public due to preservation issues.
Summing Up
Rarely during this period did an actual Latin American actor play a Latin lover; instead, he might be Italian, as was Valentino, or Spaniard, as was Antonio Moreno, or even Hungarian, as was Ricardo Cortez.
It was somehow a double-edged sword because while it guaranteed larger roles in movies, often the lead role, it also meant that he would spend a good deal of time playing stereotypical Latin lovers.