Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month - Part I: Trailblazers in Film and TV

Hispanic heritage covers a huge swath of ethnicities and cultures. It would be difficult to identify and summarize all the contributions of Hispanic artists, but we will do our best to highlight a few Latinx all-stars in the film and television industry in a three part blog series dedicated to commemorate Hispanic Heritage Month!

In part one below, we shine the spotlight on some trailblazing actors and actresses in the film and television industry. In part two, read about some game-changing Hispanic filmmakers, and in part three find out more about actors and actresses coming soon to a screen near you.

Trailblazers in Film and Television

In the early days of Hollywood, the studio system ruled supreme. Most major studios were hesitant to issue contracts to actors of color or actors with foreign accents, but in the 1940s Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) took a chance on two Latino stars: Mexican Ricardo Montalbán and Argentinian Fernando Lamas.

In September of 1945, when MGM signed Montalbán to co-star with Esther Williams in the film "Fiesta," The New York Times covered this stunning news with the headline "MEXICAN IS SIGNED FOR LEAD IN FILM." Montalbán continued to act into the 21st century, with memorable roles including Mr. Roarke on "Fantasy Island" and the villainous Khan on the original "Star Trek" and in the 1982 film "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan."

Lamas had a prolific film career followed by success directing episodes of popular television programs, including "Falcon Crest," featuring his son Lorenzo Lamas. He also inspired a very memorable "Saturday Night Live" recurring sketch featuring Billy Crystal.

Around the same time that Montalbán and Lamas signed their studio contracts, Puerto Rican actor José Ferrer began breaking barriers on both stage and screen. In 1947, at the first Tony Awards, he won the top prize Best Actor in a Play for his portrayal of the title character in "Cyrano de Bergerac." Several years later, he won an Academy Award for Best Actor for the 1950 film version of the play, making him the first Hispanic actor to win an Oscar. In 1952, he directed and starred in the Broadway play "The Shrike" and went on to win Tonys for both his acting and directing. That same year, he portrayed French artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in John Huston's Technicolor drama "Moulin Rouge." His list of achievements goes on and on.

In 1952, Ferrer's contemporary Anthony Quinn was also on top of the acting world. The Mexican-born actor co-starred with Marlon Brando in Elia Kazan's Western "Viva Zapata!" and would win an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor the following year. The film about Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata included very few Mexican actors, with Kazan opting instead to use makeup on American actors, as was a common practice in the 1950s. Four years later, Quinn won a second Oscar in the same category for his performance as French artist Paul Gauguin in the 1956 Vincent Van Gogh biopic "Lust for Life." Off-camera, Quinn supported various social causes related to Latinos and other minorities. In 1971, he discussed his experience with discrimation and prejudice in the documentary film "Voice of La Raza," produced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Another legend also shared personal experiences in the documentary – Rita Moreno.

Moreno is one of just 17 people to win the four most prestigious acting awards, collectively known as the EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony). Moreno won her Oscar for her performance as Anita in 1961's "West Side Story." The Puerto Rican actress was the only Hispanic performer in the film. Since then, she has stayed busy and earned countless additional accolades, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the National Medal of Arts, a Kennedy Center Honors Lifetime Award, and a Peabody Career Achievement Award.

Around the same time that Ferrer and Quinn were finding success (and Moreno was getting her feet wet with a bit part in "Singin' in the Rain"), a Cuban-born bandleader was about to become a household name.

Desi Arnaz fled Cuba as a teenager following the 1933 revolution. His family settled in Miami, where he formed several bands, including the Desi Arnaz Orchestra. They attracted a following in New York, and in 1939 he made it to Broadway, debuting in the Rodgers and Hart musical "Too Many Girls." He met his future wife Lucille Ball on the set of the 1940 film adaption, and the rest is history. In 1951, "I Love Lucy" premiered on CBS, and Arnaz became America's first Cuban star. CBS executives did not think his accent or style would resonate with American viewers, but the show was a huge success, running for 180 episodes until 1957. Arnaz and Ball remained on television for another three years with "The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour."

Around this time, half a million Cubans began migrating to Miami as Fidel Castro rose to power. Among those migrants was five-year-old Andy Garcia, who in 1991 would become the first Cuban-born actor nominated for an Oscar, for his role in 1990's "The Godfather Part III." A few years later, he cemented his status with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

So many other contemporary trailblazers are worth mentioning, but sticking with Oscars history (and going back to married couples), Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem must be highlighted. Cruz is the first and only Spanish actress to be nominated for an Academy Award in an acting category, and the first to win (Best Supporting Actress for 2008's "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"). Bardem is the first Spanish actor to be nominated for an Academy Award (Best Actor for 2000's "Before Night Falls") and the first and only Spanish actor to win (Best Supporting Actor for 2007's "No Country for Old Men").

Both actors have also collaborated with game-changing Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar. Learn more about Almodóvar and other Hispanic filmmakers in part two of our series later this week!