- Born
- Died
- Birth nameFortino Mario Alfonso Moreno Reyes
- Height5′ 5¾″ (1.67 m)
- Cantinflas, born Mario Moreno as the son of a Mexican postal employee, was a prolific and productive Mexican comedian/producer/writer/singer who also knew a fair bit about agriculture and medicine. He was married to Valentina Ivanova from 1936 until her death. He appeared in more than 55 films, including (as Passepartout) Around the World in 80 Days (1956).- IMDb Mini Biography By: Rudi Polt / rudipolt@aol.com
- Cantinflas, born Mario Moreno as the son of a Mexican postal employee, studied agriculture and later medicine but often sneaked out of class to sing and dance in the streets until one day he ran away and joined a carpa travelling company where he learned to sing, dance, acrobat, prize fight and clown. He sent money to his family but didn't want them to know what he was doing so created the name Cantinflas for himself which as a noun means 'lovable clown' and as a verb means 'to talk too much but say little'. He moved to Mexican Revue Theatres and in 1940 was seen by a film distributor who with another formed Posa Films. Each new film was a bigger success. The character he built up was that of a poor man who succeeds in spite of himself and although he manages to emerge triumphant from complicated difficulties he remained a man of the poor people. He was the only personality who could consistently fill the world's largest bull ring at Mexico City with a capacity of 50,000.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Tonyman 5
- SpouseValentina Ivanova(October 27, 1934 - January 5, 1966) (her death, 1 child)
- Children
- ParentsPedro Moreno EsquivelSoledad Reyes Guízar
- RelativesBernardo Moreno Moreno(Grandparent)Zeferina Esquivel(Grandparent)Leonidas Reyes(Grandparent)Lugarda Guízar Morfín(Grandparent)José Eufemio Moreno Reyes(Sibling)Enrique Moreno Reyes(Sibling)Pedro Cleto Marcelino Moreno Reyes(Sibling)Mario Patricio "Pato" Moreno Bernat(Grandchild)
- His comedy routine consisted of engaging in drawn-out, nonsensical chatter
- Long strip of black cloth over his shoulder (his character describes it as his "gabardina", or trench coat)
- Two-piece mustache with wide, clean-shaven gap in the middle
- In his early films, he frequently refers to another character as "chato" (flat-nosed man) or "chango" (male monkey)
- Baggy pants
- Despite the fact that Cantinflas died a millionaire several times over, and was one of the biggest stars ever in Spanish language films, he never forgot where he came from. Much of his money was given over to charitable work, including high-quality, low-income housing for Mexico City's poor. When he died, he was hailed as a national hero, and a protracted period of official mourning followed.
- Was once described as "the world's greatest comedian" by none other than Charles Chaplin.
- He is responsible for more than one word that is in the modern Spanish language dictionary, including the verb "Cantinflear", which roughly means to talk a lot but say nothing of substance.
- In his youth, he earned money as a prizefighter and worked as an acrobat in circus tent shows. At the peak of his career in the late 1950s, Cantinflas was earning more than $1.5 million a year and was referred to in press releases as the world's highest-paid comedian.
- There's no real consensus on how Mario Moreno Reyes adopted his more familiar professional name. One story goes that he did not want to shame his family, who thought of show business as a less than respectable profession, and so created his name. Another is that, at one of his first nightclub engagements, a heckler taunted him with, "¡En la cantina inflas!" ("You get drunk in the bar room!"). Other stories say the name came from phrases like "¡Cuanto inflas!", (you really get drunk!) "¿Cantas o le inflas?" (you sing or get drunk?), or "ya calláte cantinflas" (shut up, cheap singer) For some reason, this amused him, and he shortened the taunt into the professional name of Cantinflas.
- I think comedians have something very serious inside. They see both sides of life. But they prefer to look at the happy side - and to make happy the people.
- [on what makes a successful comedian] Any comedian has to have the feeling inside. I never took any lessons, I just had the feeling.
- Chaplin is Chaplin and Cantinflas is Cantinflas.
- Mario Moreno can live without Cantinflas, but Cantinflas without Mario Moreno can't exist.
- Chaplin relied heavily on mimicry and technique. Especially technique. Cantinflas was based on mimicry and word. But again, Chaplin was the representation of the pessimist and Cantinflas that of the optimist who always wants to help people.
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