Antonio Moreno

A serious rival to Rudolph Valentino as the smouldering 'Latin Lover' type was black-haired Spanish-born Antonio Moreno. One of the most prominent screen stars of the 1920's, he was equally adept at romance, melodrama or comedy and appeared opposite most of the legendary movie queens of the era, from the Gish sisters to Greta Garbo, to Gloria Swanson and Mary Pickford. Moreno began working life as an employee of the Northhampton Electric Light and Gas Company. He first acted on stage under the tutelage of Maude Adams, whose theatre he had initially visited in order to fix the lighting.

He had previously made his movie debut at Rex-Universal and then featured as a top drawing card for Vitagraph until 1921. Moreno also proudly held the sobriquet of "King of the Cliff-hangers" (usually as co-star to Pearl White) because of his prolific work in serials. After the advent of sound pictures, Moreno's career went into decline, which was largely due to his heavy Spanish accent.

His heyday came years later under contract to Paramount (from 1923 to 1924) and at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (in 1926).

His wife, heiress Daisy Canfield Danziger, passed away in an automobile accident on February 23, 1933.

His role in The Bohemian Girl (1936) was intended to be the love interest for Thelma Todd, who was to play the Queen of the Gypsies. But after she was found dead, his role was rewritten to become the lover of Mae Busch, who was married to Oliver Hardy in the film.

Nonetheless, he eventually segued into character parts and remained gainfully employed in the industry until the late 1950's.

He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6651 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on February 8, 1960.