Cesar Romero

By Greg Parker

Long before Cesar Romero began playing the part of his most memorable role – that of the Joker in Batman: The Movie (1966) – he already was a recognized, accomplished movie actor. In 1947 he starred as the Spanish explorer, Hernan Cortes, in Captain from Castile. Long before that he played one of the suspects, Chris Jorgenson, who was invited to the murderer-revealing dinner by William Powell in the fi rst Thin Man movie in 1934. In between Romero made it to Lone Pine to make three movies – The Cisco Kid & The Lady (1939) (one of this year’s festival screenings and tours), Frontier Marshall (also 1939) and The Gay Caballero (1940). In Frontier Marshall Romero plays the part of Doc Halliday who was involved in the infamous shoot-out at the OK Corral.

In The Gay Caballero and The Cisco Kid & The Lady Romero portrays the character, The Cisco Kid – a type of Robin Hood bandit in the old southwest– who is wanted by the law but also has the best interests of ordinary people at heart. He is aided by sidekick, Gordito, played by Chris-Pin Martin. In The Cisco Kid & The Lady, and with the help of the Lady (Marjorie Weaver), Romero tries to fi nd a home for an orphan and prevent the child from getting swindled out of an inherited gold mine, all while staying one step in front of the sheriff . The fi lm also features a young George Montgomery and a small part by Ward Bond.

Romero possessed the charisma to successfully get the audience rooting for the “bad guy” in the last six of seven Cisco Kid feature fi lms produced by 20th entury Fo between 1939 and 1941. The fi rst in the series, The Return of the Cisco Kid, was released earlier in 1939 and starred Warner Baxter as the Cisco Kid with Romero in a supporting role.) The character was so popular that after World War II United Artists produced an additional 8 isco Kid fi lms from 1 to 1 0. This time around the title role was played by Duncan Reynaldo who also went on to portray the character in the Cisco Kid television series from 1 0 to 1 . Leo Carillo played the sidekick who was now called Poncho. But it was Romero, who at 6 feet, 3 inches tall with a captivating smile and his signature pencil mustache that was usually typecast as the tall, dark and suave Latin lover opposite leading ladies such as Marlene Dietrich, Betty Grable and Rita Hayworth. He sang with Carmen Miranda in Weekend in Havana (1941) and danced the cha-cha with Barbara Eden in How to Marry a Millionaire 1 8 .

A Cuban-American, Romero was born esar Julio Romero, Jr. on February 1 , 1907 in New York, NY but grew up in New Jersey with the nickname, the Latin from Manhattan. is fi rst movie appearance occurred at age 2 in 1 while he was continuing to refi ne his trade. During World War II Romero enlisted in the US Coast Guard where he attained the rank of Chief Boatswains Mate. After the war he continued on with his acting career and eventually was featured in over 100 fi lms. n the 1 0’s Romero made a successful transition to television and appeared in over 70 television shows and TV movies, including recurring roles in Zorro, Rawhide and Daniel Boone. However, he still played in the occasional movie for the big screen like being cast by director John Ford alongside John Wayne in Donovan’s Reef (1963) as the Marquis Andre de Lage. In the 1980’s – well into his seventies – Romero was still playing amorous suitors and was the love interest of Jane Wyman’s TV character on Falcon’s Crest. But he will probably always be Top: Cesar Romero in The Cisco Kid & The Lady, Cesar in Gay Cabellero

best remembered for playing the Joker in the Batman pilot, a role that continued into 22 episodes of the Batman TV series from 1966 to 1968. Romero continued working up to the time of his death on January 1, 1994 at age 86. self described confi rmed bachelor” he never married or had children. We are saluting Cesar Romero’s contribution to Lone Pine fi lmography this weekend with the screening and tour of The Cisco Kid and The Lady.