Cantinflas

Cantinflas
Disembarking from an aircraft at Madrid's Barajas Airport in 1964
Born	Mario Fortino Alfonso Moreno Reyes (1911-08-12)12 August 1911 Santa María la Redonda Mexico
Died	20 April 1993(1993-04-20) (aged 81) Mexico City, Mexico
Cause of death	Lung Cancer
Occupation	Comic film actor
Years active	1937–1982
Height	5 ft 8 in (173 cm)
Spouse(s)	Valentina Ivanova (1936–66; her death)
Awards	Golden Globe (1956) Hollywood Walk of Fame

Mario Fortino Alfonso Moreno Reyes, known casually as Mario Moreno, and known professionally as Cantinflas (August 12, 1911 – April 20, 1993), was a Mexican comic film actor, producer, and screenwriter and an iconic figure in Mexico and Latin America. He often portrayed impoverished campesinos or a peasant of pelado origin. The character came to be associated with the national identity of Mexico, and allowed Cantinflas to establish a long, successful film career that included a foray into Hollywood. Charlie Chaplin once commented that he was the best comedian alive, and Moreno has been referred to as the "Charlie Chaplin of Mexico". To audiences in the United States, he is best remembered as co-starring with David Niven in the Academy Award winner for Best Picture film Around the World in 80 Days, for which Moreno won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.

As a pioneer of the cinema of Mexico, Moreno helped usher in its golden era. In addition to being a business leader, he also became involved in Mexico's tangled and often dangerous labor politics. Although he was a political conservative, his reputation as a spokesperson for the downtrodden gave his actions authenticity and became important in the early struggle against charrismo, the one-party government's practice of co-opting and controlling unions.