Anthony Quinn Profile - Latino USA 426

I am a good miner. I have a clever nose for the metals. But I beat up the boss and they kicked me out.

On June 3rd, actor Anthony Quinn died at the age of 86.

He was born poor in Chihuahua of a Mexican mother and Irish father and became an actor who was often cast in the role of the foreigner, the other.

Listen to some of the names of the characters he played.

Manolo de Palma, Chief Crazy Horse, Eufemio Zapata, Attila, Quasimodo, and of course, Zorba.

He won two Oscars for Best Supporting Actor, one for Viva Zapata and the other for Lust for Life.

Later in his life, Anthony Quinn continued to make film and television appearances, but his creative endeavors turned mainly to painting and books.

His second autobiography, One Man Tango, was published in 1995.

I spoke to Anthony Quinn then. Here once again is a part of that conversation.

There are a lot of people who don't realize that you were born in Chihuahua, Mexico.

Well, that's interesting because, I mean, I've never negated it. I've always said, I mean, as a matter of fact, in my early years in Hollywood, I was in trouble.

As you know, there were a lot of racist things going on at that time in the 30s and 40s during the war.

I did negate that I was Mexican, saying that I was Tarahumara, Indian. I really still prefer calling myself Indian-blooded than Mexican.

So was it when you went to Italy that you feel that things changed? You had been typecast in Hollywood for so long as a pirate or an Indian chief, for example. When did the roles that you were able to play begin to change for you?

Right after I made La Strada, everything changed.

I became, forgive me because I don't believe in it, but I mean I don't believe it happened. I became what they call an international star at that time. And things changed for me then.

And then I had won the Academy Award for Viva Zapata. So that changed my life to a great extent.

But the biggest, interesting enough, the biggest hit I ever made was in Mohammed, which was not shown in America for political reasons.

And another picture I made called Lion of the Desert, which was about an Arab Omar Mukhtar, who was the hero of all the Arab people in the world. And so I have 750 million fans in the Arab countries.

You know, reading your book, One Man Tango, there's really a sense that you are, at this point of your life, dealing with issues of spirituality, of what the world means, what the world means to you.

And I'm wondering what it's like, for example, when you say you have 750 million admirers. What does that do to a man? What does that do to a man's soul? What has it done to you?

And what are the issues that you're kind of, that you think you're trying to come to terms with in your book, One Man Tango?

Well, as you said, I wasn't accepted as an American. I mean, I wasn't accepted as an American, having been brought up in the east of Los Angeles.

And the Mexicans wouldn't accept me as being Mexican because I had the name of Quinn, my father being Irish.

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Because your father fought with Pancho Villa.

Yes, he fought with Pancho Villa, and my mother did too because she was a solidera.

Then I wasn't accepted as an American.

And I mean, Jimmy Cagney and Spencer Tracy tried to get me involved, so did John Wayne, with the Irish people.

But then I felt that if I became involved with the Irish, I would exclude the Mexican.

And I was in between. And so when I went to Italy, I realized I wasn't either. I was neither a Mexican nor an Irishman.

And I'll tell you, very interesting enough, I worked in every nationality there is. So I really feel as a spokesman for the world.

You're a painter now. Now I learned you wanted to be a priest. You were a preacher.

I mean, you have no, there is no constraints on you. There are no and never have been any constraints.

Well, I mean, there were early on put on by the social groups that I had to face. But I think that, no, no, there are no constraints on me. I'm starting my life all over again.

As a matter of fact, I'm moving to another state, a state that I would never think I belonged in, a New England state.

And I'm surrounded by New Englanders who, interestingly enough, that is a strange thing. Because they all are very happy that Quinn is moving in. Quinn the Irish actor, you know.

And they don't know that you're going to invite all the Mexicanos over to have-

Absolutely. They'll be invited to the barbecues over the Mexican tortillas and dancing and so forth.

But I think that I've cased the neighborhood and I really think that they were nice people and they'll accept them.

Actor, artist and writer Anthony Quinn. His new autobiography is One Man Tango and it's published by Harper Collins.

How do you say goodbye in Tarahumara?

Tarahumara, I don't say no, no, no. I don't say goodbye in Tarahumara.

So it's adios?

Adios. Adios amiguita.

Oscar-winning acting legend Anthony Quinn died Sunday, June 3rd. He was 86 years old.

This interview originally aired on Latino USA in 1995.