José Ferrer (1912 - 1992)

Jose Ferrer was a Puerto Rican actor and director who was one of the first Latinx actors to become a major Hollywood star. He was born on January 8, 1912 in Santurce, Puerto Rico and was the fifth of six children of Rafael Ferrer, a tobacco merchant, and María Providencia Cintrón.

Ferrer showed an early interest in acting and began performing in amateur theater groups while still in school. He got his bachelor's degree at Princeton University, after which he studied at Columbia University.

Ferrer made his professional acting debut in 1934 and made his Broadway debut in 1935 in a production of "A Slight Case of Murder".

Ferrer's breakout role came in 1946 when he played the title role in the Broadway production of "Cyrano de Bergerac". He received critical acclaim for his performance and won a Tony Award for Best Actor. This success led to a film contract and Ferrer made his film debut in 1948 in "Joan of Arc". This role earned him directly an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

Ferrer went on to have a successful career in Hollywood, appearing in numerous films including "The Caine Mutiny", and "The Greatest Story Ever Told". He also continued to work in theater, winning a second Tony Award for directing the play "The Fourposter". He received an Academy Award for Best Actor for his title role in the film "Cyrano de Bergerac" (1950), making him the first Hispanic actor to win an Academy Award. Ferrer was also an accomplished director, and he directed a number of plays and films during his career.

Ferrer was married three times and had four children. He died on January 26, 1992 at the age of 80.

Books with substantial mentioning of José Ferrer

		Tom Pendergast, Sara Pendergast (eds.) International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, 3. Actors and Actresses Detroit/New York/San Francisco/London/Boston/Woodbridge, CT, 2000
		Robert A. Nowlan and Gwendolyn Wright Nowlan Movie Characters of Leading Performers of the Sound Era Chicago and London, 1990
		Friederike Mat (ed.) Unsere Filmlieblinge, Ein Bilderbuch Wien, München, Düsseödorf, Bozen, 1956

Books with an entry on José Ferrer

		David Thomson The New Biographical Dictionary of Film New York, 2003
		Kay Weniger Das große Personenlexikon des Films, Zweiter Band, C-F Berlin, 2001
		Frank N. Magill (ed.) Magill's Cinema Annual 1993, A Survey of the Films of 1992 Pasadena, Ca.; Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1993
		Paul Michael, editor in chief. James Robert Parish, associate editor The American movies reference book, The sound era Englewood Cliffs, N.J.,, 1969

Films

1948
Joan of Arc

1949
Whirlpool

1950
Crisis
Cyrano de Bergerac
The Secret Fury

1952
Moulin Rouge
Anything Can Happen

1953
Miss Sadie Thompson

1954
The Caine Mutiny
Deep in My Heart

1955
The Cockleshell Heroes
The Shrike

1956
The Great Man

1957
Four Girls in Town

1958
The High Cost of Loving
I Accuse!

1961
Return to Peyton Place

1962
Lawrence of Arabia
State Fair

1963
Nine Hours to Rama
Verspätung in Marienborn

1965
Ship of Fools
The Greatest Story Ever Told

1967
Cervantes
Enter Laughing

1971
Crosscurrent

1973
The Marcus-Nelson Murders

1975
Forever Young, Forever Free
The Missing Are Deadly

1976
Voyage of the Damned
The Big Bus

1977
The Sentinel
Crash!
The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover

1978
Fedora
The Swarm
Dracula's Dog

1979
The Fifth Musketeer
Natural Enemies
The Concorde: Airport 79

1980
Gideon's Trumpet

1981
Peter and Paul

1982
A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy
Blood Tide

1983
To Be or Not to Be
The Being

1984
Dune
The Evil That Men Do

1985
Hitler's S.S.: Portrait in Evil

1990
Hired to Kill

1991
The Perfect Tribute

IMDb: 0001207
VIAF: 122185790