Mario Moreno: The Biography Of A Great Comedian

There are great similarities in both the biography and humor style of Charles Chaplin and Mario Moreno, also known as Cantinflas. In fact, the two lavished mutual admiration, which was public and much celebrated. It can be said that both incorporated the same concept, one in its English version and the other in its Latin American version.

Mario Moreno, ‘Cantinflas’, was perhaps the most important comedian in the entire history of Latin America. His particular way of using language, combining rhetoric, demagoguery and the chaos of the word,  gave rise to the verb cantinflear, which was accepted by the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language in 1990.

As the word occupies a central place in his mood, his great successes occurred  with  Spanish-speaking audiences. He was not so successful when his films were translated into other languages. In other languages, however accurate the translation, the meaning of speech and wordplay has been lost.

The first years of Mario Moreno’s biography

Like Charles Chaplin,  Mario Moreno was born into poverty. She had 13 siblings, but only seven of them survived childbirth. He spent his entire childhood in the Santa María la Redonda neighborhood, very close to Tepito, considered one of the poorest and most at-risk sectors in Mexico City.

His baptismal name was Mario Fortino Alfonso Moreno Reyes, and he was born on August 12, 1911. During his childhood and youth, he  had several humble jobs as a postman, shoeshine boy and messenger.

In 1928 he enlisted in the army, but lied about his age to join. He was 16 years old and said he was 21. The lie was discovered and as a result he was expelled.

He also tried to be a boxer, bullfighter and even a dancer. In the early 1930s, he began working in traveling cinemas in Mexico. There, Mario Moreno began creating and shaping his iconic character Cantinflas. During this phase, he married Valentina Ivanova, with whom he remained until his death.

The birth of Cantinflas

Although there is no certainty, everything seems to indicate that the name ‘Cantinflas’ arose during his performances in one of these traveling tents. It is said that on one occasion he had the opportunity to dramatize a monologue. However, he was very nervous and forgot much of the speech. The result was an incomprehensible but funny phrase. Thus, the main characteristic of his character was born.

It is said that this confusion of words gave rise to the expression ‘cantina inflas’, which was later reduced and gave rise to the name ‘Cantinflas’. However, Mario Moreno’s heirs guarantee that this version is false and that the great comedian took to his grave the secret of the name’s origin.

In any case, the truth is that Mario Moreno created ‘Cantinflas’, a character that represented the poor young Mexican. Its appearance itself was fun, so the show and success were guaranteed.

At first, he challenged the powerful and always got what he wanted, thanks to the complications he made with language. Mexico and Latin America loved his character, his humor, his tenderness and his social criticism.

The dark side of Mario Moreno’s biography

Mexicans liked Mario Moreno ‘Cantinflas’ so much that, in many elections, they voted for him without being a candidate. The comedian, like Chaplin, became the leader of an actors’ union. However, it has not achieved great achievements in this area. Documents known after his death indicate that his alliance was likely with some dark power groups.

As he achieved success and money, his films changed and so did he. He stopped representing the Mexican ‘naked’ and started to transmit, in his films, apparently social messages, but basically institutional. Furthermore, he maintained an unforgivable silence during the 1968 massacre of students in Mexico City.

Little is known about his family life, and what little is known has obscure contours. One of her grandchildren and her own son committed suicide. The grandson did it in 2014 and the son in 2017. Another of his grandchildren has lived on the streets several times as a result of his addictions. The comedian’s third granddaughter suffered domestic violence to an extreme degree: her husband inflicted 200 fractures on her face.

Mario Moreno, however, died before seeing these terrible events. While he was alive, little was known about his family. His death occurred in 1993 due to lung cancer. It can be said that the people still love ‘Cantinflas’, but have many questions about who really was Mario Moreno, its creator.