Manuel "Manolo" Noriega, (June 24, 1880 – August 12, 1961) was a Spanish-born Mexican stage and

film actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

, and

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

. Born Manuel Noriega Ruiz in Colombres, Spain, he worked in live theatre for many years, performing in his native Spain as well as in Mexico,

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. A pioneer in

silent film A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

, he made his first screen appearance in 1907. It is believed some of his early silent films have been lost, but his main body of work began in

talkie A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades passed befo ...

s in the early 1930s, performing in close to two hundred sound films. Noriega earned an

Ariel Award The Ariel Award () is an award that recognizes the best of Mexican cinema. Given annually, since 1946, by the Academia Mexicana de Artes y Ciencias Cinematográficas, Mexican Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences (AMACC), the award reco ...

nomination for "Best Actor in a minor role" for his performance in the 1946 film ''Pepita Jiménez''. Married to Hortensia Castañeda Avila, their daughter Carmen became a singer who married Tito Guízar. Noriega died of gastric ulcer in Mexico City on August 12, 1961, and is buried at the Panteón Jardín in Mexico City.

Selected filmography

* '' Heart of Gold'' (1923) * '' The Mystery of the Ghastly Face'' (1935) * '' These Men'' (1937) * '' Poppy of the Road'' (1937) * '' Huapango'' (1938) * '' Here's the Point'' (1940) * '' I Will Live Again'' (1940) * '' To the Sound of the Marimba'' (1941) * '' Jesusita in Chihuahua'' (1942) * '' Alejandra'' (1942) * '' Beautiful Michoacán'' (1943) * '' El Ametralladora'' (1943) * ''

Father Morelos ''Father Morelos'' (Spanish: ''El padre Morelos'') is a 1943 Mexican historical drama film directed by Miguel Contreras Torres and starring Domingo Soler, Consuelo Frank and Narciso Busquets. It is a biopic inspired by the life of José María ...

'' (1943) * ''

Les Misérables ''Les Misérables'' (, ) is a 19th-century French literature, French Epic (genre), epic historical fiction, historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published on 31 March 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. '' ...

'' (1943) * '' The Two Orphans'' (1944) * '' A Woman's Diary'' (1944) * '' Cruel Destiny'' (1944) * ''

Porfirio Díaz José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori (; ; 15 September 1830 – 2 July 1915) was a General (Mexico), Mexican general and politician who was the dictator of Mexico from 1876 until Mexican Revolution, his overthrow in 1911 seizing power in a Plan ...

'' (1944) * ''

My Memories of Mexico ''My Memories of Mexico'' (Spanish: ''México de mis recuerdos'') is a 1944 Mexican historical musical film directed as well as written by Juan Bustillo Oro and starring Fernando Soler, Sofía Álvarez, Joaquín Pardavé, Dolores Camarillo an ...

'' (1944) * '' The White Monk'' (1945) * ''

Twilight Twilight is daylight illumination produced by diffuse sky radiation when the Sun is below the horizon as sunlight from the upper atmosphere is scattered in a way that illuminates both the Earth's lower atmosphere and also the Earth's surf ...

'' (1945) * '' The Shack'' (1945) * '' Symphony of Life'' (1946) * '' The Operetta Queen'' (1946) * ''

Tragic Wedding ''Tragic Wedding'' (Spanish:''Bodas trágicas'') is a 1946 Mexican drama film directed by Gilberto Martínez Solares and starring Roberto Silva, Miroslava and Ernesto Alonso.Berumen p.339 The film's sets were designed by the art director Jorg ...

'' (1946) * '' It's Not Enough to Be a Charro'' (1946) * '' Pepita Jiménez'' (1946) * '' The Lost Child'' (1947) * '' The Thief'' (1947) * '' The Tiger of Jalisco'' (1947) * '' Five Faces of Woman'' (1947) * '' Fly Away, Young Man!'' (1947) * '' The Shadow of the Bridge'' (1948) * '' The Newlywed Wants a House'' (1948) * '' The Desire'' (1948) * '' The Genius'' (1948) * '' The Fourth Commandment'' (1948) * '' The Magician'' (1949) * '' Wife or Lover'' (1950) * '' What Has That Woman Done to You?'' (1951) * '' María Montecristo'' (1951) * '' The Guests of the Marquesa'' (1951) * '' My Goddaughter's Difficulties'' (1951) * '' Mexican Bus Ride'' (1952) * '' Genius and Figure'' (1953) * '' The Spot of the Family'' (1953) * '' Tehuantepec'' (1954)

External links

* 1880 births 1961 deaths Spanish male film actors Spanish male silent film actors Spanish male stage actors Spanish film directors 20th-century Spanish screenwriters 20th-century Spanish male actors Mexican male film actors Mexican male silent film actors Mexican film directors 20th-century Mexican male actors Actors from Asturias Spanish emigrants to Mexico 20th-century Mexican screenwriters 20th-century Mexican male writers 20th-century Spanish male writers {{Mexico-actor-stub