Nationality: Mexican (Later Made American Citizen) Notable Roles: Lawrence of Arabia (Arabian), Viva Zapita! (Mexican) Zorba The Greek (Greek), Lust For Life (French), Back To Baatan (Filipino), They Died With Their Boots On (Native American), Road To Morocco (North African), Seven Cities of Gold (Spanish), The Salamander (Italian), China Sky (Chinese), The Savage Innocents (Eskimo), The Old Man and the Sea (Cuban), The World in His Arms (Portuguese), The Lion and the Desert (Libyan), East of Sumatra (Indonesian), Target of an Assassin (South African) Anthony Quinn was a Mexican actor who got his start playing "ethic" villains in movies produced by Paramount. Being Mexican apparently meant that he was Hollywood's idea of what "every nationality in the world, ever" looked like - although an early role in Road To Morocco had him pegged as North African, he later went on to portray a Native American (They Died With Their Boots On), Filipino (Back To Baatan), and Greek (Zorba the Greek), among countless others. Quinn is probably best remembered for that turn in Zorba the Greek, in which he played the lead and was also nominated for a Best Actor Oscar (he lost to Rex Harrington for My Fair Lady). Don't fret: he managed to bag two Best Supporting Actor Oscars over the course of his career regardless, one for his turn in Viva Zapata! (playing his own nationality, believe it or not), and another for Lust For Life, in which he played a Frenchman. Perhaps more than any other actor in history, then, Quinn's career steered him into an incredible, almost mind-blowing spectrum of culturally varied roles. Like this article? Who can we add to the list? Let us know in the comments section below.
