Ramon Novarro was born José Ramón Gil Samaniego on February 6, 1899 in Durango, Mexico, to Leonor (Gavilan) and Dr. Mariano N. Samaniego Siqueiros, a prosperous dentist. Ramon and his family moved to Los Angeles in 1913, as refugees from the Mexican Revolution. After stints as a ballet dancer, piano teacher and singing waiter, he became a film extra in 1917. For five years he remained an extra until director Rex Ingram cast him as Rupert in The Prisoner of Zenda (1922). He was cast with Lewis Stone and Ingram's wife, Alice Terry (Ingram was also the person who suggested that he change his name to Novarro). He worked with Ingram in his next four films and was again teamed with Terry in the successful Scaramouche (1923). Novarro's rising popularity among female moviegoers resulted in his being billed as the "New Valentino". In 1925 he appeared in his most famous role, as the title character in Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925), and later co-starred with Norma Shearer in The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (1927). His first talking picture was Call of the Flesh (1930), where he sang and danced the tango. He continued to appear in musicals, but his popularity was slipping. He starred with Greta Garbo in the successful Mata Hari (1931), but his career began to fade fast. In 1935 he left MGM and appeared on Broadway in a show that quickly flopped. His later career, when he was able to find work in films, consisted mostly of cameos. On October 30th, 1968, Ramon Novarro was savagely beaten in his North Hollywood home by two young hustlers. They had heard - in error - that he had thousands of dollars locked away somewhere in his home. They never found any money, and Ramon was discovered dead the next day by his servant.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Tony Fontana
Jose Ramón Gil Samaniego, best known as Ramón Novarro (February 6, 1899 – October 30, 1968), was a Mexican-American film, stage and television actor who began his career in silent films in 1917 and eventually became a leading man and one of the top box office attractions of the 1920s and early 1930s. Novarro was promoted by MGM as a "Latin lover" and became known as a sex symbol after the death of Rudolph Valentino.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramon_Novarro
Biography by Hal Erickson [-]
The son of a prosperous Mexican dentist, Ramon Novarro moved to California with his family to escape the revolution in his country. The family's wealth having been left behind, young Novarro took on a number of odd jobs, ranging from piano teacher to cabaret singer. He toured vaudeville in a musical act, picking up extra and bit work in Hollywood. When cast as the lovable scoundrel Rupert of Hentzau in director Rex Ingram's The Prisoner of Zenda (1922), Novarro scored an immediate hit, and was promptly built up by the Hollywood press agent brigade as "the New Valentino." His most famous silent role was as the title character in MGM's mammoth Ben Hur. At his peak, Novarro earned 5,000 dollars a week, and was receiving tons of fan mail from devoted female fans. His pleasant speaking voice and above-average singing prowess enabled Novarro to weather the talkie revolution, but his films -- with notable exceptions like Mata Hari (1932), in which he was teamed with Greta Garbo -- became increasingly routine. After leaving MGM in 1935, Novarro appeared in a flop Broadway play, and attempted several movie comebacks. Though wealthy enough not to need work, Novarro was restless when not before the cameras; he continued accepting character roles in the U.S., Mexico, and Europe, and produced and directed (but did not star) in the 1936 Mexican production Contra la Coriente. He remained active into the 1960s with good guest-star appearances on television. Though touted throughout his career as a ladies' man, Novarro was in fact a homosexual. His gentlemanly discretion in this and all matters earned him the respect of his fellow workers; it is doubly tragic, then, that the 69-year-old Ramon Novarro was brutally murdered in his home in the Hollywood Hills.
http://www.allmovie.com/artist/ramon-novarro-p51981
The son of a prosperous Mexican dentist, Ramon Novarro moved to Los Angeles with his family as refugees from the Mexican revolution of 1916. After stints as a ballet dancer, piano teacher and singing waiter, he became a film extra in 1917. For five years he remained an extra until director Rex Ingram cast him as Rupert in The Prisoner of Zenda (1922). He was cast with Lewis Stone and Ingram`s wife, Alice Terry (Ingram was also the person who suggested that he change his name to Novarro). He worked with Ingram in his next four films and was again teamed with Terry in the successful Scaramouche (1923). Novarro`s rising popularity among female moviegoers resulted in his being billed as the "New Valentino". In 1925 he appeared in his most famous role, as the title character in Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925), and later co-starred with Norma Shearer in The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (1927). His first talking picture was Call of the Flesh (1930), where he sang and danced the tango. He continued to appear in musicals, but his popularity was slipping. He starred with Greta Garbo in the successful Mata Hari (1931), but his career began to fade fast. In 1935 he left MGM and appeared on Broadway in a show that quickly flopped. His later career, when he was able to find work in films, consisted mostly of cameos. On October 30th, 1968, Ramon Novarro was savagely beaten in his North Hollywood home by two young hustlers. They had heard - in error - that he had thousands of dollars locked away somewhere in his home. They never found any money, and Ramon was discovered dead the next day by his servant.
Madge Evans, Myrna Loy, and Greta Garbo were his favorite leading ladies.
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