Ramon Novarro

Early life

Novarro was born Ramón Gil Samaniego on February 6, 1899, in Durango City, Durango, north-west Mexico, to Dr. Mariano N. Samaniego, and his wife, Leonor Pérez Gavilán. The family moved to Los Angeles to escape the Mexican Revolution in 1913. Novarro's direct ancestors came from the Castilian town of Burgos, whence two brothers emigrated to the New World in the seventeenth century.

Allan Ellenberger, Novarro's biographer, writes:

Ramon's father, Dr. Mariano N. Samaniego, was born in Juarez and attended high school in Las Cruces, New Mexico. After receiving his degree in dentistry at the University of Pennsylvania, he moved to Durango, Mexico, and began a flourishing dental practice. In 1891 he married Leonor Pérez-Gavilán, the beautiful daughter of a prosperous landowner. The Pérez-Gaviláns were a mixture of Spanish and Aztec blood, and according to local legend, they were descended from Guerrero, a prince of Montezuma.}}

The family estate was called the "Garden of Eden". Thirteen children were born there: Emilio; Guadalupe; Rosa; Ramón; Leonor; Mariano; Luz; Antonio; José; a stillborn child; Carmen; Ángel and Eduardo. At the time of the Mexican Revolution, the family moved from Durango to Mexico City and then returned to Durango. Three of Ramón's sisters, Guadalupe, Rosa, and Leonor, became nuns. He was a second cousin of the Mexican actresses Dolores del Río and Andrea Palma.

Career

Silent films

Novarro began his film career in 1917, playing bit parts, supplementing his income by working as a singing waiter, a taxi dancer and as a dancer in revues choreographed by Ernest Belcher (father of Marge Champion). His friends, actor and director Rex Ingram and his wife, actress Alice Terry, began to promote him as a rival to Rudolph Valentino, and Ingram suggested he change his name to "Novarro". From 1923, he began to play more prominent roles. His role in Scaramouche (1923) brought him his first major success.

Novarro achieved his greatest success in 1925, in Ben-Hur. His revealing costumes caused a sensation. He was elevated into the Hollywood elite. As did many stars, Novarro engaged Sylvia of Hollywood as a physical therapist (although in her tell-all book, Sylvia erroneously claimed that Novarro slept in a coffin). With Valentino's death in 1926, Novarro became the screen's leading Latin actor, though ranked lower than his MGM contemporary John Gilbert as a leading man. Novarro was popular as a swashbuckler in action roles, and considered one of the great romantic lead actors of his day. He appeared with Norma Shearer in The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (1927) and with Joan Crawford in Across to Singapore (1928).

Talking films

He made his first talking film, starring as a singing French soldier, in Devil-May-Care (1929). He starred with Dorothy Janis in The Pagan (1929), with Greta Garbo in Mata Hari (1931), with Myrna Loy in The Barbarian (1933) and opposite Lupe Vélez in Laughing Boy (1934).

When his contract with MGM Studios expired in 1935 and the studio did not renew it, Novarro continued to act sporadically, appearing in films for Republic Pictures, a Mexican religious drama, and a French comedy. In the 1940s, he had several small roles in American films, including We Were Strangers (1949), directed by John Huston and starring Jennifer Jones and John Garfield. In 1958, he was considered for a role in the television series The Green Peacock, with Howard Duff and Ida Lupino, after their CBS Television sitcom Mr. Adams and Eve (1957–58). The project, however, never materialized. A Broadway tryout was aborted in the 1960s. Novarro acted occasionally on television, appearing in NBC's The High Chaparral as late as 1968.

At the peak of his success in the late 1920s and early 1930s, Novarro was earning more than US$100,000 per film. He invested some of his income in real estate, and his Hollywood Hills residence, the Samuel-Novarro House, is one of the more renowned designs (1927) by Lloyd Wright, the son of Frank Lloyd Wright. When his career ended, he was still able to maintain a comfortable lifestyle.

Personal life

In 1925, Novarro purchased a home in "the exclusive West Adams district" of Los Angeles for $12,000 and spent an additional $100,000 on renovations.

Novarro was troubled all his life by his conflicted feelings toward his Roman Catholic faith and his homosexuality. His life-long alcoholism is often traced to these problems. In the early 1920s, Novarro had a romantic relationship with composer Harry Partch, who was working as an usher at the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the time, but Novarro broke off the affair as he achieved greater success as an actor. He was romantically involved with Hollywood journalist Herbert Howe, who was also his publicist in the late 1920s, and with a wealthy philanthropist and arts patron from San Francisco, Noël Sullivan.

Murder

Novarro was murdered on October 30, 1968, by brothers Paul and Tom Ferguson, aged 22 and 17, who called him and offered their sexual services. In the past, he had hired prostitutes from an agency to come to his Laurel Canyon home for sex, and the Fergusons obtained Novarro's telephone number from a previous guest.

According to the prosecution in the murder case, the two young men believed that a large sum of money was hidden in Novarro's house. The prosecution accused the brothers of torturing Novarro for several hours to force him to reveal where the (non-existent) money was hidden. They left the house with $20 they took from his bathrobe pocket. Novarro died as a result of asphyxiation, having choked to death on his own blood after being beaten. The two perpetrators were caught and sentenced to long prison terms, but released on parole in the mid-1970s. Both were later re-arrested for unrelated crimes for which they served longer prison terms than for the murder of Novarro. In a 1998 interview, Paul Ferguson finally assumed the blame for Novarro's death.

Tom Ferguson committed suicide on March 6, 2005. Paul Ferguson was beaten to death in prison by a fellow inmate in 2018, while serving out a 60-year sentence for rape in Missouri.

Novarro's body is buried in Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles, California. His star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is at 6350 Hollywood Boulevard.

Legacy

Greek playwright Pavlos Matesis wrote a play in two parts titled The Ghost of Mr. Ramon Novarro, which was first staged at the National Theatre of Greece in 1973. In late 2005, the Wings Theatre in New York City staged the world premiere of Through a Naked Lens by George Barthel. The play combined fact and fiction to depict Novarro's rise to fame and his relationship with Hollywood journalist Herbert Howe.

Filmography

References

Bibliography

References

1. Meier, Matt S.. (2003). "The Mexican American Experience: An Encyclopedia". Greenwood Publishing Group.
2. Soares, André. (April 19, 2010). "Beyond Paradise: The Life of Ramon Novarro". [[University Press of Mississippi]].
3. Ellenberger, Allan R.. (2009). "Ramon Novarro: A Biography of the Silent Film Idol, 1899–1968; with a Filmography". McFarland.
4. {{harvnb. Ellenberger. 2009
5. Monush, Barry. (2003). "Screen World Presents the Encyclopedia of Hollywood Film Actors: From the Silent Era to 1965". Hal Leonard Corporation.
6. "Novarro" is a misspelling for the Spanish surname "Navarro".
7. Rodriguez, Roberto. (1996). "The early years – the portrayal of minorities in Hollywood film industry". Black Issues in Higher Education.
8. (1931). "Hollywood Undressed: Observations of Sylvia As Noted by Her Secretary". Brentano's.
9. "Lloyd Wright (1890–1978)". ArchitechGallery.com.
10. (July 11, 2015). "Ramon Vovarro: A Biography". McFarland.
11. "Ramon Novarro".
12. {{harvnb. Ellenberger. 2009
13. {{harvnb. Soares. 2010
14. Mann, William. (2002). "Behind the Screen: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood". Penguin Books.
15. "Ramon {{sic". Olvera-street.com.
16. Gilmore, Bob. (1998). "Harry Partch: A Biography". [[Yale University Press]].
17. Holliday, Peter J. "Novarro, Ramon (1899–1968)".
18. Slide, Anthony. (February 26, 2010). "Inside the Hollywood Fan Magazine". University Press of Mississippi.
19. "Finding Aid to the Noël Sullivan papers, [ca. 1911–1956], [ca. 1911–1956]".
20. Rechy, John. (August 24, 2003). "A star is killed: Hollywood's deadly secret". [[Los Angeles Times]].
21. (November 1, 1968). "Ramon Novarro Slain on Coast. Starred in Silent Film 'Ben-Hur'. Ramon Novarro, Silent Era Star, Slain". [[The New York Times]].
22. Maloney, J. J.. "The Murder of Ramon Novarro".
23. {{harvnb. Ellenberger. 2009
24. {{harvnb. Ellenberger. 2009
25. Ivey, Randall. (July 21, 2010). "'Beyond Paradise: The Life of Ramon Navarro' by Andre Soares". [[Lambda Literary]].
26. (May 23, 2012). "'Ramon Navarro Hustler's Murder in Hollywood".
27. (August 9, 2020). "Was Ramon Novarro's Murderer Posting on IMDb from Prison?".
28. Wilson, Scott. (August 14, 2016). "Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons". [[McFarland and Company, Inc., Publishers.
29. (2008–2011). "Archives of the Greek National Theatre". Εθνικό Θέατρο.