A serious rival to Rudolph Valentino as the smouldering 'Latin Lover' type was black-haired Spanish-born Antonio Moreno. One of the most prominent screen stars of the 1920's, he was equally adept at romance, melodrama or comedy and appeared opposite most of the legendary movie queens of the era, from the Gish sisters to Greta Garbo, to Gloria Swanson and Mary Pickford.
He began working life as an employee of the Northhampton Electric Light and Gas Company. He first acted on stage under the tutelage of Maude Adams, whose theatre he had initially visited in order to fix the lighting. Moreno's heyday came years later, under contract to Paramount from 1923 to 1924, and at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1926. He had previously made his movie debut at Rex-Universal and then featured as a top drawing card for Vitagraph until 1921. Moreno also proudly held the sobriquet of "King of the Cliff-hangers" (usually as co-star to Pearl White), because of his prolific work in serials. After the advent of sound pictures, Moreno's career went into decline, largely due to his heavy Spanish accent. Nonetheless, he eventually segued into character parts and remained gainfully employed in the industry until the late 1950's.
He was married from 1923 to Daisy Danziger, the daughter of an oil millionaire. Their lavish mansion, called 'Paramour', was one of the largest in Hollywood and the site of many a famous party. Daisy died ten years later in a tragic car crash near Mulholland Drive.
