Carlos López Moctezuma Pineda was born
on November 19, 1909 in Mexico City, Federal District, Mexico. The
son of a prominent official of the National Railways of Mexico Jose Lopez
Moctezuma and María Pineda, the last child of 11. His parents and older
siblings were originating in San Luis Potosi so he often claimed to be
Potosino. Due to the important position held his father found him his first job
as a messenger of "Ferronales". He performed his basic studies in a
school in Marist, in the same period he carried out studies in administration,
allowing him to continue working in government institutions, and receive
payments in the School of Theatre and Fine Arts performance. A disciple of
Virginia Fábregas and Fernando Soler, he debuted at the Teatro Orientation in
the play "Antigone ", that's where he met the woman who would be his
life partner, actress Josefina Escobedo. He would a year later play a small
role in the film “Dos Cadetes” (1938). His first starring role was in the film “Los
millones de Chaflán” which began his ascent to the top of the Mexican cinema.
As his status as a film star grew he
became almost typecast as villain. He would play the occasional hero as in "Campeón sin corona" in 1946 but
his fame came as one of Mexico’s best black hats. Carlos won the Ariel Award
several times. His strong face gave him enormous prestige among his luminaries.
He shared the stage with countless national and international figures in film, such
as Sarita Montiel, Domingo Soler, Pedro Armendáriz, Jorge Negrete, Maria Felix,
Cantinflas, Brigitte Bardot and many others.
Moctezuma appeared in 200 films and TV
appearances but only one Euro-western as Don Rodriguez in 1965’s “Viva Maria!”
with Brigitte Bardot and Jean Moreau.
After years of performing on stage,
radio, films and TV he began to experience discomfort due to complications
caused by a stomach ulcer and also to suffer for long time from emphysema.
These conditions forced him to move to Aguascalientes where he died as a result
of a heart attack on July 14, 1980, leaving a priceless legacy film.
Today we remember Carlos Moctezuma on
what would have been his 105th birthday.
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