Gilbert Roland
Gilbert Roland (born Luis Antonio Dámaso de Alonso, December 11, 1905 – May 15, 1994) was a Mexican-born American film and television actor whose career spanned seven decades from the 1920s until the 1980s. He was twice nominated for the Golden Globe Award in 1952 and 1964, and inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960.
Roland was born in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico. When Pancho Villa took control of their town, Roland and his family fled to the United States. He lived in Texas until at age 14 he hopped on a freight train and went to Hollywood. He chose his screen name by combining the names of his favorite actors, John Gilbert and Ruth Roland. He was often cast in the stereotypical Latin lover role.
Roland's first film contract was with Paramount. His first major role was in the collegiate comedy The Plastic Age (1925) together with Clara Bow, to whom he became engaged. In 1926, he played Armand in Camille opposite Norma Talmadge, with whom he was romantically involved, and they starred together in several productions. With the advent of sound films, Roland frequently appeared in Spanish language adaptations of American films, in romantic lead roles. Roland served in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II.
Beginning in the 1940s, critics began to take notice of his acting and he was praised for his supporting roles in John Huston's We Were Strangers (1949), The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), Thunder Bay (1953), and Cheyenne Autumn (1964). He also appeared in a series of films in the mid-1940s as the popular character "The Cisco Kid". He played Hugo, the agnostic friend of the three shepherd children in The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima. In 1953, Roland played Greek-American sponge diver Mike Petrakis in the epic Beneath the 12-Mile Reef. His last film appearance was in the 1982 western Barbarosa.
Roland married actress Constance Bennett in 1941. They were married until 1946 and had two daughters. His second marriage, to Guillermina Cantú in 1954, lasted until his death 40 years later.
Gilbert Roland died of cancer in Beverly Hills, California in 1994, aged 88.
Filmography (134 Appearances)
Complicated Women
The Bronze Screen: 100 Years of the Latino Image in American Cinema
Clara Bow: Discovering the "It" Girl
Barbarosa
Caboblanco
The Sacketts
The Black Pearl
Islands in the Stream
The Deadly Tower
The Pacific Connection
The Mark of Zorro
Treasure of Tayopa
Running Wild
Barnaby Jones
Incident on a Dark Street
Kung Fu
The Christian Licorice Store
Night Gallery
McCloud
Medical Center
Sartana Does Not Forgive
Between God, The Devil and a Winchester
Land's End
Johnny Hamlet
The Ruthless Four
Any Gun Can Play
The High Chaparral
Garrison's Gorillas
The Poppy Is Also a Flower
The F.B.I.
The Reward
Cheyenne Autumn
The Greatest Show on Earth
The Fugitive
Combat!
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
Samar
Guns of the Timberland
The Big Circus
The Wild and the Innocent
Catch Me If You Can!
Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse
The Last of the Fast Guns
The Midnight Story
Invitation to a Gunfighter
Three Violent People
Around the World in 80 Days
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show
Bandido!
The Treasure of Pancho Villa
Gunsmoke
That Lady
Underwater!
The Racers
December Bride
The French Line
Beneath the 12-Mile Reef
The Diamond Queen
Thunder Bay
The Bad and the Beautiful
Apache War Smoke
The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima
Glory Alley
My Six Convicts
Ten Tall Men
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
The Mark of the Renegade
Bullfighter and the Lady
The Furies
Crisis
The Torch
Malaya
We Were Strangers
Revolt of the Ghosts
The Dude Goes West
Pirates of Monterey
King of the Bandits
Robin Hood of Monterey
High Conquest
The Other Love
Riding the California Trail
Beauty and the Bandit
South of Monterey
The Gay Cavalier
Captain Kidd
The Desert Hawk
Wings Up
Isle of Missing Men
Enemy Agents Meet Ellery Queen
My Life with Caroline
Angels with Broken Wings
Rangers of Fortune
The Sea Hawk
Gambling on the High Seas
Isle Of Destiny
Juarez
Gateway
The Bohemian Life
Thunder Trail
The Last Train from Madrid
Midnight Taxi
La Fiesta de Santa Barbara
Ladies Love Danger
Mystery Woman
Elinor Norton
Yo, tú y ella
After Tonight
Una viuda romántica
Gigolettes of Paris
Our Betters
She Done Him Wrong
Call Her Savage
A Parisian Romance
No Living Witness
Life Begins
The Woman in Room 13
The Men in Her Life
The Passionate Plumber
Resurrection
Monsieur Le Fox
Men of the North
New York Nights
The Woman Disputed
The Dove
The Love Mart
Rose of the Golden West
Camille
The Blonde Saint
The Campus Flirt
The Plastic Age
The Lady Who Lied
The Spaniard
The Lost World
The Hunchback of Notre Dame