Hollywood has a long and notorious history of casting white actors to play non-white roles. It goes as far back to D. W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation (1915), in which white actors, in blackface, played African Americans.

That tradition has played out in the Latino community far too often as well. Too frequently, high-profile Latino characters in major motion pictures are played by non-Latino actors. The list is long, but here is a small sampling.

Wallace Beery – The Huggable Pancho

Wallace Beery in Viva Villa! (1934). As a kid, I loved Beery as Pancho Villa.  Beery portrayed the infamous bandit and revolutionary as a lovable, tender-hearted, man-child, bigamist and murderous rebel hero all wrapped up in one big Gringo Panda Bear.

That was the Wallace Beery persona, but nowhere near the real, historical Pancho Villa who was a hero of the Mexican Revolution who at one point was the Governor of Chihuahua (1913-1914). During that time he sent his men to help harvest crops, ordered the repair of railways and telegraph lines, and imposed a ruthless code of law and order.  U.S. Army General John J. Pershing was sent to capture Villa, but never caught him because of Villa’s guerrilla warfare tactics that are still taught at West Point.

However flawed, inaccurate and tone-deaf Berry’s Pancho Villa is today, it’s certainly easier to endure than Yul Brenner’s Pancho Villa in Villa Rides (1968). Really, a bald Villa (with a hairpiece) with a Russian accent?  Nyet!

The Inappropriate “Touch of Evil“

But even more offensive and off-key than the King of Siam (Brenner also played him in The King and I) was Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) playing Mexican American cop, Mike Vargas in Touch of Evil. Heston came across as authentic as a knock-off pair of Levi’s from Bangladesh.

Was Gilbert Roland not available?

Not only was Roland a real Latino. He had a real mustache. Heston’s mustache looked like it had been painted on with shoe polish by Groucho Marx. And, more importantly, Roland had acting chops.  He was nominated twice for a Golden Globe Award, for his roles in The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) and Cheyenne Autumn (1964)

The Elsa Cárdenas Paradox

Then there’s the curious case of Elsa Cárdenas. The Tijuana-born, Mexican beauty was cast as Juana in the epic movie, Giant. Cárdenas was as Mexican as a Sunday morning, spicy bowl of “menudo” for a Saturday night, multiple beer and tequila shot induced hangover. But she was light-skinned. The producers felt her skin tone didn’t contrast enough with her white pale-faced co-stars

They solved the problem by using dark make-up on Señorita Cárdenas to make her look more Mexican. Thus, Elsa Cárdenas unwittingly became the first Latina to play a Mexican in brown face.

Turnabout is Fair Play

But on the other hand, we had Ricardo Montalban playing a Japanese kabuki performer with a Mexican accent in Sayonara (1957).  His accent also served him well for the title role in Khan in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.  In neither of those films did his accent come into question. Ajua! 

Anthony Quinn has portrayed every conceivable ethnic character; Greek, French, Mongol, Italian, to name a few. Who knew Zorba the Greek sounded like a Chicano from Boyle Heights!  This Chicano took home the 1952 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Emiliano Zapata’s brother, Eufemio in Viva Zapata.  Four years later he took the Oscar in the same category for his role as Paul Gaugin in Lust for Life in 1956.  Did someone say “talented Chicano”?

Latino Military Heroes are MIA in Film

 Latinos, especially Mexican Americans, have heroically fought in America’s military since the Civil War, receiving more Congressional Medal of Honors, the highest military honor, than any other ethnic group per capita. Shamefully, not one Hollywood war movie has ever had a Latino war hero as the main character.

Force of Arms (1951) which starred William Holden chronicles the hard-fought, battlefield exploits of the 36^th Infantry division from South Texas in the Italian campaign which was made up primarily of Mexicans, and Mexican Americans, yet in the film, not one character has a Spanish surname. In Hollywood war movies, all the GI’s are named either Jim, Mac or Smitty. Javier, Rogelio, and Manuel are nowhere to be found.

Flash forward to the 2012 Oscar-nominated film Argo based on the life of CIA agent Tony Mendez.  In 1980 Mendez orchestrated a dangerous clandestine operation that resulted in the rescue of six American diplomats from Tehran, during the height of the Iranian Hostage Crisis.  Ben Affleck who produced the film cast himself in the role.

Mendez’s legendary covert exploits, as a CIA agent, make Jack Ryan look like a file clerk in an insurance office. 

Affleck, whose acting credits have produced more turkeys than Sanderson Farms and Butterball combined (Gigli, Daredevil, Pearl Harbor), plays a real life Mexican American hero. As a result, a survey of audience members who saw Argo, had no idea Mendez was a Latino. Wonder why?

But Seriously Folks

It’s time for Hollywood to realize letting Latinos play Latinos in prominent lead roles, with or without an accent, is not only the right thing to do; it’s the smart thing to do, from a profit point of view.

Latino are the #1 filmgoing audience, attending films at an average of 4.5 times annually as opposed to Caucasians who attend an average of 3.2 times.

But that doesn’t mean Latinos can’t also play non-Latino characters, and that is happening a bit more. Jennifer Lopez, Oscar Issac, and Zoe Saldana have all made that “crossover”. However, it is not the norm.

Until then I offer creative casting possibilities. Danny Trejo would have brought a welcome edginess and menace to the role of Mr. Rogers in It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.

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