
Anthony Quinn
“Someone once said if l was left on an island, I’d reconstruct the rocks. I have a need to say I was here”.
So has Anthony Quinn spent his life — leaving his mark on the world. His creativity continues to move us and enrich our lives through his acting, his art and his vital concern for the needy.
Quinn was born during the Mexican Revolution in 1915. His Irish American father and Mexican Indian mother marched under the banner of Pancho Villa and were eventually driven north to Texas and California in search of work. Before he was 18, Quinn had been a migrant farm worker, preacher, newsboy and taxi driver. He also made five and ten dollars a fight as a welterweight boxer.
His interest in art developed early. At age nine, he began sculpting, and within three years he won a California statewide competition with his clay figure of Lincoln, which is housed today in the Los Angeles Museum. During his junior year in high school he entered another competition, with an architectural plan for a marketplace, and again he was named winner. The prize was to study and work with Frank Lloyd Wright. Among many other life lessons, Wright taught Quinn that to be a good architect he must be able to convince people of how they ought to live. He consequently sent Quinn to the Katherine Hamill acting school to improve his speech. He worked as a janitor to pay for his lessons and when one actor fell ill, Quinn stepped into his role in the school play. His performance received wonderful reviews and his acting career was launched.
After more than 50 years of performing on stage, for television and in over 275 films, Quinn has been recognized and honored as the consummate actor. His career includes the creation of truly classic characters in La Strada, Viva Zapata, Lust for Life, Requiem for a Heavyweight and Zorba. He has won two Oscars and six other nominations.
In the past ten years, the world has come to know another Anthony Quinn, the sculptor and painter. In 1982, he had an international exhibition of his sculptures, paintings and graphics. He now has at least two exhibitions a year in such cities as Vienna, Zurich, Paris, New York, Washington D.C., Beverly Hills and Mexico City. His autobiography, The Original Sin, was published in 1974, followed by a sequel, Ten Years in Writing, published in 1995.