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Memorable moments
from a storied history90 Years of THR
THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 88 SEPTEMBER 4, 2019
20 TH^ CENTURYFO
X^ T
ELEVIS
ION/PHOTOFEST
Romero, who refused to shave off his signature mustache (seen beneath the white makeup), as the Joker on ABC’s Batman. Right: THR’s review of the show on Jan. 17, 1966.While at the movies it was Jack
Nicholson who brought Batman’s
nemesis the Joker to over-the-
top life in Tim Burton’s 1989
blockbuster Batman, and it’s
Joaquin Phoenix who plays the
makeup-loving criminal master-
mind in Joker, which premiered
at the Venice Film Festival, it
was Cesar Romero who nailed
the character on TV’s Batman.
He was an unexpected choice.
Born in New York to a Cuban
mother and Spanish father, the
6-foot-3 Romero was nicknamed
“the Latin from Manhattan.” His
career began in the early 1930s
when he frequently portrayed the
suave Latin gigolo. But he went
on to play Italian gangsters, the
Cisco Kid, Afghan rebels, Shirley
Temple’s turban-wearing Hindu
friend in The Little Princess (1939)
and a reformed mobster dealing
with Frank Sinatra in Ocean’s
Eleven (1960). Romero was
constantly photographed escort-
ing actresses to premieres and
clubs, but according to stories
he told author Boze Hadleigh
for the 1996 book Hollywood
Gays, he had a wide-ranging gay
sex life. (According to Romero,
Desi Arnaz didn’t just love Lucy.)
When the chance to play the Joker
came along in 1966, Romero was59, and it reignited his fame. “It’s
the kind of part where you can
do everything you’ve been told
not to do as an actor,” he said in
a 1966 television interview. “You
can be as hammy as you want.”
The ABC show was the year’s
most hyped midseason debut.
“An excellent campaign, one of
the best ever given a TV show,”
said The Hollywood Reporter. “The
producers also have spared no
expense in creating the series
for the small screen.” In its first
year, the Adam West-fronted
show ranked fifth in the ratings
with 14 million viewers, but the
novelty quickly wore off, and itlasted only two more seasons.
Romero died in Santa Monica
on New Year’s Day in 1994 at 86.
— BILL HIGGINSCesar Romero Reinvented Himself as the Joker
1966 19967 119688 191 699 19977770 1971 1979 22 1997333 119774 197775 11976