Don Alvarado, born Jose Page, was an American actor, assistant director, and director of production.
Biography
Don Alvarado was born on November 4, 1904 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Since childhood, Alvarado lived on his father's ranch and studied agriculture, raised sheep and cattle. But this life was not to his liking, and in 1922 he ran away from home and went to Los Angeles.
In 1924, Don Alvarado married an American woman, Ann Boyar, the daughter of Russian Jews who had moved to the United States. In the same year, they had a daughter, who was named Joy Page, and who later became an actress of theater and cinema.
In 1932, Anne got herself a lover, film mogul Jack L. Warner. Jack quickly convinced Anne to file for divorce from Alvarado in August 1932. Since then, she was free from the bonds of marriage and in September 1933 she moved to Warner. They got married in 1936.
Don Alvarado himself did not grieve for a long time over the loss of his wife and in 1932 started an affair with the star of musical comedies, the ballerina Marilyn Miller. It came to an engagement, but the marriage never took place.
Career
Once in Los Angeles, the 18-year-old began looking for acting work in the then nascent silent film industry. Before he found such a job, he had to earn a living as a worker in a confectionery factory for some time.
Alvarado made his debut on the cinema screen in the silent film "Mademoiselle Midnight" in a cameo role. Around the same time, in Los Angeles, Alvarado met a fellow aspiring Mexican actor, Luis Antonio Damaso de Alonso, who would later be known as Gilbert Roland.
Young, fighting for their place in the sun, the actors lived for some time in the same apartment, but soon Alvarado met his love. She was 16-year-old Anne Boyar (1908-1990), the daughter of Russian Jewish emigrants. Alvarado and Roland parted, but they did not stop being friends.
Alvarado's debut on the silent film screen took place in 1924 and almost immediately his career took off. The studio picked him up a profitable acting role of heroes-lovers and Latin macho, and soon Alvarado began to appear regularly, first in secondary roles, and then in the main roles.
But the appearance of sound films almost put an end to the leading roles of Alvarado. But still he managed to regularly play minor Spanish characters. Alvarado's typical film role was that of the Spaniard, Manuel, in The Bridge of San Luis Rey, based on the 1929 adaptation of Thornton Wilder's play.
Alvarado began to appear on the stage of the theater. So in 1933 he played a role in the production of "Dinner at Eight" at the Belasco Theater in Los Angeles.
In 1939, he adopted the pseudonym "Don Page", under which he began working in the field of film production. He first got a job as an assistant director and director at Warner Brothers, and a few years later as a production manager at that film company. So he became part of a team that has made commercially successful films for many years. Among them were The Treasures of the Sierra Madre (1948), East of Paradise, and Rebel Without a Cause (both 1955).
In 1958, he completed his last work on the film The Old Man and the Sea.
Death
Don Alvarado died of cancer in 1967 at the age of 62. It happened in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. The actor was buried at the Forest Lawn Memorial ark in the Hollywood Hills.
For his contributions to the film industry, Don Alvarado received a Film Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It is located at 6504 Hollywood Boulevard.
Creation
During his short but fruitful career, Don Alvarado managed to star in dozens of films:
- “The Wife Who Wasn't Wanted” (1925) - the role of Theo;
- "Satan in Sables" (1925) - the role of a student;
- Pleasure Buyers (1925) - the role of Tommy Wiswell;
- His Jazz Bride (1926);
- "Night Scream" (1926) - the role of Pedro;
- "Hero of the Big Snow" (1926) - the role of Edd Nolan;
- Monkey Conversations (1927) - the role of Sam Wick;
- "Love Carmen" (1927) - the role of Jose;
- Breakfast at Dawn (1927) - the role of Lussan;
- Drums of Love (1928) - the role of Count Leonardo de Alvia;
- "There is no other woman" (1928) - the role of Maurice;
- The Scarlet Lady (1928) - the role of Prince Nicholas;
- Battle of the Sexes (1928) - the role of Winsor's child;
- Driftwood (1928) - the role of Jim Curtis;
- Apache (1928) - the role of Pierre Dumont;
- Rio Rita (1929) - the role of Roberto Fergusson;
- "Bad" (1930) - the role of the Spaniard;
- Estrellados (1930) - the role of Larry Mitella;
- Captain Thunder (1930) - the role of Juan;
- Free and Easy (1930);
- Bo Ideal (1931) - the role of Ramon Gonzalez;
- Reputation (1931);
- "Lady with a Past" (1932) - the role of Carlos Santiagoos;
- "Murder of the King" (1932) - the role of Jose Moreno;
- Black Beauty (1933) - the role of Renaldo;
- Morning Glory (1933) - the role of Pepi Veles;
- "By Secret Orders" (1933) - the role of Don Frederico;
- Red Carriage (1933) - the role of Davey Heron;
- "On the Secret Service" (1933) - the role of Conte Valenti;
- The Devil - Woman (1935) - the role of Rico Cesaro;
- "I live for love" (1935) - the role of Morenito;
- Ranch Rose (1936) - the role of Don Luis Espinosa;
- Federal Agent (1936) - the role of Armand Reckard;
- "Romance of the Rio Grande" (1936) - the role of Jack Carter;
- Nobody's a Baby (1937) - the role of Tony Cortez;
- The Lady's Escape (1937) - the role of Antonio;
- Rosa Rio Grande (1938) - the role of Don Jose del Torre;
- "One Night in the Tropics" (1940) - the role of Rudolfo;
- "The Big Theft" (1949) - the role of Lieutenant Ruiz.
The most significant films in Don Alvarado's career were:
The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1929) is a part mute, part sound film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Directed by Charles Brabin. Starring Don Alvarado (the role of Manuel) and Lily Damita based on the 1927 novel of the same name by Thornton Wilder. The film won the Academy Award for Best Director.
The Treasures of the Sierra Madre (1948) is a feature film by the American director John Huston. Starring Water Houston (director's father) and Humphrey Bogart. Screen adaptation of the novel of the same name by B. Traven. Walter Houston won the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role and John Houston received the Academy Award for Best Picture. In 1990, the film was included in the National Register of the most significant films in US history.
East of Paradise (1955) is an American film drama directed by Elia Kazan. Free film adaptation of the second half of the novel of the same name by John Steinbeck. Starring James Dean, Julia Harris and Raymond Massey. The film won an Oscar for its debut acting role as Joe Van Fleet (as the mother of the Trask brothers), and was also nominated in three more categories. In addition, the film received the Cannes Film Festival prize for Best Drama Film in the competition program.
Rebel Without a Cause (1955) is an American feature film by Nicholas Ray in the genre of youth drama. Starring James Dean, the pop idol of 1950s American youth. The film was nominated for an Academy Award in three nominations. In 1990, the film was listed on the US National Film Register as having cultural, historical and aesthetic significance.
The Old Man and the Sea (1958) is the last film work for Don Alvarado. In the picture, he plays the role of a waiter. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Ernest Hemingway (1952), written in the Bahamas and becoming the last fiction of an American writer published during his lifetime. The plot tells the story of old man Santiago, a Cuban fisherman, about his struggle on the high seas with a giant marlin, which later became the biggest prey in his life.
