Anthony Quinn Biography

Fast Facts

• Parents both fought with Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa
• After his father died, began supporting his family at 11, working a number of different jobs, including butcher, preacher, boxer and taxi driver
• While in high school, won a contest to study architecture with Frank Lloyd Wright, who sent Quinn to acting school in order to improve his speech
• Launched his film career with small roles in several 1936 movies, including the crime dramas Parole! and Sworn Enemy
• Best known for his role as Alexis Zorba in the 1964 feature Zorba the Greek
• Painted and sculpted since childhood, but did not begin selling his pieces until the 1980s
• Penned two autobiographies, The Original Sin and One Man Tango