Cantinflas

Cantinflas
Cantinflas in 1964
Born	Mario Alfonso Fortino Moreno Reyes (1911-08-12)August 12, 1911 Mexico City, Mexico
Died	April 20, 1993(1993-04-20) (aged 81) Mexico City, Mexico
Years active	1937–82
Spouse	Valentina Ivanova (1936–66)
Website	http://www.cantinflas.tv

Mario Fortino Alfonso Moreno Reyes (12 August 1911 – 20 April 1993), known by the stage name Cantinflas (Spanish pronunciation: [kanˈtiɱflas]), was a Mexican comedian and stage and movie actor. He often played poor peasants. He became associated with Mexico, and had a long, successful movie career, including some time in Hollywood. Charlie Chaplin once said that Moreno was the best comedian alive, and Moreno has been called the "Charlie Chaplin of Mexico". To audiences in the United States, he is best remembered as costarring with David Niven in Around the World in 80 Days (1956).

Moreno also was involved in Mexico's labor politics, which were often dangerous. Although he was a political conservative, his reputation as somebody who spoke for the poor made him seem real, and became important in the early struggle against charrismo, the one-party government's practice of taking over unions.