Cesar Romero

César Julio Romero Jr. was born in New York City on February 15, 1907, and died on January 1, 1994. His mother, María Mantilla, was a concert singer said to be the biological daughter of Cuban national hero José Martí. His father, César Julio Romero Sr., was born in Barcelona, emigrated to the United States in 1888, and worked as an import/export merchant. Romero was a first cousin of silent film actor Emerson Romero. He grew up in Bradley Beach, New Jersey, attending Bradley Beach Elementary School, Asbury Park High School, the Collegiate School, and the Riverdale Country Day School. He referred to himself as "a Latin from Manhattan" and lived with various family members throughout his life, having supported his family after his parents lost their sugar-import business in the Wall Street crash of 1929.

Romero began his Broadway career in 1929 and performed on stage through 1932. His credits included the play Dinner at Eight and the musical The Street Singer. Following his stage work, he transitioned to a film and television career spanning nearly six decades, taking on a wide range of roles including Latin lovers, historical figures, and characters in light domestic comedies.

Standing 6 feet 3 inches tall, Romero was frequently cast as a Latin lover in supporting film roles during the 1930s through the 1950s. He appeared opposite Marlene Dietrich in The Devil is a Woman, playing one of her two suitors, and took on a villainous supporting part in The Thin Man (1934) alongside William Powell and Myrna Loy. Early in his career he was also cast in small character parts such as Italian gangsters and East Indian princes. He played the Pathan rebel leader Khoda Khan in John Ford's Wee Willie Winkie (1937), starring Shirley Temple and Victor McLaglen, and the Indian servant Ram Dass in The Little Princess (1939), also with Temple.

Romero starred as the Cisco Kid in six westerns produced between 1939 and 1941. He played the Doc Holliday character, renamed Doc Halliday, in Allan Dwan's Frontier Marshal (1939) alongside Randolph Scott and Nancy Kelly, and had a lead role opposite Claire Trevor in Dwan's 15 Maiden Lane (1936). Twentieth Century Fox and Darryl Zanuck cast him alongside Tyrone Power in the Technicolor historical epic Captain from Castile (1947), directed by Henry King, in which Romero portrayed the conquistador Hernán Cortés. He also danced and performed comedy opposite Carmen Miranda and Betty Grable in films such as Week-End in Havana (1941) and Springtime in the Rockies (1942), and played a minor role as a piano player in Glenn Miller's band in Orchestra Wives (1942). He appeared as a foil for Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack in Ocean's 11 (1960).

Romero's television work was extensive. In the mid-1950s he appeared multiple times on The Martha Raye Show and performed the mambo with Gisele MacKenzie on her NBC variety show. He guest-starred on The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour in 1957, portrayed Don Diego de la Vega's maternal uncle in several second-season episodes of Zorro, and appeared on Wagon Train, The Texan, Pete and Gladys, and The Man from U.N.C.L.E., among many other programs. From 1966 to 1968, he played the Joker on the live-action Batman television series and in the 1966 Batman film. Because he refused to shave his mustache for the role, the character's white face makeup was applied directly over it for the entire run. The Joker was included in TV Guide's 2013 list of the 60 nastiest villains of all time, and Romero was the first actor to portray the character. He later played Peter Stavros on Falcon Crest from 1985 to 1987, had a recurring role as Señor Armendariz on Alias Smith and Jones in the 1970s, and appeared in a sixth-season episode of The Golden Girls as a suitor named Tony Delvecchio for Sophia, played by Estelle Getty. He also appeared in a series of Walt Disney Productions films in the 1970s as A.J. Arno, a small-time criminal opposing Dexter Riley, played by Kurt Russell.

On October 12, 1942, Romero enlisted in the United States Coast Guard as an apprentice seaman. He reported aboard the Coast Guard-crewed assault transport USS Cavalier in November 1943 and served in the Pacific Theater of Operations, seeing action during the invasions of Tinian and Saipan. He was eventually promoted to the rating of chief boatswain's mate.

A registered Republican, Romero participated in the Nixon-Lodge bumper sticker motorcade campaign in October 1960 and initially supported Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. in a write-in presidential campaign the following year, citing Lodge's anti-Communist stance in South Vietnam. During the 1964 general election he supported Barry Goldwater. That same year, Romero was actively involved in the California U.S. Senate race in which his close friend, fellow actor and Republican nominee George Murphy, whom Romero knew by the nickname "Butch," successfully defeated incumbent Senator Pierre Salinger.