Zorro

In Los Angeles in 1821, Don Diego de la Vega opposes the corrupt tyrants of Spanish California as Zorro, Spanish for 'fox'. The masked swordsman was created in 1919 by American pulp writer Johnston McCulley. His black costume includes a cape, a hat known as a sombrero cordobés, and a mask covering the upper half of his face. Zorro is an acrobat and an expert in various weapons, but the one he employs most frequently is his rapier. He often uses his rapier to carve the initial 'Z' on his defeated foes, and other objects to 'sign his work'. He is also an accomplished rider, his trusty steed being a black horse called 'Tornado'. The character has been featured in many films and in a classic TV series.


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Editore, Milano, no. 452. Douglas Fairbanks in Don Q Son of Zorro (Donald Crisp, 1925).


German postcard by Ross Verlag Foreign, no. 3658/4, 1928-1929. Photo: United Artists. Douglas Fairbanks is wearing the outfit from Don Q, Son of Zorro (Donald Crisp, 1925).


French postcard by Les Presses de Belville, Paris. Photo: Walt Disney Productions, 1964. Guy Williams in the TV series Zorro (1957-1959).


West German flyer by Illustrierte Film-Bühne, no. 6648. Sean Flynn in Il segno di Zorro/Sign of Zorro (Mario Caiano, 1963). The German title was Zorro, der Mann mit den zwei Gesichten.


French postcard by Sonis, no. C. 899. Photo: Zorro Productions / Tristar Pictures. Antonio Banderas in The Mask of Zorro (Martin Campbell, 1998).


Taiwanese postcard by Cool Card. Image: film poster of Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones in The Legend of Zorro (Martin Campbell, 2005).

A genre-defining swashbuckler adventure

Zorro debuted in Johnston McCulley's novel 'The Curse of Capistrano', serialized in five parts between 9 August and 6 September 1919, in the pulp magazine All-Story Weekly. The story was originally meant as a standalone tale, and at the denouement, Zorro's true identity is revealed to all. Zorro is the secret identity of Don Diego de la Vega.

In McCulley's story, Zorro has a high bounty on his head but is too skilled and cunning for the bumbling authorities to catch, and he also delights in publicly humiliating them. Because of this, the townspeople started calling him "El Zorro" due to his fox-like cunning and charm. He is a former university student, newly recalled by his father, Don Alejandro de la Vega, from Madrid to his home outside El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora Reina de los Angeles sobre El Rio Porciuncula, later shortened to Los Angeles.

Then the town was still part of Mexican California (1821–1848), after its independence from Spain. The dashing black-clad masked outlaw defends the people of the land against tyrannical officials and other villains. Not only is he too cunning and fox-like for the bumbling authorities to catch, but he delights in publicly humiliating them. McCulley did not intend to write further stories about Zorro, but the new medium film changed things.

The following year, American actor Douglas Fairbanks had the inspiration of staging a new type of adventure costume picture, a genre that was then out of favour with the public. Fairbanks had been a comic in his previous films. On their honeymoon, Fairbanks and Mary Pickford selected 'The Curse of Capistrano' as the inaugural picture for their new studio, United Artists, beginning the character's cinematic tradition. In his film The Mark of Zorro (Fred Niblo, 1920), Fairbanks combined his appealing screen persona with the new adventurous costume element. This genre-defining Swashbuckler adventure was the first film version of Zorro.

The Mark of Zorro was a smash success and parlayed Douglas Fairbanks into the rank of superstar. Due to its success, McCulley's novel was republished, also titled 'The Mark of Zorro'. In response to public demand fueled by the film, McCulley wrote more than sixty more Zorro stories, beginning in 1922 with 'The Further Adventures of Zorro', which was also serialized in Argosy All-Story Weekly. For the remainder of his career in silent films, Douglas Fairbanks continued to produce and star in ever more elaborate, impressive costume films, such as The Three Musketeers (Fred Niblo, 1921), Robin Hood (Allan Dwan, 1922) and The Thief of Bagdad (Raoul Walsh, 1924). And in 1925, Douglas Fairbanks made a Zorro sequel, Don Q Son of Zorro (Donald Crisp, 1925).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3658/1, 1928-1929. Photo: United Artists. Douglas Fairbanks and Juliette Belanger in Don Q Son of Zorro (Donald Crisp, 1925).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3658/2, 1928-1929. Photo: United Artists. Douglas Fairbanks in Don Q, Son of Zorro (Donald Crisp, 1925).


Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 5205. Photo: United Artists. Mary Astor and Douglas Fairbanks in Don Q Son of Zorro (Donald Crisp, 1925).


French postcard by A.N., Paris, in the Les Vedettes du Cinéma series, no. 171. Photo: United Artists. Douglas Fairbanks in Don Q, Son of Zorro (Donald Crisp, 1925).


French postcard by Editions Cinémagazine, no. 263. Photo: Fairbanks in his outfit for Don Q Son of Zorro (Donald Crisp, 1925).


Dutch poster by Frans Bosen for Don Q Son of Zorro (Donald Crisp, 1925) starring Douglas Fairbanks.

Foppish dandy by day and masked swordsman by night

In the 1930s and 1940s, Johnston McCulley wrote dozens more Zorro stories for various magazines, including Argosy and West. Several film versions were made during this period including The Bold Caballero (Wells Root, 1936) starring Robert Livingstone and the Republic serials Zorro Rides Again (William Witney, John English, 1937) with John Carroll and Zorro's Fighting Legion (William Witney, John English, 1939) with Reed Hadley. The best-known film version was The Mark of Zorro (Rouben Mamoulian, 1940) starring Tyrone Power.

Walt Disney produced a now classic American half-hour television series Zorro, which ran from October 1957 to June 1959, with a total of 78 episodes. Guy Williams is Don Diego who plays the foppish dandy by day and the masked swordsman Zorro who slashes 'Z's everywhere by night. His horses (black and white) are Tornado and Phantom. Although the series was very popular, especially with a young audience, it had to be discontinued after its second season. This was due to a financial disagreement between Disney and the network that broadcast the series. Author McCulley died in 1958, just as Zorro was at the height of his popularity thanks to the Disney series.

Disney also released two feature films with Guy Williams, The Sign of Zorro (Lewis R. Foster, Norman Foster, 1958) and Zorro, the Avenger (Charles Barton, 1959) which were episode compilations. There were also four one-hour follow-ups on the Walt Disney anthology television series in the 1960–1961 TV season. During the 1960s various Zorro films were produced in Spain and Italy. These included La venganza del Zorro/Zorro the Avenger (Joaquín Luis Romero Marchent, 1962) with Frank Latimore, Il segno di Zorro/Duel at the Rio Grande (Mario Caiano, 1963) with Sean Flynn, Zorro e i tre moschettieri/Zorro and the Three Musketeers (Luigi Capuano, 1963), with Gordon Scott, I nipoti di Zorro/The Nephews of Zorro ( Marcello Ciorciolini, 1968) starring the comic duo Franco and Ciccio and Dean Reed and El Zorro justiciero/The Avenger, Zorro (Rafael Romero Marchent, 1969) starring Fabio Testi.

Hollywood became interested again in the dashing black-clad masked swordsman and produced the TV film The Mark of Zorro (Don McDougall, 1974) starring Frank Langella and also with Ricardo Montalban, Gilbert Roland and Yvonne De Carlo. It was also a backdoor pilot for a television series on which ABC-TV declined to pick up the option. More successful were the Italian Zorro Westerns Ah sì? E io lo dico a Zzzzorro!/Mark of Zorro (Luca Damiano, 1975) with George Hilton and Zorro (Duccio Tessari, 1975) starring Alain Delon. After the Mexican Western, La gran aventura del Zorro/The Great Adventure of Zorro (Raúl de Anda, 1976) with Rodolfo de Anda and a massive hit in Mexican Cinema, Hollywood came with a satire, Zorro, the Gay Blade (Peter Medak, 1981) with George Hamilton.

Nearly 20 years later, Zorro was finally reanimated in the Oscar-nominated American Swashbuckler The Mask of Zorro (Martin Campbell, 1998). The lead roles are played by Anthony Hopkins as an aged Don Diego de la Vega and Antonio Banderas as Alejandro Murrieta, a misfit outlaw/cowboy who is groomed to become the next Zorro, with Alejandro eventually marrying Diego's daughter Elena (Catherine Zeta-Jones). A sequel to the film came in 2005 with The Legend of Zorro (Martin Campbell, 2005). Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones reprise their roles as the titular hero and his spouse, Elena, and Rufus Sewell stars as the villain, Count Armand. In 2005, Isabel Allende also wrote an (obviously fictional) life story of Zorro, 'El Zorro'. She wrote the book on behalf of Zorro Productions, Inc, the Californian company that has owned the rights to Zorro since 1986.


French postcard by Les Presses de Belville, Paris, no. 109. Photo: Walt Disney Productions, 1964. Guy Williams in Zorro (1957-1959).


French postcard by Les Presses de Belville, Paris, no. 110. Photo: Walt Disney Productions, 1964. Guy Williams in Zorro (1957-1959).


French postcard by Les Presses de Belville, Paris. Photo: Walt Disney Productions, 1964. Guy Williams in Zorro (1957-1959).


French postcard by Les Presses de Belville, Paris. Photo: Walt Disney Productions, 1964. Guy Williams in Zorro (1957-1959).


French postcard by Les Presses de Belville, Paris. Photo: Walt Disney Productions, 1964.


German postcard by Memory Cards, no. 495. Photo: Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones in The Mask of Zorro (Martin Campbell, 1998).


German postcard by Memory Cards, no. 496. Photo: Antonio Banderas and Anthony Hopkins in The Mask of Zorro (Martin Campbell, 1998).


German postcard by Memory Cards, no. 497. Photo: Antonio Banderas in The Mask of Zorro (Martin Campbell, 1998).

Sources: Wikipedia (Dutch and English), and IMDb.

Antonio Banderas

Charismatic Spanish film actor, film director, film producer, and singer Antonio Banderas (1960) began his acting career at age 19 with a series of films by director Pedro Almodóvar. He became an internationally known Latin heartthrob with high-profile Hollywood films including Philadelphia (1993), Interview with the Vampire (1994), Desperado (1995), Evita (1996), The Mask of Zorro (1998), and the Shrek sequels. In 2011, the Spanish psychological thriller La piel que habito/The Skin I Live In marked the return of Banderas to Pedro Almodóvar. In this film and in their next film together, Dolor y gloria/Pain and Glory (2019), Banderas gave two of his best performances ever.


Spanish postcard by Colección 'Estrellas de actualidad' Cacitel, S.L., no. 109, 1990.


British postcard by Heroes Publishing Ltd, London, no. SPC 2753.


British postcard by Exclusive Collectors' Artcard. Photo: Geffen Pictures. Antonio Banderas in Interview with the Vampire (Neil Jordan, 1994). Caption: Armand (Antonio Banderas) heads the 'Theatre of the Vampires' where human sacrifices provide the nightly entertainment.


British postcard by Box Office, no. BO 033. Antonio Banderas in Desperado (Roberto Rodriguez, 1995).

Innovative and sexually provocative films

José Antonio Domínguez Banderas was born in Málaga, Spain, in 1960. He was the son of Ana Banderas, a school teacher, and José Domínguez, a police officer in the Guardia Civil. He has one younger brother, Francisco. He took his mother's surname as his stage name.

He initially wanted to be a soccer player, but his dream ended when he broke his foot at age 14. At that time he developed a passion for theatre after seeing the stage production of 'Hair'. Banderas began his acting studies at the School of Dramatic Art in Málaga and made his acting debut at a small theatre in Málaga.

He was arrested by the Spanish police for his performance in a play by Bertolt Brecht, because of the political censorship under the rule of General Francisco Franco. Banderas spent a whole night at the police station. He had three or four of such arrests while he was working with a small theatre troupe that toured all over Spain and was giving performances in small-town theatres and on the street.

In 1981, at the age of 19, he moved to Madrid in pursuit of an acting career. There he joined the troupe at the National Theatre of Spain, becoming the youngest member of the company. Banderas' stage performances caught the attention of film director Pedro Almodóvar, who cast the young actor in Pestañas postizas (Enrique Belloch, 1982), produced by Almodóvar.

Banderas and Almodovar joined forces in making innovative and sexually provocative films during the 1980s. He played a gay Islamic terrorist in Laberinto de pasiones/Labyrinth of Passion (Pedro Almodóvar, 1982). In Matador (Pedro Almodóvar, 1986), he played a troubled young man who is confused about his sexuality. Banderas made headlines in Spain with his performance as a psychotic gay stalker, making his first male-to-male on-screen kiss in Almodovar's La ley del deseo/Law of Desire (1987, Pedro Almodóvar) with Carmen Maura.

Banderas's long and fruitful collaboration with Almodóvar eventually prepared him for international recognition that came with his work in the Academy Award-nominated film Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios/Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Pedro Almodóvar, 1988). He had his breakthrough with the controversial ¡Átame!/Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (Pedro Almodóvar, 1989) as mental patient Ricky, who kidnaps a porn star (Victoria Abril) and keeps her tied up until she returns his love.

Other Spanish films in which he appeared were El señor Galíndez (Rodolfo Kuhn, 1984) starring Héctor Alterio, Los zancos/The Stilts (Carlos Saura, 1984) with Laura del Sol and Fernando Fernán Gómez, Si te dicen que caí/If They Tell You I Fell (Vicente Aranda, 1989) with Victoria Abril, and Terra Nova (Calogero Salvo, 1991).

In 1991 he got also international attention as an unwitting object of Madonna's affection in the documentary Madonna: Truth or Dare (Alek Keshishian, Mark Aldo Miceli, 1991).


Spanish postcard by Novo Graf for Lauren Films. Photo: publicity still for El placer de matar (Félix Rotaeta, 1988).


Italian postcard by Edibas, no. 582. Photo: Olympia.


British postcard by Underground, no. BO 115.


Italian postcard in the World Collection by Edibas s.r.l., Torino, no. P.c. 716. Photo: Olympia.


American postcard by Fotofolio. Photo: Herb Ritts, 1994.

A shimmering gunslinger

In 1992 Antonio Banderas made his Hollywood debut with The Mambo Kings (Arne Glimcher, 1992) as a soulful Cuban trumpeter opposite Armand Assante. Because he did not speak English at that time, his dialogue for the film was taught to him phonetically. At AllMovie, Rebecca Flint Marx writes: “Banderas still managed to turn in a critically praised performance as a struggling musician.”

He then shot to international fame with his sensitive performance as the lover of Tom Hanks' AIDS-infected lawyer in Philadelphia (Jonathan Demme, 1993).

During the following years, he appeared in several major Hollywood releases. He played a substantial role as a sexy European vampire opposite Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt in the film adaptation of Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (Neil Jordan, 1994).

Banderas had a box office hit with his starring role as the shimmering gunslinger El Mariachi in Desperado (Roberto Rodriguez, 1995). He starred as ubiquitous narrator Che alongside Madonna as Eva Peron in Evita (Alan Parker, 1996), an adaptation of the musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice.

He had another box office success with his role as the legendary masked swordsman Zorro in The Mask of Zorro (1998, Martin Campbell), opposite Anthony Hopkins and Catherina Zeta-Jones. Banderas was the first Latino to play the Mexican swashbuckler.

Banderas' debut as a director was the interesting black comedy Crazy in Alabama (1999), starring his wife Melanie Griffith. In 2000, Ridley Scott offered Banderas a part as a peasant in his film, Gladiator (Ridley Scott, 2000) and he reluctantly accepted but demanded $50,000 for the role - currently the world record for the highest salary of an extra.

In 2001, he collaborated again with Robert Rodriguez who cast him in the Spy Kids films. He also starred in the poor Original Sin (Michael Cristofer, 2001) with Angelina Jolie. In 2002, he starred in the equally poor Femme Fatale (Brian De Palma, 2002) opposite Rebecca Romijn-Stamos and in Frida (2002, Julie Taymor) with Salma Hayek.

He reprised his role as El Mariachi in the last installment of Robert Rodriguez' Mexico trilogy Once Upon A Time In Mexico (Roberto Rodriguez, 2003) with Johnny Depp and Salma Hayek.


French postcard by Sonis, no. C. 899. Photo: Zorro Productions / Tristar Pictures. Publicity still for The Mask of Zorro (Martin Campbell, 1998).


German postcard by Memory Cards, no. 497. Photo: publicity still for The Mask of Zorro (Martin Campbell, 1998).


German postcard by Memory Cards, no. 495. Photo: publicity still for The Mask of Zorro (Martin Campbell, 1998), with Catherina Zeta-Jones.


German postcard by Memory Cards, no. 496. Photo: publicity still for The Mask of Zorro (Martin Campbell, 1998), with Anthony Hopkins.

A sexy, macho swashbuckler

In 2003, Antonio Banderas returned to the musical genre, appearing to great acclaim in the Broadway revival of Maury Yeston's musical Nine, based on the film 8½, playing the prime role originated by the late Raúl Juliá. Banderas won both the Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk awards and was nominated for the Tony Award for best actor in a musical.

Tweaking his image as a sexy, macho swashbuckler, Banderas next provided the pitch-perfect voice of the rapier-wielding Puss-in-Boots for Shrek 2 (Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury, Conrad Verno, 2004), Shrek the Third (Chris Miller, Raman Hui, 2007) and the last film in the Shrek franchise, Shrek Forever After (Mike Mitchell, 2010). The character became so popular on the family film circuit, that it became the protagonist of the spin-off film Puss in Boots: The Story of an Ogre Killer (Mike Mitchell, 2011).

In 2005, Banderas reprised his role as Zorro in The Legend of Zorro (Martin Campbell, 2005), though this was not as successful as the original. A year later, he starred in Take the Lead (Liz Friedlander, 2006), a high school-set movie in which he played a ballroom dancing teacher.

In 2010 he starred in the Woody Allen comedy You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (Woody Allen, 2010). It was followed by Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World (Robert Rodriguez, 2011).

In 2011 Banderas reteamed for the first time in two decades with Pedro Almodóvar in the Hitchcock-inspired La piel que habito/The Skin I Live In. Perry Seibert at AllMovie: "Luckily, Banderas continues to bring out Almodovar's most-outrageous impulses. You won't hear anyone coming out of this movie muttering, 'we've seen that story before.' But in a way, if you've kept up with Almodovar over the last three decades, you really have seen much of this movie before. Sure, the actual plot points are new, but the themes are quintessential Almodovar. His obsession with cross-dressing finds its seemingly natural conclusion in this film, and he continues to show how most men are slaves to their sexual desires, while most women are forever at the mercy of these unstable men."

The next year he appeared as a mysterious international espionage figure in the action thriller Haywire (Steven Soderbergh, 2012). Then, he appeared in a small role in Rodriguez's Machete Kills (Robert Rodriguez, 2013) and he joined Sylvester Stallone and his merry band of senior action heroes in The Expendables 3 (Patrick Hughes, 2014).

In 2019, Banderas had a new career highlight in the Spanish film Dolor y gloria/Pain and Glory (Pedro Almodóvar, 2019), which centers around an aging film director, played by Banderas who is suffering from chronic illness and writer's block as he reflects on his life in flashbacks to his childhood. The film has been described as semi-autobiographical, according to Almodóvar. Banderas won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor and was nominated for his first-ever Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for the film.

Banderas then starred in the Netflix film, The Laundromat (Steven Soderbergh, 2019) alongside Meryl Streep, and Gary Oldman, and in the fantasy adventure film Dolittle (2020) alongside Robert Downey Jr. In 2023, he will appear in the upcoming fifth Indiana Jones film with Harrison Ford, Mads Mikkelsen, and Toby Jones. He will reprise his voice role as Puss in Boots in the sequel Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.

Antonio Banderas divorced his first wife, actress Ana Leza in 1996, and married Melanie Griffith that same year. They had met a year earlier while shooting the romantic comedy Two Much (Fernando Trueba, 1995). Their romance on the set helped the film set box-office records in Spain. In June 2014 Griffith and Banderas announced their separation after a marriage of 18 years. They have a daughter, Stella Banderas (1996). Despite being divorced Banderas and Griffith remain on strong terms, remaining friends.

TCM: "Handsome, charismatic, and undeniably talented, Banderas rightfully earned his place as one of cinema's greatest leading men." Antonio Banderas shares time between his two residencies, one in the United States and one in the South of Spain. He has invested his movie earnings in Andalusian products and owns 50% of a winery in Northern Spain called Anta Banderas which makes red and rose wines.


British postcard by Box Office, no. BO 085. Antonio Banderas in Desperado (Roberto Rodriguez, 1995).


British postcard. Antonio Banderas in Desperado (Roberto Rodriguez, 1995). Caption: He came back to settle the score with someone. Anyone. EVERYONE.


Spanish postcard by Karikaturas, Ref. BDR 03. Image: Vizcarra / El Jueves.


Taiwanese postcard by Cool Card. Image: film poster of Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones in The Legend of Zorro (Martin Campbell, 2005).


Official Trailer ¡Átame!/Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (Pedro Almodóvar, 1989). Source: Rialto Film Entertainment (YouTube).


Official trailer La piel que habito/The Skin I Live In (Pedro Almodóvar, 2011). Source: Streaming Trailers (YouTube).

Sources: Rebecca Flint Marx (AllMovie), Steve Shelokhonov (IMDb), Perry Seibert (AllMovie), Lizzie Smith (Daily Mail), TCM, Wikipedia, and IMDb.

Happy birthday, Antonio Banderas!

Charismatic Spanish film actor, director, producer and singer Antonio Banderas (1960) has his 54th birthday today. Banderas began his acting career at age 19 with a series of films by director Pedro Almodóvar. He became an internationally known Latin heartthrob with high-profile Hollywood films including Philadelphia (1993), Interview with the Vampire (1994), Desperado (1995), Evita (1996), The Mask of Zorro (1998), and the Shrek sequels. In 2011, the Spanish psychological thriller La piel que habito/The Skin I Live In marked the return of Banderas to Pedro Almodóvar. In their first collaboration in 21 years, Banderas gave one of his best performances ever. Happy birthday, Mr. Banderas!


Spanish postcard by Novo Graf for Lauren Films. Photo: publicity still for El placer de matar (1988, Félix Rotaeta).


British postcard by Heroes Publishing Ltd, London, no. SPC 2753.


American postcard by Fotofolio. Photo: Herb Ritts, 1994.


German postcard by Memory Cards, no. 497. Photo: publicity still for The Mask of Zorro (Martin Campbell, 1998).

Source: Wikipedia.