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Either we act like gentlemen or like what we are.
Cantinflas

Cantinflas is one of the most iconic comic characters in national cinema. Portrayed by Mario Moreno Reyes (Mexico City, 1911–1993), this cheeky clown was born at the beginning of the 1930s, on the stage of the Carpa Mayab Theater. The actor made his appearance wearing sagging pants halfway to his butt, a wrinkled hat, a tattered white T-shirt, an old waistcoat which he referred to as a “raincoat”, a washcloth on his shoulder and other rags…, suspiciously similar to Chupamirto’s outfit, a Mexican cartoon character created by cartoonist Jesús Acosta. Legend has it that the name came up when, half-way through the show, someone yelled at the actor: “How much do you inflate (drink)?”, to know if his nervous and unintelligible speech was related to his alcoholic state.

Cantinflas successfully moved on from one marquee to another, performing an act in company of Valentina Ivanova —the actor’s wife— and Estanislao Schilinsky —his brother-in-law— until they made it to film.

In 1940 he filmed the movie that made him famous: You’re Missing the Point. He shot over 39 films, among which Around the World in 80 Days (1956) stands out, earning him a Golden Globe in the category of Best Comedy Actor and becoming at the time the highest-paid actor in the world.

Mario Moreno Reyes: businessman, comic bullfighter, activist for the rights of actors, altruistic and generous man, was star number 1,722 in placing his prints on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The peculiar use of language of his character, speaking profusely but with hardly any meaning, inspired the creation of the verb “cantinflear”, acknowledged by the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) in 1992, together with the adjectives “cantinflesco”, “cantinflero”, “acantinflado”, and the noun “cantinfleo”.