If there was any doubt at all about whether Anthony Quinn was a true star, just take a look look at his track record. A film career that lasted 66 (!) years. Appearances in 151 films. Winner of two Academy Awards (for “Viva Zapata!’ and ‘Lust for Life’). Nominated for two more. Two BAFTA nominations. Five Golden Globe nominations. Nominated for a Primetime Emmy. And even a 382-performance run on Broadway as the star of the stage musical “Zorba,” based on his own hit film. That, my friend, is a star.
Born in Mexico but raised in Texas, Quinn began his career as a professional boxer but soon segued to acting. Blessed with looks that defied pigeonholing, Quinn played characters who were Latino, Greek, Italian, Arab and Native American (among many others), allowing him to explore a range of characterizations that few actors would be able to pull off so skillfully. Quinn’s talent, as well as his ethnic versatility, soon brought him to the attention of many of the world’s finest filmmakers — from such legendary directors as David Lean and George Cukor to Elia Kazan and Vincente Minnelli, and maestro Frederico Fellini and the great Spike Lee.
So let’s raise a glass and offer a toast to the screen legend Quinn by ranking and counting down, from worst to best, his 12 top screen performances!
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12. ACROSS 110th STREET (1972)
Image Credit: Courtesy of United Artists Director: Barry Shear. Writer: Luther Davis.
Starring Anthony Quinn, Yaphet Kotto, Anthony Franciosa, Paul Benjamin, Ed Bernard, Antonio Fargas.
With its Harlem setting and its multi-ethnic cast, Barry Shear’s action thriller is often lumped in with the blaxploitation films of the early 1970s. But beyond its gangland storyline, the film serves as a revealing time capsule of New York in those turbulent years, as well of the racial animus that divided the city at that time. Quinn, who also executive produced, plays an Italian-American cop on the take who’s paired with a by-the-book Black cop (Yaphet Kotto), and together they investigate a robbery involving mob money that has torn their precinct apart. Quinn and Kotto, great actors both, have a terrific sparring rhythm together, and those scenes where they face each other head-to-head are an absolute joy to watch.
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11. BARABBAS (1962)
Image Credit: Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images Director: Richard Fleischer.
Writers: Nigel Balchin, Diego Fabbri, Christopher Fry, Salvatore Quasimodo.
Starring Anthony Quinn, Silvana Mangano, Arthur Kennedy, Jack Palance.After the twin successes of “The Ten Commandments” (1956) and “Ben-Hur” (1959), Biblical epics became all the rage in Hollywood, but Richard Fleischer’s “Barabbas” took a different tack in its approach. Rather than placing Jesus Christ at the center of the crucifixion story, the film focuses instead on Barabbas, the convicted prisoner whom the crowd tells Pontius Pilate they want to save from execution over Christ. The film focuses on how that event shaped Barabbas’ free life post-crucifixion and provides Quinn with a big fat role that he can really sink his teeth into. Needless to say, he eats well.
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10. JUNGLE FEVER (1991)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Universal Pictures Writer/Director: Spike Lee.
Starring Wesley Snipes, Annabella Sciorra, Spike Lee, Anthony Quinn, Samuel L. Jackson, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, John Turturro, Halle Berry, Lonette McKee.
“Jungle Fever” was Spike Lee’s fifth film and Anthony Quinn’s 136th, with the romantic drama pitting two families and neighborhoods against each other in an urban variation of “Romeo and Juliet.” Black architect Flipper Purify (Wesley Snipes) is married and living with his wife Drew (Lonette McKee) and young daughter when he falls for Italian-American Angie Tucci (Annabella Sciorra), who is dating the sweet Paulie Carbone (John Turturro). Paulie lives with his demanding father Lou (Quinn) who is not happy at all that his son lost his girl to a Black man, an attitude reflected within both communities that threatens to tear their relationship apart. Within the large and varied young ensemble, veteran Quinn fit right in.
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9. WILD IS THE WIND (1957)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Paramount Pictures Director: George Cukor.
Writer: Arnold Schulman.
Starring Anna Magnani, Anthony Quinn, Anthony Franciosa, Joseph Calleia, Dolores Hart.
Despite being directed by the great George Cukor (who replaced an ailing John Sturges at the last minute), this domestic melodrama is rarely revived today, despite top-notch performances from Quinn and Anna Magnani, both of whom received Oscar nominations for their work. (It was Quinn’s third nomination and his first as Best Actor.) Quinn plays Gino, a widower who travels to Italy to marry his late wife’s sister Gioia (Magnani), who never quite lives up to her memory in Gino’s mind, prompting Gioia to fall in love with a local ranch hand (Anthony Franciosa). What’s special about the film are the two leads, with Quinn displaying an unexpected flair for romance.
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8. THE OX-BOW INCIDENT (1943)
Image Credit: Courtesy of 20th Century Fox Director: William A. Wellman.
Writer: Lamar Trotti.
Starring Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews, Harry Morgan, Anthony Quinn, Jane Darwell.
This Western drama holds a most unusual Oscar record — to this day, it remains the only film whose sole nomination was for Best Picture. But “The Ox-Bow Incident” is much more than a mere asterisk in Oscar history. It’s one of those rare films that directly takes on the subject of lynching and mob violence. Quinn plays a professional gambler named Francisco Morez who is one of three men suspected of killing a local rancher. Morez, who may have been singled out because he is Mexican, protests his innocence, but the mob’s bigoted thirst for justice proves to be no match for him. It may be a small role, but Quinn lends it enormous power.
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7. THE GUNS OF NAVARONE (1961)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Columbia Pictures Director: J. Lee Thompson.
Writer: Carl Foreman, based on the novel by Alistair MacLean.
Starring Gregory Peck, David Niven, Anthony Quinn, Stanley Baker, Anthony Quayle.
This World War II-set action adventure was a huge hit with audiences, garnering much critical praise as well for its depiction of how an Allied commando unit set out to destroy a German citadel that proved a threat to Allied ships nearby. As fun as the adventure scenes are, the real meat of the film is the strong, believable characterizations that power the film, led by the Oscar-winning triumvirate of Quinn, Gregory Peck and David Niven. Though they approach their roles very differently, these screen greats somehow mesh into an effective ensemble, with Quinn particularly having a fine time as an aggressive Greek Army colonel.
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6. VIVA ZAPATA! (1952)
Image Credit: 20th Century-Fox/Getty Images Director: Elia Kazan.
Writer: John Steinbeck.
Starring Marlon Brando, Jean Peters, Anthony Quinn, Joseph Wiseman, Margo, Arnold Moss, Alan Reed.
For his performance in this Elia Kazan-directed Western, Quinn won his first Academy Award as the real-life Mexican revolutionary Eufemio Zapata, brother of the legendary Emiliano Zapata (Marlon Brando). Working from a script from no less than John Steinbeck himself, Quinn crafts a larger-than-life character for Eufemio in a performance that’s big and at times flashy, but, thanks to his skills, one that never loses the essence of the character. With subtle strokes, Quinn reveals that Eufemio’s big persona is merely a front to hide the fact that he’s a man who will always live in his brother, a key part of the character that Quinn makes so moving.
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5. REQUIEM FOR A HEAVYWEIGHT (1962)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Columbia Pictures Director: Ralph Nelson.
Writer: Rod Serling.
Starring Anthony Quinn, Jackie Gleason, Mickey Rooney, Julie Harris, Stan Adams, Cassius Clay.
A rare film that has been adapted from a TV drama, “Requiem for a Heavyweight” was written by Rod Serling, who was at the height of his fame from his anthology series “The Twilight Zone.” The story focuses on pro boxer Mountain Rivera (Quinn), a fighter who once had a bright future ahead of him but is now washed up, suffering from brain damage after taking one too many punches to the head. He’s managed by Maish Rennick (Jackie Gleason), who, to pay off his gambling debts, sets up Mountain to take a ego-crushing job as a pro wrestler. Quinn is thoroughly believable in the physicality of the role and utterly heartbreaking in the scenes of that final humiliation.
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4. LUST FOR LIFE (1956)
Image Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images Director: Vincente Minnelli.
Writer: Norman Corwin.
Starring Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn, James Donald, Pamela Brown, Everett Sloane.
Quinn won his second Academy Award (again playing a real-life person) for his performance as artist Paul Gauguin in Vincente Minnelli’s “Lust for Life.” In this biopic of legendary Impressionist Vincent van Gogh (Kirk Douglas), Quinn’s Gauguin offers the troubled van Gogh much-needed companionship in Arles, where they have both have come to work. Quinn so thoroughly disappears in the role that when we see the mastery of his brushstrokes, we are completely convinced that we’re seeing an authentic artist at work. In addition to the Oscar, for his performance as Gauguin, Quinn received his first Golden Globe nomination as well.
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3. LA STRADA (1954)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Paramount Pictures Director: Federico Fellini.
Writers: Federico Fellini, Tullio Pinelli, Ennio Flaiano.
Starring Giulietta Masina, Richard Basehart, Aldo Silvani.
Though the casting of Hollywood actor might seem unusual for a Fellini film, Quinn was the director’s first choice to play street performer Zampanò, a strongman who purchases the simple-minded Gelsomina (Giulietta Masina) as a traveling companion for his life on the road. As the once-shy young woman begins to assert herself, Zampanò’s attitude toward her changes, and he begins to treat her brutally. Hurt, she seeks solace from another performer, aerialist Il Matto (Richard Basehart), whom a jealous Zampanò vows to ruin. Although Zampanò is an unsympathetic role, Quinn subtly suggests a streak of kindness beneath his blustery surface and delivers a performance of great power, thus proving that Fellini’s instincts were right.
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2. LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Columbia Pictures Director: David Lean.
Writers: Robert Bolt, Michael Wilson.
Starring Peter O’Toole, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn, Omar Sharif, Jack Hawkins, José Ferrer.
David Lean’s masterpiece, considered by many to be among the greatest films ever made, offered Quinn a plum of a supporting role as Auda Abu Tayi, the Bedouin Arab leader whom Lawrence (Peter O’Toole) persuades to turn against the Turks and join the rebellion. Working side by side with Lawrence to maintain the fragile alliance, the swarthy Auda and the fair Lawrence certainly make for an odd couple. But Quinn, who tears into his role, matches the great O’Toole scene for scene, making them one of the great movie pairings. For his performance as Auda, Quinn was nominated for his first BAFTA and second Golden Globe Award.
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1. ZORBA THE GREEK (1964)
Image Credit: Bettmann / Contributor Writer/Director: Michael Cacoyannis.
Starring Anthony Quinn, Alan Bates, Irene Papas, Lila Kedrova, Sotiris Moustakas.
The role for which Quinn will forever be associated, Alexis Zorba displayed a spirit of life that Quinn embraced fully. Zorba, a talkative Greek peasant, meets Basil (Alan Bates), a reserved British writer, as they travel together to Crete where Basil plans to reopen his family’s mine. Quinn’s romantic chemistry with his Oscar-winning co-star Lila Kedrova is enormously affecting and watching Quinn dance the sirtaki on the beach is a joy to behold, resulting in one of the most iconic moments of ’60s cinema. For his performance as Zorba, Quinn was nominated for his second BAFTA, third Golden Globe and fourth Academy Award.
