MUSTACHE WEDNESDAY: PEDRO ARMENDÁRIZ

by dougisthesoulmachine on Aug 5, 2009 12:14 PM EDT

This week Mustache Wednesday pays tribute to a fellow who was taken before his time but still managed to pack more livin' into 51 years than the rest of us probably could in twice that long: Mexico City-born actor and renaissance hombre Pedro Armendáriz.

pedro_armendariz

Armendáriz got an engineering degree from Cal Poly and variously worked for the railroad, a bilingual magazine, and the Mexican tourism board, but was discovered by a Mexican film director after reciting the monologue from Hamlet to an American tourist; he went on to appear in more than 100 films, including "Fort Apache" and "The Conqueror." Later in life he was diagnosed with cancer and eventually committed suicide rather than slowly waste away -- but not before toughing it out through the production of "From Russia With Love," in which he plays Kerim Bey, head of Station T in Istanbul and the one man in Turkey who can match James Bond in terms of connections, ladyslaying skills, and sheer badassery.

Below the jump, Armendáriz assists the equally well-mustachioed Francis de Wolff in presiding over the film's infamous "gypsy catfight" scene. Happy Mustache Wednesday and mee-yoww, motherfuckers.

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Infamous? I’m not a Bond fan, but it seems pretty cheesy to me. Wonder how they “gypsy catfight” would be filmed today?

by chg on Aug 5, 2009 12:43 PM EDT reply actions

Tragic movie trivia: Mr. Armendariz was one of 91 people from the 221-member team that filmed the movie “The Conqueror” in the Utah desert to develop cancer afterwards. Forty-five people died of various cancers, including Mr. Armendariz, John Wayne, Susan Hayward and Agnes Moorehead. The movie was filmed 137 miles downrange from Nevada’s nuclear test sites, and Howard Hughes later trucked 60 tons of local dirt back to Hollywood for reshoots. Photos from the site depict John Wayne with a Geiger counter measuring the local radioactivity.

All for a really crappy movie, too.

by An 'eer with a beer on Aug 5, 2009 12:52 PM EDT reply actions

He also road with Jeb Stuart. Oh wait, that was his character Sgt Beaufort in Fort Apache:

Sgt. Johnny Beaufort: Gentlemen, this is a horse. You will observe it has no saddle. The reason it has no saddle is because it’ll be easier for you to stay on without the saddle. Now, before we progress… did any of you gentlemen have the honor of serving with the Southern arms during the late War Between The States?
Recruit: Yes, sir. I had the pride, sir, of serving with Bedford Forrest.
Sgt. Johnny Beaufort: I am proud to shake your hand.
Recruit: Thank you, sir.
Sgt. Johnny Beaufort: I hope you have the pleasure of buying me a drink on your next payday.
Recruit: An honor, sir.
Sgt. Johnny Beaufort: You are now an acting corporal.

Sullivan013

by sullivan013 on Aug 5, 2009 1:34 PM EDT reply actions

I wonder…which one is “the” monologue from Hamlet. I.2, II.1, III.1, III.2, III.3, or IV.4? Theatre zing!

by Chris on Aug 5, 2009 2:10 PM EDT reply actions

“Charming….Charming!”

by Roaminggator on Aug 5, 2009 3:33 PM EDT reply actions

Excellent choice, Doug. My favorite Bond film.

@1 – Probably “infamous” because the first three Bond films’ depiction of women was sexist in a way that just wouldn’t fly in today’s pictures. Connery was pig in those movies, and the women loved him that way.

by Will Q on Aug 6, 2009 12:41 AM EDT reply actions