Biography
Born in Churubusco, a suburb of Mexico City, and raised in Texas, he studied at California Polytechnic State University where he graduated with an engineering degree. He began his acting career at the stage in Mexico City, entering films there in 1935. During the next years he made 42 Spanish-language films, among them "Maria Candelaria" (1943) and "La Perla" (1947), becoming one of Mexico`s top film stars. His first American film was "The Fugitive" for RKO in 1947. Since then he costarred in mo...
Known For
Complete Filmography

The Conqueror: Hollywood Fallout
2024
as Self (archive footage)
The story of one of the great environmental disasters to befall the United States, and the terrible movie that helped bring the catastrophe to light.

From Russia with Love
1963
as Ali Kerim Bey
Agent 007 is back in the second installment of the James Bond series, this time battling a secret crime organization known as SPECTRE. Russians Rosa K...

Captain Sindbad
1963
as El Kerim
After completing his voyages Sindbad the Sailor and his hearty crew have come home to find a palace coup d'etat has occurred and his home city is bein...

La Bandida
1963
as Roberto Herrera
During a lull in the Mexican Revolution when Francisco Madero became president and attempted to implement land reforms, two former revolutionaries are...

El tejedor de milagros
1962
as Señor Cura
Arnulfo is a man weaving baskets. Remedios has given birth in front of the house of a woman and her aid, but the village is spread the word that the c...

My Son, the Hero
1962
as Cadmo
Krios, the youngest of the Titans, may be the least strong of the seven brothers whose strength comes from their mother, earth-goddess Gaia, but is by...

Los valientes no mueren
1962
Charro-dude wants his sister to marry into professional city-folk and move into the upper classes... but she's in love with somebody from their own so...

My Son, the Hero
1961
as General
Northern Mexico, early 20th century. Reynaldo del Hierro is murdered while riding with his sons Reynaldo and Martín, whose mother instills in them the...

Francis of Assisi
1961
as The Sultan
In 13th century Italy, Francis Bernardone, the son of an Assisi merchant, renounces a promising army career in favor of a monastic life and starts his...
La cárcel de Cananea
1960
as Pedro
Law officer tracks and recaptures escaped convict.

Violent Summer
1960
as Francisco Peña
During the Mexican Revolution, Beatriz's body is discovered by some kids. The police began to investigate the history of Beatriz.

El indulto
1960
as Lucas Sánchez Parrondo
Spain, 1906: in a small village and pregnant after having been raped, Antonia is forced to marry the brutal Lucas to save her honor. But the mother of...

Los desarraigados
1960
Family in crisis: the American Dream collapses for four members of a Mexican family in Texas, all at the same time.

Dos hijos desobedientes
1960
as Pedro
Meddling mom tries to set up her two cowboy sons to marry two sisters who are looking for domesticated, 'indoor' husbands that cook and keep house.

El impostor
1960
An academic and his family go back to the land, then get involved in politics.

Calibre 44
1960
as Don Pedro
The film tells the story of two twins separated in childhood who reunite when they are older. One of them has grown between outlaws and has become one...

Our Daily Hunger
1960
as Macario Férnandez
Trophy wife of a crooked industrialist meets a philanthropic doctor and develops a social conscience. Mexican remake of Born Yesterday.

La Cucaracha
1959
as Coronel Valentín Razo
The Mexican Revolution serves as a backdrop to a torrid love triangle composed of three freedom fighters: a colonel, a widow, and a fiery female soldi...

The Wonderful Country
1959
as Cipriano Castro
Having fled to Mexico from the U.S. many years ago for killing his father's murderer, Martin Brady travels to Texas to broker an arms deal for his Mex...

Yo pecador
1959
Biopic of a 1930s operatic tenor who ended up becoming a Franciscan monk and joining the priesthood.

Thirst for Love
1959
as Pedro Ortiz
Rosaura, a devout religious woman, lives in a fishing village with her sister María who stopped believing in God since her jealous husband was murdere...

Beyond All Limits
1959
as Pepe Gamboa
This typical Mexican melodrama is set in a coastal fishing village where a wealthy fisherman lives with his wife and young son. Their lives are turned...
El zarco
1959
Upperclass girl and notorious bandit leader fall in love. She agrees to "let him kidnap her" so they can be together, but she gets disillusioned when ...

The Vivanco Ladies
1959
as Gen. Inocencio Torrentera
Two women of lesser descent are dedicated to stealing to support their brother's daughter.
Café Colón
1959
Expensively-kept woman unexpectedly falls for a Zapatista general. She sells her jewels to help finance the revolution and ends up fighting on the fro...

The Little Savage
1959
as El Tiburón
The most fearsome pirate in epic deeds and fierce battles. Betrayed and abandoned on an island, discover a fabulous treasure and fight to the death to...

I'm flying low
1959
Two hot-shot pilots working for the same company get all competitive and ructious toward each other.

This Was Pancho Villa: Second chapter
1958
as Pancho Villa
The second chapter of director Ismael Rodríguez's series about Pancho Villa. Several stories about the life and death of the famous mexican revolution...

This Was Pancho Villa: Third chapter
1958
as Pancho Villa
The third and final chapter of director Ismael Rodríguez's series about Pancho Villa. Several stories about the life and death of the famous mexican r...

Yo quiero ser artista
1958
as Self
The Postman Adalberto is involved by chance in the filming of a scene, which gives the film director the idea of including him as an actor, but witho...
Los salvajes
1958
as Pedro Matías
Pedro, a wealthy Mexican landowner, is convinced he can get everything he wants with money and arrogance.
La mujer que no tuvo infancia
1957
Borderline mentally-ill woman with neurotic compulsion to behave like a child and the psychiatrist who looooves her.

Manuela
1957
as Mario Constanza
James Prothero, forty-three years old and up to his ears in alcohol, is the skipper of a tramp ship due to leave South America for Britain – and he’s ...

The Big Boodle
1957
as Col. Mastegui (as Pedro Armendariz)
Tough guy fights gangsters and counterfeiters in pre-Castro Cuba.

Men and Wolves
1957
as Giovanni
Two young hunters of wolves are involved in a conflict. Besides the dangerous wild wolves, beautiful Teresa is the center of attention.
This Was Pancho Villa: First chapter
1957
as Pancho Villa
The disembodied head of Pancho Villa, kept in a glass jar in a research institute, is the narrator of several short stories from his own life, stories...

The Hidden One
1956
as Felipe Rojano
Amid the Mexican Revolution, a woman rises from the depths of poverty and becomes a courtesan who is much-sought-after by high-society men, but she ca...

Basket of Mexican Tales
1956
as Carlos Cosio
Strong-willed Luisa attracts lots of men, but her intelligence and sharp tongue often sends them running. When she meets Carlos, who is equally cagey,...

The Conqueror
1956
as Jamuga
Mongol chief Temujin battles against Tartar armies and for the love of the Tartar princess Bortai. Temujin becomes the emperor Genghis Khan.

Diane
1956
as King Francis I
Asked by Francis I to tutor his son, Diane de Poitiers becomes the future King Henry II's mistress in 1500s France.

The Littlest Outlaw
1955
as Gen. Torres
Little Pablito is the ten year old son of a cruel horse trainer. The trainer is responsible for training a Mexican General's horse to jump for the gra...

Native Drums
1955
A team of doctors sets out through a steamy African jungle to check an outbreak of sleeping sickness.

Fortune carrée
1955
as Igricheff
Igricheff, the Amiris' instructor, refuses to take part in the Cadi's arms deal. Deposed, he flees and joins the Ghafaris, determined to help his form...

Mulata
1954
as Martín
In the port of Havana, two biracial children, Mateo (Ricardo Román) and Caridad (Ninón Sevilla) grow up together. She is the daughter of a white man w...

Reto a la vida
1954
Self-righteous young Social Services woman puts all her faith in the institutional answers to questions of the Public Good, and she destroys a couple ...

Dos mundos y un amor
1954
as Ricardo Anaya
Cultural differences cause tensions in an international marriage.

Rebellion of the Hanged
1954
as Cándido Castro
A peasant who works in a mahogany camp in the Mexican jungles with his family is disgusted with the miserable living conditions imposed upon himself a...

Border River
1954
as General Calleja (as Pedro Armendariz)
A Confederate officer travels to a wild Mexican border town to buy guns, aiming to keep up the fight against the Yankees - but who can he trust in thi...

Lucrèce Borgia
1953
as César Borgia
In the early 16th century, Italy is ruled by the powerful Borgia family, led by César Borgia and his sister Lucrèce. In a ruthless power play, César p...

The Brute
1953
as Pedro
A tough young man, who helps to kick poor people out of their houses, falls in love with a girl. She lives with her father in the building about to be...

The Lovers of Toledo
1953
as Don Alvaro Blas Basto y Mosquera
Toledo, 1825. To save her fiancé, an opponent of the regime, the beautiful Inès agrees to marry the chief of police.

Soledad's Shawl
1952
as Roque Suazo
Alberto Robles, a young doctor, is faced with the decision to surrender to a life full of comforts and luxuries or to continue dedicating himself body...

Meat in Prison
1952
as Pablo González
Pedro is found guilty of murder after accidentally killing a friend's husband. His own family will face difficult times, as will he when he entrusts h...

Night Falls
1952
as Marcos Arizmendi
Marcos is an arrogant jai-alai player who seduces and discards women until he himself becomes the object of a cunning revenge.

Los tres alegres compadres
1952
Father and two sons raise hell at the county fair.

Ella y Yo
1951
as Pedro Muñóz
Pedro Muñoz is a womanizer that does not escape one until Irene Garza arrives and makes him to see his luck, while the aunt of her tries to separate t...

Por querer a una mujer
1951
Ranch melodrama: romantic triangle leads to multiple murders.

Hell Road
1951
as Pedro Uribe
When a robbery goes wrong, the thief takes a singer as hostage, they fall in love and try to rebuild their lives, but tragedy surges in the most unexp...

Weddings of fire
1951
Gothic-y love story a la Wuthering Heights.

Tierra baja
1951
as Manelic
A poor shepherd is convinced to marry a beautiful woman. This is a Maquiavellian plan schemed by the woman's fiancé and her father.

Rosauro Castro
1950
as Rosauro Castro
Cardoza's death, a candidate for mayor of a village chief enemy and Rosauro Castro, leads to Mr. Garcia Mata to undertake an investigation. Upon arriv...

Rosauro Castro
1950
Producer
Cardoza's death, a candidate for mayor of a village chief enemy and Rosauro Castro, leads to Mr. Garcia Mata to undertake an investigation. Upon arriv...

By the False Door
1950
as Bernardo Celis
Bernardo is in love with Adela and although she does not belong, he has always helped her family although they only care about money and not the virtu...

La loca de la casa
1950
as José María Cruz
Novice nun returns to her parent's home to save the family fortune by marrying a creditor.

The Torch
1950
as José Juan Reyes
The story of a fear-inspiring revolutionary general who develops a passion for the daughter of a wealthy villager. It's hate at first sight so far as ...

Pancho Villa vuelve
1950
Two romantic rivals join the Mexican Revolution on opposing sides. The movie's more interested in the love triangle than in the war.

El charro y la dama
1949
Bratty rich girl plays practical jokes on the man that she'll obviously end up marrying.

La malquerida
1949
as Esteban
Emilio Fernandez directs Dolores Del Rio and Pedro Armendariz in a classic tale of family and obsession. Raimunda's daughter Acacia hates her stepfath...

El abandonado
1949
Based on a popular song. An unhappy love affair becomes an excuse for heavy drinking and all-round debauchery.

Late Afternoon
1949
as Sebastian del Llano
A former farmhand now with money, wants to buy his former boss's farm and marry his daughter, but they refuse.

We Were Strangers
1949
as Armando Ariete
China Valdes joins the Cuban underground after her brother is killed by the chief of the secret police, Ariete. She meets and falls in love with Ameri...

Tulsa
1949
as Jim Redbird
It's Tulsa, Oklahoma at the start of the oil boom and Cherokee Lansing's rancher father is killed in a fight with the Tanner Oil Company. Cherokee pla...

3 Godfathers
1948
as Pedro 'Pete' Roca Fuerte
Three outlaws on the run discover a dying woman and her baby. They swear to bring the infant to safety across the desert, even at the risk of their ow...

Maclovia
1948
as José María
On a small Mexican island dwells a group of Indians who live in the traditional manner and who disdain outsiders. The beautiful Maclovia and the pover...

En la Hacienda de la Flor
1948
Sequel to "Juan Charrasqueado." Juan Jr. discovers that the woman he's engaged to is the daughter of the man who killed his father.

Fort Apache
1948
as Sgt. Beaufort
Owen Thursday sees his new posting to the desolate Fort Apache as a chance to claim the military honour which he believes is rightfully his. Arrogant,...

Juan Charrasqueado
1948
Hard-living horse-trainer has a thing with an aristocratic woman... but her brothers aren't happy to see her involved with someone beneath her station...

The Fugitive
1947
as A Lieutenant of Police
Anti-Catholic and anti-cleric policies in the Mexican state of Tabasco lead the revolutionary government to persecute the state's last remaining pries...

The Pearl
1947
as Quino
Fisherman Quino and his wife Juana are very poor and desperate because the town's foreign doctor refuses to treat their son Coyotito, who has been bit...

Albur de amor
1947
Dark romantic melodrama, played out with high-stakes card games and cockfights.

La casa colorada
1947
Mexican Revolution: rich man's son kills somebody over a woman, runs off to the war, goes home afterwards. Many complications, much melodrama.

Enamorada
1946
as Gen. José Juan Reyes
In Mexican Revolution times, a guerrilla general and his troops take the conservative town of Cholula, near by Mexico City. As the revolutionaries mis...

Rayando el sol
1946
Romantic triangle on the hacienda.

Bugambilia
1945
as Ricardo Rojas
In mid-nineteenth century Guanajuato, the beauty and charm of the young heiress Amalia conquers the lowly foreman Ricardo with fatal results. Prevente...

El capitán Malacara
1945
Misogynist military man is laid up for a month with a broken leg and during his convalescence he learns all the needed life-lessons.

The Abandoned
1945
as Juan Gómez
A young woman, abandoned by her womanizing fiancé, is forced to provide for the upbringing of her son and combat the difficulties of being an unmarrie...

Entre hermanos
1945
as Ramón Arellano
During the Mexican Revolution, brothers Ramón and Geraldo fall in love with Pilar who is uncertain of which brother she loves. Pilar ends up marrying ...

The Skulls of Terror Return
1944
A group of friends form a masked gang nicknamed 'The Skulls of Terror' and confront a local political boss. Originally produced as a six-hour collecti...

The Skulls of Terror
1944
Feature-length version of a serial, originally in twelve chapters. Three-hour runtime, later re-edited into two 90 minute features called Las Calavera...

El corsario negro
1944
This Mexican drama features murder, revenge, ruling power and romance in Eighteenth century Maracaibo.

Maria Candelaria
1944
as Lorenzo Rafael
A young journalist asks an old artist about the portrait of a naked Indian woman that he has in his study. The artist tells the story of Maria Candela...

La Guerra de los Pasteles
1944
Musical comedy about a pastry chef and his daughter in the 1830s

Another Dawn
1943
as Octavio
The disaffected wife of a failed civil servant, is thrilled to re-encounter Octavio, a former lover who is now a union activist on the run from a corr...

Konga Roja
1943
as Federico Robles
Heroic adventures in the banana industry.

Tierra De Pasiones
1943
Romantic melodrama; hero and rich landowner are both after the same woman.

Wild Flower
1943
as José Luis Castro
The film features Fernandez himself as a character named Rogellio Torres. The lion's share of the footage, however, is devoted to the romance between ...

Soy puro mexicano
1942
Band of outlaws stumble across an espionage ring of Axis agents embedded in an out-of-the-way hacienda.

Passion Island
1942
as El Toro
1909, a detachment of the Mexican army commanded by Captain Allende moves to Clipperton, also called the Island of the Passion, in the Pacific. After ...

Del rancho a la capital
1942
Rich city family is close to bankruptcy; rich country cousins come to visit.

Allá en el bajio
1942
as Juan Hernández
Ranchera/western; white hats vs. black hats.

Simón Bolívar
1942
as General Briceño Méndez
Biopic of the revolutionary Simón Bolívar who fought to end Spanish rule over much of Latin America.

Ni sangre ni arena
1941
as Frank
Cantinflas enjoys the bullfight show, and wants to crash in every of these spectacles. Also, there's a professional bullfighter, Manolete, who is iden...

El Zorro de Jalisco
1941
as Leonardo Torres
Isabel, the daughter of Don Antonio; a rich land owner in Tepestates, Jalisco returns to her town after five years away, to visit her father. She is c...

El secreto del sacerdote
1941
Three boys grow up to be a priest, a military commander and the town mayor.

El jefe máximo
1940
A 1940 film directed by Fernando de Fuentes.

Mala yerba
1940
as Chuy Rodríguez
Plantation owner is way too much into his peasant girls. It causes problems.

El charro Negro
1940
as Ramón
Masked cowboy avenger in the style of The Lone Ranger, first film in a series of four.

Pobre diablo
1940
as Raúl Solares
An elderly homeless dude lucks into a situation where a young woman's uncle and her boyfriend ask him to impersonate her long-lost father and give her...

Los olvidados de Dios
1940
as Zenón Rojas
A 1940 film directed by Ramón Pereda.

Con Los Dorados De Villa
1939
Three of Villa's soldiers 'adopt' the orphaned daughter of a friend who was killed in battle.

Una luz en mi camino
1939
A blind songwriter struggles to get his work published, and meanwhile a girl he's sweet on disappears from his life when her employer puts the moves o...

La China Hilaria
1939
Hilaria's engaged to be married, but her fiance may never come back from Texas. Meanwhile, two local guys are interested in her...

Canto a mi tierra
1938
as Antonio
Theatrical producers discover a new musical-theatre star in a small farming town.

Los millones de Chaflán
1938
as Antonio

El indio
1938
Social-justice movie about exploitation of Indians by white people in pre-Revolution Mexico.

La Adelita
1937
Beautiful peasant girl runs afoul of her landlord's horny son and he poisons the well between her and her fiance, so she runs away and joins the Revol...

Amapola Del Camino
1937
Ranchera comedy/melodrama

Las cuatro milpas
1937
Bad dude tries to make time with a good dude's fiancée. When he can't get anywhere with her, he and his sidekick frame the good dude for a murder and ...

Mi candidato
1937
Young silversmith runs for office, butts heads with political machine that's sucking the town dry.

Jalisco nunca pierde
1937
Arranged marriages vs romance down on the hacienda.