Anthony Quinn-Early Life

 

 

 

Quinn was born Antonio Reyes in Chihuahua, Chihuahua, Mexico, on April 21, 1915. His mother, Manuela "Nellie" Oaxaca, was of Aztec Indian ancestry. His father, Francisco Quinn, was also born in Mexico, to an Irish immigrant father from County Cork and a Mexican mother.

 

Frank Quinn rode with Pancho Villa, then later moved to Los Angeles.  Frank Quinn became an assistant cameraman at a movie studio. In Quinn's autobiography The Original Sin: A Self-Portrait by Anthony Quinn he denied being the son of an "Irish adventurer" and attributed that tale to Hollywood publicists.

 

When he was six years old, Quinn attended a Catholic church (even thinking he wanted to become a priest). At age eleven, however, he joined the Pentecostals in the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel (the Pentecostal followers of Aimee Semple McPherson).

 

Quinn attended Hammel Street Elementary School, Belvedere Junior High School, Polytechnic High School and finally Belmont High School. 

 

As a young man Quinn boxed professionally to earn money.  He studied art and architecture under Frank Lloyd Wright, both at Wright's Arizona residence and his Wisconsin studio, Taliesin. The two very different men became friends. When Quinn mentioned he was drawn to acting, Wright encouraged him. Quinn said he had been offered $800 a week by a film studio and didn't know what to do. Wright replied, "Take it, you'll never make that much with me."

 

In a rerun of an interview done with Anthony Quinn in 1999 for Turner Classic Movies' "Private Screenings with Robert Osborne", Mr. Quinn said that the contract was for $300 a week.