1. Juano G Hernandez was a Puerto Rican stage and film actor who was a pioneer in the African American film industry.
18 Facts About Juano Hernandez
1. 2.
Juano Hernandez made his silent picture debut in The Life of General Villa, and talking picture debut in an Oscar Micheaux film, The Girl from Chicago, which was directed at black audiences.
3.
Juano Hernandez was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico to Puerto Rican parents, Jose Guillermo and Clara de Ponce.
4.
Juano Hernandez was hired by a circus and became an entertainer, making his first appearance as an acrobat in Rio de Janeiro in 1922.
5.
Juano Hernandez later lived in the Caribbean and made his living as a professional boxer, fighting under the name Kid Curley.
6.
Juano Hernandez co-starred in radio's first all-black soap opera We Love and Learn.
7.
Juano Hernandez participated in the following radio shows: Mandrake the Magician, The Shadow, Tennessee Jed, and Against the Storm.
8.
Juano Hernandez became a household name after his participation in The Cavalcade of America, a series which promoted American history and inventiveness.
9.
Juano Hernandez appeared in the Broadway shows Strange Fruit, Black Souls, and Set My People Free.
10.
Juano Hernandez portrayed a revolutionary soldier in the silent film The Life of General Villa, and his first "talkie" films were small roles in films produced by Oscar Micheaux, who made race films for black audiences.
11.
Juano Hernandez's talking film debut was Micheaux's The Girl from Chicago, in which he was cast as a Cuban racketeer.
12.
Juano Hernandez has a speaking part, although uncredited, as a police officer in the 1932 crime drama and musical Harlem Is Heaven, which stars Bill "Bojangles" Robinson.
13.
Juano Hernandez is memorable in Young Man With a Horn as Art Hazzard, a jazz trumpet player who mentors fellow musician Kirk Douglas.
14.
Juano Hernandez was singled out for praise for his performance in the 1950 film The Breaking Point with John Garfield.
15.
Juano Hernandez received favorable notices for his performances in Trial, about a politically charged court case, in which he played the judge, and Sidney Lumet's The Pawnbroker.
16.
Juano Hernandez was unable to get funding in Puerto Rico and therefore he translated the script into English.
17.
Juano Hernandez sent it to several companies in Hollywood and had it almost sold at the time of his death.
18.
Juano Hernandez died in San Juan on July 17,1970, of a cerebral hemorrhage 2 days before his 74th birthday, and was interred at Cementerio Buxeda Memorial Park, Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico.