. . . or click on the link here for Audio Player – Australian Broadcasting – an Interview with Fernando Lamas – Sept. 26, 1952 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection.
Continuing with our Pop Chronicles look at Hollywood in the 1950s, an interview with new discovery Fernando Lamas who had signed with MGM in 1951. This 1952 interview coincides with this first MGM feature The Merry Widow and would continue a string of films all through the 1950s. Cast primarily as a “Latin Lover“, Lamas had already been a success in his native Argentina, and throughout Latin America as an accomplished Stage actor and singer as well as star of numerous Spanish language films. And it was during one of those films in Buenos Aires in the late 1940s that he was discovered by MGM talent scouts and coaxed into coming to Hollywood.
But having your career defined by one thing can be limiting, and the Latin Lover stereotype was getting tired by the end of the 1950s. So Lamas transitioned over to Television in the 1960s and began a new career. In addition to acting, he was now directing TV and later feature films starting in 1963.
This interview takes place on September 26, 1952 for Australian radio.
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