Juano Hernandez (July 19, 1901 - July 17, 1970) was one of the first Puerto Ricans of African descent to become a major star in the United States and one of the first "new style" black screen actors, who neither sang nor danced but played regular characters.
Born Huano G. Hernandez in San Juan the capital of Puerto Rico to a Puerto Rican fisherman and a Brazilian mother. Hernandez's father died soon after his birth and his mother moved back to Brazil. His mother died when he was still a child and he had to spend most of his youth in the streets of Rio de Janeiro singing for food.
Hernandez did not receive any formal education, however, he taught himself the basics of reading and writing. He was hired by a circus and became a performer. Hernandez enjoyed performing in front of the public and decided that he wanted a career in the field of entertainment. Hernandez moved to the United States to accomplish his goals.
In New York City, he worked in vaudeville and minstrel shows. During his spare time he perfected his diction by studying Shakespeare thus, enabling himself to work in the radio. He co-starred in radio's first all-black soap opera We Love and Learn. He also participated in the following soap operas: Mandrake the Magician (opposite Raymond Edward Johnson and Jessica Tandy), The Shadow, Tennessee, Jed and Against the Storm. He became a household name after his participation in The Cavalcade of America, a series which promoted American history and inventiveness. His participation in the chorus of the 1927 Broadway musical production Showboat opened the "doors" to his career as a film actor.
Juano Hernandez in Stars in My Crown (1950)
In the early years of the movie industry, movie companies were owned and operated by whites. Blacks were often cast in stereotyped roles such as maids, butlers or uneducated slaves. At times the role of a black person was played by a white man with black make-up. In 1912 a group of black businessmen, lead by C.E. Hawk, realized that the black communities across the nation were in need of a black film industry that would produce movies about black themes with an all-black cast. The year 1913, witnessed the founding of the Foster Photoplay Company in Chicago, which was the first black-owned motion picture production and distributing entity. In 1916, the Lincoln Motion picture Company was established in Los Angeles. These movies were to be distributed by blacks and exhibited in black owned theaters in black neighborhoods. Oscar Micheaux (1884-1951) was a pioneering black filmmaker who in 1918, established his own film company, Micheaux Film and Book Company, in Chicago. He produced and directed over 30 films. In 1932, Micheaux cast Hernandez in his first role, that of "Gomez" a drug lord, in the film titled The Girl from Chicago. Hernandez participated in 23 films throughout his career. In 1949, he acted in his first mainstream film, based on William Faulkner's novel entitled Intruder in the Dust, where he played the role of "Lucas Beauchamp", a poor southern sharecropper unjustly accused of murder. The film earned him a Golden Globe Nomination for "New Star of the Year".
Films in which he has participated:
Hernandez made over 12 notable T.V. guest appearances, including Alfred Hitchcock Presents, 1959 episode of An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge in the role of "Josh".
Some Hernandez's television appearances were:
When Juano Hernandez retired, he returned to Puerto Rico where he would live out the rest of his life. Together with Julio Torregrosa he wrote a script for a movie about the life of Puerto Rico's first boxing champion, Sixto Escobar. He was unable to get funding in Puerto Rico and therefore he translated the script into English. He sent it to several companies in Hollywood and had it almost sold when sadly a stroke cost him his life. He died in San Juan on July 17, 1970 of a cerebral hemorrhage. He was laid to rest at Cementerio Buxeda Memorial Park, Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico.
