Acting
El Santo
September 23, 1917 — February 5, 1984Tulancingo, Hidalgo, México
Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta debuted in the ring in 1934, but his legend began to be woven on July 26, 1942 in the legendary Arena México. That night the robust fighter - who over the years made a career under the names Hombre Rojo, Enmascarado, Murciélago II and Demonio Negro, among others - debuted a brand new personality under a shiny silver mask. El Santo, the Silver Masked Man, was born. The legend of El Santo was never the product of chance. His tenacity and versatility in the ring earned him the respect of his opponents and the admiration of the respectable public that night after night filled the coliseums where the Silver Masked Man gave an account of his fearsome rivals. He was rough and technical but, above all, he was an honest fighter who did not have to resort to tricks or scandals to increase his well-deserved fame. From the ring to the screen, the route that El Santo followed to become an idol of Mexican cinema led him first to the world of comics. Thanks to the inventiveness of the cartoonist and editor José Guadalupe Cruz, Santo was the first fantastic character in popular Mexican literature and one of the most beloved, along with the legendary Kalimán.
