Ferrer, José, << fuh REHR, hoh ZAY >> (1912-1992), was a Puerto Rican-born stage and motion-picture actor and director who became the first Hispanic to win an Academy Award. Ferrer won the Oscar as best actor for his performance in Cyrano de Bergerac (1950). He portrayed the title character—a heroic but lovelorn French swordsman and poet with a long, ugly nose. He also won a Tony Award for his stage portrayal of the role in 1947. Ferrer won four Tony Awards in 1952 as best actor and director for the drama The Shrike, best director for the comedy The Fourposter, and best director for Stalag 17.
José Vicente Ferrer de Otero y Cintrón was born on Jan. 8, 1912, in Santurce, Puerto Rico. He graduated from Princeton University in 1934. Ferrer made his Broadway debut in 1935 in the comedy A Slight Case of Murder. He made his film debut in Joan of Arc (1948), for which he received an Academy Award nomination as best supporting actor for his performance as Dauphin Charles VII. He also received an Oscar nomination as best actor for his portrayal of the French artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in Moulin Rouge (1952).
Ferrer’s other notable films include Whirlpool (1949), The Caine Mutiny (1954), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), The Greatest Story Ever Told and Ship of Fools (both 1965), and A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy (1982). He also directed and starred in a number of motion pictures, including the film version of The Shrike (1955) and The Great Man (1956).
Ferrer was married to the German-born American actress Uta Hagen from 1938 to 1948. He was married twice to the American singer and actress Rosemary Clooney, from 1953 to 1961, and from 1964 to 1967. Their son Miguel Ferrer is also an actor. The actor George Clooney is José Ferrer’s nephew. Ferrer died on Jan. 26, 1992.
See also Lawrence of Arabia .
