José Ramón Gil Samaniego (February 6, 1899 – October 30, 1968), known professionally as Ramon Novarro, was a Mexican-American actor.
He was born in Durango, Mexico, and began his career in silent movies in 1917 and eventually became a leading man and one of the top box-office attractions of the 1920s and early 1930s, with pictures such as the 1925 epic Ben-Hur, in which he had the title role.
Novarro was promoted by MGM as a "Latin lover" and became known as a sex symbol after the death of Rudolph Valentino. He is recognized as the first Latin American actor to succeed in Hollywood.
