Happy Birthdate, Antonio Moreno!
September 26 is the birthdate of Antonio Moreno in 1887. Born in Madrid, Spain, he was a prominent leading man in the silent era and continued in films up to the 1950s. He appeared in more than 150 films, including several serials.
In 1925, he starred in Her Husband's Secret filmed at a million-dollar mansion in Montecito, CA. One scene in this film called for Moreno to fling himself over a cliff.
"Seconds seemed like minutes before the star leaped off the top of the precipice and virtually flew through space toward the rocks and the camera on the shoreline. Moreno had figured his leap accurately and cleared some jagged rocks and tree trunks close to the top of the cliff and fell on his back in loose sand, finishing his downward journey by rolling over some rocks and brush and stopping within inches of the outside measurements of the camera lines . . . Studio veterans said it was the most accurately planned and executed leap they had ever seen." – Evening News (Santa Cruz, California), September 30, 1925