Dynamic and debonair, Cesar Romero was best known for creating the role of the Joker in the 1960s Batman television series. As the first actor to play Batman and Robin's villainous nemesis, Romero established the character's giddy, manic tone and the iconic laugh that subsequent actors would use as the starting points in their own Oscar-nominated (Jack Nicholson) and Oscar-winning (Heath Ledger and Joaquin Phoenix) performances. As a closeted gay man of Latin American descent, Romero gracefully faced many personal challenges while maintaining his suave public image and starring opposite legends ranging from Shirley Temple to Marlene Dietrich, Carmen Miranda to Frank Sinatra, and Kurt Russell to Jane Wyman.
The first biography of the consummate entertainer, Cesar Romero: The Joker Is Wild, captures the critical moments of Romero's childhood, adolescence, and accomplishments in Hollywood. Author Samuel Garza Bernstein shares anecdotes regarding Romero's public and personal life, as well as Romero's private disdain for his reputation as the "Latin Lover," a discriminatory stereotype he found constrictive both in terms of his range as an actor and as a man who kept his sexuality private.
The book will be published on August 26, 2025. University Press of Kentucky provided an early galley for review.
As an unapologetic, life-long fan of the 60's Batman television show, I always enjoyed Romero's performances wherever I encountered them. When I saw this title coming, I had to read it. For me, this portrayal made me love the character so much (I had every issue of the short-run The Joker comic series back in the 70's which inspired some of the very first fanfiction I ever crafted back in junior high school).
Bernstein presents the actor's life in a straightforward manner, offering minimal conjecture or speculation. His sources include newspaper clippings and entertainment magazines of the times, showing the level of detailed research executed. Chapter five solely focuses on the Batman show which likely was Romero's farthest reaching role up to that point. There were certainly several details that were new to me here. It also touches upon a trio of Disney films in which Romero appeared (films I certainly recall seeing in theaters as a kid in the early 1970's). Chapter seven focuses on Romero's time on Falcon Crest, a fifty-episode milestone in an already landmark career.
The book rounds out with an indepth chronology of all Romero's appearances in film and television as well as a large collection of photographs.
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