American actor
Don Alvarado |
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 in I Live For Love (1935) |
| Born | José Ray Paige
(1904-11-04)November 4, 1904
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| Died | March 31, 1967(1967-03-31) (aged 62)
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| Other names | Don Page |
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| Occupation(s) | Actor, assistant director, production manager |
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| Years active | 1924–1958 |
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| Spouse | Ann Boyar (1924–1932/33; divorced) |
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| Children | Joy Page |
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Don Alvarado (born José Ray Paige, November 4, 1904[1] – March 31, 1967) was an American actor, assistant director and film production manager.
Life and career
Born Jose Paige[2][3] in Albuquerque, New Mexico,[4] Alvarado first studied agriculture on his father's sheep and cattle ranch. In 1922, at just age 18 he ran away from home and went to Los Angeles, hoping to find acting work in the fledgling silent film industry. He secured work in a sweet factory before getting into the films working as an extra.[citation needed]
While in Los Angeles, he became close friends with the México-born actor, Luis Antonio Dámaso de Alonso, who would later be known as Gilbert Roland. The struggling young actors shared a place for a time. Alvarado soon met and fell in love with aspiring actress, sixteen-year-old Ann Boyar, the daughter of Russian Jewish immigrants. They married in 1924.[citation needed] Later that year they had a daughter, actress Joy Page.
Studio head, Jack L. Warner, fell in love with Ann and convinced her to file for divorce from Alvarado using what used to be called a "quickie divorce" conveniently available in Mexico. She did so by August 1932.[5][6] She moved in with Warner perhaps as early as September 1933 and married him in 1936.[citation needed]
In 1932, Alvarado was briefly engaged to the musical-comedy star Marilyn Miller, but the marriage did not take place.[citation needed]
As for his professional career, Alvarado got his first uncredited silent film part in the 1924 film, Mademoiselle Midnight. With the studio capitalizing on his "Latin Lover" looks, Alvarado was quickly cast in secondary and then leading roles. With the advent of talkies, this all but ended his starring roles. He did, however, manage to work regularly, usually cast in secondary Spanish character roles, such as in the 1929 Thornton Wilder adaptation of The Bridge of San Luis Rey. Alvarado appeared on stage in Dinner At Eight at the Belasco Theatre in Los Angeles in 1933.
In 1939, using the name "Don Page" for screen credit purposes, he began working as an assistant director for Warner Bros. and a few years later as a production manager. In these capacities he was part of the team that made a number of highly successful films including The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), East of Eden and Rebel Without a Cause in 1955, and in 1958 his final film work, The Old Man and the Sea.
Death
Alvarado died of cancer on March 31, 1967, aged 62, in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California and was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Hollywood Hills.[1]
For his contributions to the film industry, Alvarado has a motion pictures star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6504 Hollywood Boulevard.[7]
