Dario Moreno

Biography

Darío Moreno (born David Arugete; Aydın, 1921 – Istanbul, 1968) was a Turkish-Jewish singer and actor whose career was centred in France. He became a popular figure in the 1950s and 1960s with Latin-rhythm songs and operetta roles, and he also wrote songs and lyrics. A polyglot, he recorded in several languages, including French, Spanish, English, Portuguese and Turkish.

His mother was of Mexican origin, and after his father's death shortly after his birth the family moved to Mexico, where he spent much of his childhood and youth. He later returned to Turkey to study law, taught himself French and began singing at bar mitzvahs and at the synagogue in Izmir. He toured North America, Greece and Turkey with an American band. After settling in Nice, he worked in restaurants and cabarets, studied classical singing in Rome, and recorded his first disc, a bolero, in Paris in 1949.

In 1951 he appeared in Le Chanteur de Mexico at the Théâtre du Châtelet and sang operetta alongside Luis Mariano. His first recital at the Olympia in Paris in 1954 made him widely known, and he received the Grand Prix du Disque in 1957 and 1958. On screen he worked with directors such as Henri-Georges Clouzot and Julien Duvivier, and he became especially associated with Voulez-vous danser avec moi?, opposite Brigitte Bardot.

In 1968 he played Sancho Panza in the French version of Man of La Mancha, directed by Jacques Brel, staged in Brussels. He died in December 1968, aged 47, at Istanbul airport as he was about to fly to Paris. He had wished to be buried in Izmir, but he was laid to rest in Israel. Today he is remembered mainly in Turkey, where a street in Karataş bears his name and some of his Turkish-language songs remain well known.

Key films

• The Wages of Fear (1953), directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, where he plays Hernandez alongside Yves Montand.
• Voulez-vous danser avec moi? (1959), directed by Michel Boisrond, opposite Brigitte Bardot, one of his best-known roles.
• Nathalie, Secret Agent (1959), a spy role that raised his profile in adventure cinema.
• Tintin and the Mystery of the Golden Fleece (1961), directed by Jean-Jacques Vierne, where he plays Midas Papos.
• La Prisonnière (1968), directed by Julien Duvivier, his final film.