Gabriel Figueroa (1907-1997), filmmaker

Gabriel Figueroa was born in Mexico City in 1907 and studied painting at the Academia de San Carlos, and violin at the National Conservatory, both in Mexico City.  Figueroa's first film was Allá en el Rancho Grande with Fernando de Fuentes in 1936, which would become one of the most popular films in Mexico and Latin America; this film earned him his first award at the Venice Film Festival. He filmed a total of 235 movies, and earned fame with Los Olvidados with Luis Buñuel, and The Fugitive, with John Huston. In Hollywood, he won a Golden Globe and an Academy Award nomination for The Night of the Iguana.