Armando del Moral Vizcaíno (June 15, 1916 - July 22, 2009) was a Spanish-born American film journalist and publicist. Del Moral helped to establish the Golden Globe awards while working as a Hollywood Foreign Correspondents Association officer.^[1] The organization is now known as the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

Biography

Armando del Moral Vizcaíno was born in Albacete in 1916.^[2] He collaborated as a writer in the anarchist press.^[3] A member of the Catalan branch of the Libertarian Youth, he was wounded in Baena during the Civil War.^[4] He went on to serve as secretary for propaganda of Solidaridad Internacional Antifascista (SIA) in Barcelona.^[5]

Del Moral fled Spain for Mexico in 1939 as a refugee of the Spanish Civil War.^[1] He covered the fledgling Mexican film industry, before moving to the United States in 1943.^[1]

Armando del Moral became the Vice President of the Hollywood Foreign Correspondents Association and helped to found the Golden Globe awards.^[1] As Vice President, Del Moral also became both host and presenter for several Golden Globe award ceremonies.^[1] He remained active with the Mexican film industry as well. Del Moral oversaw contract negotiations for Mexican actors who took roles in Hollywood.^[1] He also served as the Hollywood representative of the Mexican film actors union, Asociación Nacional de Actores (ANDA).^[1]

Del Moral also worked as a Spanish-language publicist for several Hollywood film campaigns and releases.^[1] In particular, Del Moral worked as a Spanish publicist for the 1960 George Sidney film, Pepe.^[1] He also worked as an advisor on The Magnificent Seven and wrote Spanish-language publicity pieces for Walt Disney.^[1] In October 1962, del Moral interviewed US singer Elvis Presley, whose then impending travel to Mexico to do the location shoot for Paramount´s¨Fun in Acapulco" had been banned by the Mexican authorities following a series of anti-Presley incidents starting in 1957. The article, headlined "Baffled by Mexican boycott" was published in "Ësto¨, a quite popular entertainment magazine based in Mexico and for which Del Moral provided numerorus articles.

Del Moral wrote and edited the Cine-Grafica magazine, which covers the Hispanic entertainment industry in Los Angeles, for more than 30 years.^[1] Additionally, Del Moral hosted programs on KXLA and KMEX and wrote and produced a 1950s Spanish-language soap opera, Maria Elena.^[1]

Armando del Moral died of natural causes on July 21, 2009, in North Hollywood, California, at the age of 93.^[1] He was survived by his daughter and two sons.^[1] Del Moral was buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.^[1]

References