Who is YOUR Zorro?
Zorro, the caped caballero who was the protector of the poor in Old California, is returning to television.Who your Zorro is, like who your Robin Hood is, depends on your age.
Rachel Atwood in her novel Walk the Wild With Me acknowledges the cast of the Richard Greene Robin Hood series as her inspiration. Given Rachel’s age, that does not surprise me. I would probably name Michael Praed in Robin of Sherwood or Dick Gautier in When Things Were Rotten.
For older Americans, Guy Williams is their Zorro. For me, Duncan Regahr is my Zirro. But long before Duncan Regahr mounted Toranado and put on a black mask and cape, I listened to the voice of Henry Darrow as Zorro on Saturday mornings.
“Zorro has been a television series at least four times, and a motion picture hero countless times. However, this new version will only be the third time a Hispanic actor has played Don Diego de la Vega, aka Zorro. Wilmer Valderrama, who was nominated forthe Imagen Foundation Award for Best Supporting Actor as Special Agent Nick Torres in NCIS, will be the new Zorro, folling in the footsteps of Guy Williams, Duncan Regahr, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Tyrone Power, Henry Darrow, Frank Langella, Alain Deleon,and Antonio Banderas.”
- Disney’s Zorro (1957)
- The Adventures of Zorro (1981)
- Zorro and Son (1983)
- The Family Channel’s The New Zorro (1990)
- Disney +’s Zorro (2022)
- orro, like Robin Hood, King Arthur, and Cinderella, has been filmed many times… becoming a new hero for each generation. As much as I loved Duncan Regahr and Henry Farrow as Zorro, and as much as I’m looking forward to Wilmer Valderrama (or at least I would be if I could afford Disney Plus), it’s the movie versions of Zorro and Robin Hood that I’ve preferred: Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Tyrone Power, Alain Deleon, Errol Flynn, Brian Bedford, etc.
