Fernando A. Rivero

Known for DirectingBorn 1908-02-09Died 1972-04-20Mexico City, Mexico

Fernando A. Rivero (Mexico City, February 9th 1902 – April 20th 1975) was a Mexican set designer, film director, painter, actor, and writer, regarded as a foundational figure—“the father” of Mexican film scenographers. He studied architecture but left the program for financial reasons, worked at the jewelry shop El Nuevo Mundo, emigrated to the United States in 1927 to work as a draftsman for advertising companies and newspapers, and returned to Mexico in 1931. After inheriting money upon his grandfather’s death, he founded the Compañía Anunciadora Mexicana; a later press note also states he was orphaned at age four and adopted by relatives, and that he began professionally in advertising, following the example of his father, Pedro Rivero Noriega. In 1931 he declared his company bankrupt and entered the film industry as a set designer on Santa (1931), continuing as a scenographer throughout his career on 34 films and occasionally appearing on screen (including roles as a “corpse” and a “suicide” in early-1930s productions). He worked for a period in Argentina and Spain, but the Spanish Civil War forced his return to Mexico in 1937, arriving aboard the ship “Durango” and rejoining the industry with La paloma (1937). Rivero also described and tested a movable-set system of his own invention—designed to free camera and actor movement by separating lighting rigging from set walls—and later announced a business renting these “sets movibles”; he was also among the technicians who co-founded the Unión de Trabajadores de los Estudios Cinematográficos de México (UTECM) in 1933. He debuted as a director in 1938 with El beso mortal—a film adapted from Paul Gury’s play that drew controversy for its focus on venereal disease—and he went on to direct 20 films, closing that directing filmography in 1952 while continuing set-design work. His directing output included Cantinflas short films (1939–1940), documentaries, and features such as La posada sangrienta and Seda, sangre y sol (1941), Los miserables and Mi reino por un torero (1943), La casa embrujada and Nosotros (1944), Perdida (1949), and La extraña pasajera (1952). After leaving cinema, he returned to advertising work as a draftsman.Read more

Movies & web series

Perdida

Cantinflas Ruletero

Jengibre contra Dinamita

El pecado de ser pobre

Dinero maldito

La extraña pasajera

Los amantes

Prisoner 13

El fanfarrón: ¡Aquí llegó el valentón!

The Bloody Inn

Cantinflas boxeador

Burlada

Canciones y recuerdos

El príncipe del desierto

Nosotros

El beso mortal

Desecration

Who Killed Eve?

La calandria

The Bewitched House

The Phantom of the Monastery

Good night my love

La morena de mi copla

Mi reino por un torero

Enemigos

El tigre de Yautepec

Víctimas del divorcio

La noche es nuestra

Hand to Hand

Siempre listo en las tinieblas

The Woman of the Port

Seda Sangre Y Sol

Marina

México lindo

Refugiados en Madrid

Los miserables

Coqueta

Santa

Una vida por otra

Su última canción

La paloma

Juntos pero no revueltos

Mujeres en mi Vida

Venganza suprema