Cesar Romero

The Joker Is Wild

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Pub Date Aug 26 2025 | Archive Date Oct 21 2025

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Description

Dynamic and debonair, Cesar Romero was best known for creating the role of the Joker in the 1960s Batman television series. As the first actor to play Batman and Robin's villainous nemesis, Romero established the character's giddy, manic tone and the iconic laugh that subsequent actors like Jack Nicholson, Heath Ledger, and Joaquin Phoenix would use as the starting points in their own Oscar-nominated (Nicholson) and Oscar-winning (Ledger and Phoenix) performances. As a closeted gay man of Latin American descent, Romero gracefully faced many personal challenges while maintaining his suave public image and starring opposite legends ranging from Shirley Temple to Marlene Dietrich, Carmen Miranda to Frank Sinatra, and Kurt Russell to Jane Wyman.

The first biography of the consummate entertainer, Cesar Romero: The Joker Is Wild, captures the critical moments of Romero's childhood, adolescence, and accomplishments in Hollywood. Author Samuel Garza Bernstein shares anecdotes regarding Romero's public and personal life, as well as Romero's private disdain for his reputation as the "Latin Lover," a discriminatory stereotype he found constrictive both in terms of his range as an actor and as a man who kept his sexuality private.

Cesar Romero is an in-depth study of a significant Hollywood star and his impact on the entertainment industry. Batman made him immortal, but with more than four hundred film and television credits, his six-decade career as an actor, dancer, and singer made him a true Hollywood icon.

Dynamic and debonair, Cesar Romero was best known for creating the role of the Joker in the 1960s Batman television series. As the first actor to play Batman and Robin's villainous nemesis, Romero...


Advance Praise

"Hail, Cesar, and hail, Samuel Garza Bernstein! Here is a biographer with the expertise and empathy to take a beloved 1960s pop culture icon, wipe off the greasepaint, and reveal a pioneer of twentieth century entertainment, a man who worked his way from the ballroom to vaudeville, Broadway to Hollywood, always living on his own terms—and always keeping his mustache, in more ways than one. This is a Hollywood biography that goes far beyond the Joker's laugh to the struggles and triumphs of a true legend and LGBTQ hero."—Burt Kearns, author of Marlon Brando: Hollywood Rebel

"Hail, Cesar, and hail, Samuel Garza Bernstein! Here is a biographer with the expertise and empathy to take a beloved 1960s pop culture icon, wipe off the greasepaint, and reveal a pioneer of...


Marketing Plan

"Samuel Garza Bernstein's biography of Cesar Romero is the latest addition to a remarkable body of work celebrating Hollywood history. Meticulously researched yet delightfully accessible, Bernstein's love and respect for his subject is evident on every page. While Romero's iconic characterization as the Joker is clearly the center piece of the biography, his vast filmography is given full attention. Cesar Romero: The Joker is Wild should find a welcome place on any cinephile's film history book shelf."—Charles Busch, actor/playwright (Psycho Beach Party and Die Mommie Die)

"Samuel Garza Bernstein's biography of Cesar Romero is the latest addition to a remarkable body of work celebrating Hollywood history. Meticulously researched yet delightfully accessible...


Available Editions

EDITION Hardcover
ISBN 9781985902886
PRICE $27.95 (USD)
PAGES 280

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