Zorro

Zorro, Spanish for fox, is the name used by a fictional Mexican-era California masked hero and master swordsman of the Old West.

In the stories, his real name is Don Diego De La Vega who fights for the people against the corrupt tyranny of Govenor Montero where he proves to be much too foxlike and cunning for the bumbling authorities to catch.

History

The first Zorro story was a 1919 novel, The Curse of Capistrano, by Johnston McCulley. He soon becomes a regular character in pulp fiction magazines. McCulley was inspired by the story of the real bandit Salomon Pico and other real Mexican bandits who robbed Americans after the Mexican-American War. However, because his readers were Americans, McCulley had his Zorro fighting Spanish people instead of Americans.

In other works

The character has been also adapted for numerous movies, the most famous of which include:

• The Mark of Zorro (1920), starring Douglas Fairbanks
• The Mark of Zorro (1940), starring Tyrone Power
• The Mask of Zorro (1998), starring Anthony Hopkins as Don Diego De La Vega and Antonio Banderas as Alejandro Murrieta, a misfit outlaw who is groomed to become the next Zorro.

There was one parody movie in 1981, Zorro: The Gay Blade, which starred George Hamilton.

There were also numerous television shows with the best known one being one shown in the 1950s staring Guy Williams.