Jerónimo Villarino, Hollywood’s Forgotten Flamenco Star

“My music tastes of cinnamon and clove.”

Flamenco guitarist Jerónimo Villarino was described as “the man of the hour in Hollywood” in the spring of 1948, when he gave an interview to entertainment journalist Elena de la Torre from the Cine-Mundial, the Spanish language edition of Moving Picture World. That was when Villarino could be seen accompanying Rita Hayworth as she danced and sang in Spanish in flamenco scenes in the film The Loves of Carmen (known in Latin America and Spain as Los amores de Carmen), directed by Charles Vidor for Columbia Pictures.