Cesar Romero was born in New York City, of Cuban extraction and attended Collegiate & Riverdale County Schools, before gaining employment as a club dancer. He first appeared on Broadway in the 1927 production of Lady Do, and then in the stage production of Strictly Dishonorable.

However his first film role was in the film the Thin Man (1934), then The Shadow Laughs (1933), after which he gave strong performances in The Devil Is a Woman (1935) and in the Shirley Temple favourite Wee Willie Winkie (1937).

In 1953 he starred in the 39 part TV espionage serial Passport To Danger (1953) which earned him a considerable income based on a canny profit share arrangement. Although he was quite wealthy, and had no need to work, Romero could not stay away from being in front of the cameras.

He continued to regularly appear in a broad variety of film roles, and surprised all by taking on the role of "The Joker" in the hugely successful TV series Batman (1966), however Cesar refused to shave his trademark moustache for the role, and closer observation shows how the white clown make up went straight on over his much loved moustache!

With a new appeal to a younger fan base, Romero then turned up in three highly popular Disney comedies The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969), Now You See Him, Now You Don't (1972), and The Strongest Man In The World (1975). Throughout the remainder of the 1980s, he remained busy and even at 78 the ladies still loved his charm, and he was cast as Jane Wyman's love interest in the top ranking soap opera Falcon Crest (1981) playing the character "Peter Stavros" from 1985 through to 1987.

Towards the end of his life, he was interviewed by author Boze Hadleigh, and gave a revealing, often comic account of what life was like in the Golden Age of Hollywood for a openly closeted gay man (i.e., out to everyone but "the public"). The interview is included in Hadleigh's book, "Hollywood Gays."

Although, Romero stopped acting in 1990, he remained busy, regularly hosting classic movie programs on cable television. A talented, and much loved Hollywood performer he passed away on New Years Day, in Santa Monica, California, of bronchitis and pneumonia, at the age of 86.