Emilio Fernandez, a stocky, Mexican actor-director with a big, drooping mustache, is considered the most important figure in Mexican cinema. While in his late teens he participated in Mexican revolutionary activity, and in 1923 he was sentenced to 20 years in prison. He escaped from the authorities and spent the next decade in Hollywood, where he played bits and supporting roles in films. He returned to Mexico in 1933, when an amnesty was declared, going on to become a prominent actor in Mexican films. In the early '40s he began directing, soon earning a stellar reputation around the world with a series of award-winning films, most of whose screenplays he co-wrote. For his film Maria Candelaria (1943) he won the first Cannes Film Festival Grand Prize; and his film The Pearl (1946) won the International Prize at San Sebastion. In the '50s his prestige declined as the quality of his films slackened, and he returned to acting; however, every few years he also directed. In the '60s and '70s he appeared in a number of American films.