Ramón Peón was born on June 5, 1887, in Havana, Cuba. He started out as a cameraman at the old Kalem and Vitagraph studios in New York. In 1920 he was assistant director, in Hollywood, of two short comedies entitled Welcome Rotarians and The Latest from Parell. Later he decided to settle in his native country, where he became one of the most prolific filmmakers of Cuban silent cinema, filming twelve films between 1920 and 1930, the last of which was La Virgen de la Caridad.

Peón arrived in Mexico in 1931 as an assistant to Antonio Moreno in the film Santa, played by Lupita Tovar. In 1933 he made his debut with the megaphone in La Llorona and from there he became the most in-demand director of the nascent Mexican film industry. In 1937 he made La Madrina del Diablo, with which Jorge Negrete made his debut. After the success of the series El águila negra, starring Fernando Casanova, he dedicated the last years of his career to directing the Western genre.