José Suárez
| José Suárez | |
|---|---|
| Born |
José Suárez Sánchez 19 September 1919 Trubia, Asturias, Spain |
| Died |
6 August 1981 Moreda, Aller, Asturias, Spain |
| Years active | 1944 - 1977 |
José Suárez (1919–1981) was a Spanish film actor.
Career
José Suárez made his debut in a short role in Altar Mayor (1944), a very conventional film, whose director, Gonzalo Delgrás, had paid attention to him in his work as a train conductor in Asturias. He played increasingly important roles in following Delgrás's movies and by 1948 he was already a lead actor.
He then became very popular in Spain along the late 40s and early 50s, as one of the main heartthrobs of the Spanish cinema, along with his contemporaries Francisco Rabal, Jorge Mistral and Alfredo Mayo. Nevertheless, he performed remarkably in three outstanding dramas, namely Brigada criminal (1950), Condenados (1953) and Así es Madrid (1953), in the screen version of Buero Vallejo`s most famous play, Historia de una escalera (1950), and in the historical superproduction (for Spanish standards) Alba de América (Dawn of America, 1951), playing King Fernando el Católico. He portrayed Zorro in the film La montaña sin ley (Lawless mountain) (1953), making him the first Spanish actor in the role.[1][2] He also co-starred with the popular Andalusian gipsy singer and dancer Lola Flores in La danza de los deseos (1954), directed by the most prestigious veteran Spanish film-maker, Florián Rey.
In 1956, his lead role in the internationally acclaimed Calle Mayor (undoubtedly his best role, his best performance and his best film, although he always preferred Condenados) provided him with the opportunity to work in Italy with well-known film directors as Luigi Zampa in The Magistrate, starring with Claudia Cardinale, and Francesco Rosi in La sfida, starring with Rosanna Schiaffino, while he gradually lost his popularity in his home country, despite still appearing in the 60s in some interesting Spanish movies, such as A tiro limpio (1963) or La boda (1964).
Despite appearing too in two successful mainstream Italian films: Scano Boa (1961) and Sette uomini d'oro (1965), eventually he was almost confined to the Spanish-Italian sword and sandal and spaghetti westerns movies, the most interesting of all them being The Price of Power (1969), also known as Il Prezzo del potere or La Muerte de un Presidente. And he even played the lead in El Llanero (1964), one of the first films directed by the (in)famous master of the sexually charged horror films, Jesús Franco.
In the 70's he played too for the National Spanish television in a few series, including a Spanish-Italian coproduction on the life of Cristóbal Colón.
His last film was La trastienda (1975), an artistically dispensable but sociologically significant Spanish picture, coincident with the end of Franco era in Spain.
Suárez was for many years president of the Spanish Actors Union.
He died of natural causes on August 6, 1981, in Moreda, Asturias.
Selected filmography
- 1975 La Trastienda
- 1974 Los Caballeros del Botón de Ancla
- 1972 A Reason to Live, a Reason to Die
- 1972 Marianela
- 1971 La Montaña rebelde
- 1971 El Cristo del Océano·
- 1969 La muerte de un presidente
- 1969 Il Pistolero dell'Ave Maria
- 1969 Bootleggers
- 1969 El Taxi de los conflictos
- 1968 El Amor de Maria Isabel
- 1967 Maria Isabel
- 1967 Mister Dynamit - morgen küßt Euch der Tod
- 1966 El Primer cuartel
- 1966 Texas, Adios
- 1966 Agent X-77 Orders to Kill
- 1965 Sette uomini d'oro
- 1964 El llanero
- 1964 La Boda
- 1963 Slave Girls of Sheba
- 1963 A tiro limpio
- 1961 Scano Boa
- 1959 Cartagine in fiamme
- 1959 Il magistrato
- 1958 La sfida
- 1958 Gli italiani sono matti
- 1957 The Battalion in the Shadows
- 1957 Las aeroguapas
- 1956 Calle mayor
- 1954 Once pares de botas·
- 1954 La Danza de los deseos
- 1953 La montaña sin ley
- 1953 Condenados
- 1953 Así es Madrid·
- 1952 Spanish Serenade
- 1951 Dawn of America·
- 1950 Historia de una escalera
- 1950 Child of the Night
- 1950 Aquel hombre de Tánger
- Criminal Brigade (1950)
- 1949 La Mujer de nadie
- 1947 Oro y marfil·
- 1947 Trece onzas de oro
- 1944 Altar mayor
Bibliography
- Torres, Augusto M. (1994). Diccionario del cine español. Madrid: Espasa Calpe. ISBN 84-239-9203-9.
See also
References
- ↑ Movies list at Zorro.com
- ↑ Zorro at the Internet Movie Database
External links
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