Ferdinand King

Fernando Casado Arambillet (La Coruña, September 20, 1917-Madrid, March 9, 1994), known as Fernando Rey, was a Spanish actor of wide internationally recognized track record. He participated in some 150 films, including several notable works by Luis Buñuel, as well as multiple European and North American co-productions.

He was one of the great actors of Spanish cinema after the Franco dictatorship and the most international of them. His early filmography includes: Locura de amor (1948), Aventuras de Juan Lucas (1949), Agustina de Aragón (1950), Comics (1954) and Sonatas (1959). Outstanding with Buñuel are Viridiana (1961), Tristana (1970), The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972), a surrealist French film that won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film, and That Obscure Object of Desire (1977). He is remembered by the global public for his role as the drug dealer Alain Charnier in the American film The French Connection (1971), by William Friedkin, which was a box office success and won five Oscars. During his extensive career, Fernando Rey has also collaborated with other first-rate directors, such as Orson Welles, Vincente Minnelli, Robert Altman, Franco Zeffirelli, Ridley Scott and Stephen Frears, and with legendary stars of American and European cinema, such as Charlton Heston, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Newman, Yul Brynner, Burt Reynolds, Jeanne Moreau, Brigitte Bardot, Gerard Depardieu, and Marcello Mastroianni.

Biography

Early Years

Fernando Rey studied architecture but the start of the Spanish civil war cut short his studies. He was the son of artillery officer Fernando Casado Veiga, a Republican and assistant to Manuel Azaña (not to be confused with the colonel of the same last name, Segismundo Casado).

In 1936 he began his acting career as a walk-on, occasionally appearing in the credits. It was then that he chose his stage name. He kept his first name but adopted his mother's middle name, Sara Arambillet Rey. During the civil war he fought from republican side. His father, already a colonel, was appointed inspector general of the Artillery Weapon at the end of the war. At the end of the war, Fernando and his father are taken prisoner by the nationals. Fernando is admitted to the makeshift detention camp in Valencia, in the Mestalla stadium. While his father remained imprisoned for years, the young Fernando managed to escape from Mestalla, board a freight train and reach Madrid.

Trajectory

Around 1940, Fernando Rey began as a voice actor, after reading an advertisement seeking a new voice for an equally new actor, Tyrone Power. His voice, considered intense and personal within a sober package, was also one of the first that Laurence Olivier had in Spanish, who came to congratulate him on dubbing him in the film Hamlet (1948).

After participating as an extra or extra in several films, in 1944 Rey had his first role with dialogues: the Duke of Alba in the film Eugenia de Montijo, by José Lopez Rubio, starring Amparo Rivelles. In 1948 he gave life to Felipe el Hermoso in Locura de amor, a melodrama about Juana la Loca that was a resounding success, directed by Juan de Orduña and where the young actor worked alongside Aurora Bautista and a newcomer Sara Montiel.

This was the beginning of a prolific career in film, radio, theater and television, in which Fernando Rey alternated merely food work in commercial films with other more important projects. His track record includes classic titles of Spanish cinema such as Cómicos (1954) and Sonatas (1959), both by Juan Antonio Bardem, films where he rubbed shoulders with figures such as María Félix, Francisco Rabal and Emma Penella, and Zampo y yo (1965), Ana Belén's film debut. He also acted as a voice actor on Spanish television and became the narrator of important films such as Welcome, Mister Marshall , by Luis García Berlanga (1953); Marcelino Pan y Vino, by Ladislao Vajda (1955), and even the Don Quixote directed by Orson Welles in 1969. In fact, he participated in four different versions of Don Quixote in different roles.

In 1960, he married Argentine actress Mabel Karr, with whom he had his only son, Fernando Casado Campolongo, in 1961.

His work with Luis Buñuel in the 1960s and 1970s made him internationally famous; he was the « first Spanish international actor ». In one of his witty statements, Buñuel explained why he chose Fernando Rey for the first time: he had seen him in Sonatas playing the dead, and he found it totally credible [1]. Rey appeared in Viridiana (1961) alongside Silvia Pinal and starred with Catherine Deneuve in Tristana (1970) and with Jean-Pierre Cassel The discreet charm of the bourgeoisie (1972), a surreal film that received the Oscar for best foreign language film of that year.

The last success of the Rey-Buñuel tandem was Ese oscuro objeto del deseo (1977), nominated for another Oscar for best foreign film and a Golden Globe in the same category, although it did not win neither. Fernando Rey's voice was dubbed by Michel Piccoli. By then the actor had more than a decade alternating jobs in Spain and abroad, but it was from his time with Buñuel that he gained renown in international cinema, so he was summoned to film projects shot in Italy, France, the United Kingdom and United States, frequently for deceptive character roles under a gentlemanly and elegant image ("smooth", in English terminology [2]).

Fernando Rey's debut in foreign cinema was in 1958, in a film directed by Roger Vadim, Les bijoutiers du clair de lune, where he rubbed shoulders with Stephen Boyd, Marina Vlady and a young Brigitte Bardot. The following year he was the enemy of the muscular Steve Reeves in The Last Days of Pompeii, directed by Sergio Leone.

His international heyday began in the 1960s. He rubbed shoulders with Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg in the smuggling film A Free Escape (1964; directed by Jean Becker), and with Burt Reynolds in Navajo Joe (1966), a spaghetti western directed by Sergio Corbucci. He participated in two sequels to The Magnificent Seven : The Return of the Magnificent Seven (1966) and The Fury of the Magnificent Seven (1969), in which he worked alongside Yul Brynner and George Kennedy. In 1968 he had a role in Vincent Sherman's production Cervantes , about the famous writer, alongside Horst Buchholz, Gina Lollobrigida and José Ferrer; and he was also in the western Villa Rides , starring Yul Brynner and Robert Mitchum.

His work with Buñuel had exalted him in movie circles, but he became familiar to global audiences when he played the capo of the drug Alain Charnier, enemy of the policeman Gene Hackman, in The French Connection (1971), by William Friedkin, a thriller that was a box office success and won five Oscars. Especially remembered is the scene of the chase in the subway, when Charnier (Rey) manages to escape in a carriage and mockingly greets the policeman (Hackman) through the window. [3] Initially, Friedkin had wanted Francisco Rabal as Charnier, but he did not know his name, only that he was a Spanish actor, and Rey was mistakenly cast before Friedkin saw him. He didn't speak French, but Friedkin knew that Rabal didn't speak French or English, so he decided to keep Fernando Rey in the cast. Subsequently, a sequel of notable quality was shot, also with Gene Hackman and the Spanish actor: French Connection II, which some believe is comparable or almost superior to its predecessor. It was directed by John Frankenheimer.

Fernando Rey collaborated on several Orson Welles projects, although only two of them were completed: Campanadas a midnight (1965) and An immortal story (1968), where he had Welles himself and Jeanne Moreau as co-stars.

With a consolidated prestige, the actor continued alternating foreign and Spanish productions; In 1967 he had a role in a musical film by Rocío Dúrcal, Amor en el aire, and also appeared in The Desperate Ones (Más allá de las montañas i>), starring Maximilian Schell, Irene Papas and Raf Vallone. In 1970 he participated in The Adventurers , a film more or less inspired by the life of playboy Porfirio Rubirosa; It was directed by Lewis Gilbert and featured a striking cast: Candice Bergen, Charles Aznavour, Olivia de Havilland, Ernest Borgnine... In 1972 Rey took part in That Kind of Love by Alberto Bevilacqua, alongside Jean Seberg and Ugo Tognazzi, and was placed under the command of Charlton Heston in Marco Antonio y Cleopatra; and the following year he shot Tarot (The Magician) by José María Forqué, a film designed for the international market that brought together two Hollywood figures: Sue Lyon (the Lolita by Stanley Kubrick) and veteran Gloria Grahame. In 1974 Rey rubbed shoulders with Giancarlo Giannini and met Catherine Deneuve again in Hechos de gente de bien , a film by Mauro Bolognini that won the David de Donatello award. In 1977 Rey and Giannini would meet again when shooting together the comedy Pasqualino Settebellezze, by Lina Wertmüller, which was nominated for four Oscars, an infrequent case in a non-American production.

The name of Fernando Rey was considered for a supporting role in The Godfather II, which he ultimately did not play, but in 1976 he participated in the ambitious production El viaje de los malditos by Stuart Rosenberg, with a luxury cast: Faye Dunaway, Orson Welles, James Mason, Max von Sydow... In this film he played a brief role as Cuban president; years later he told how he received a large salary for a few hours of work in Barcelona. Very active in those years, the Spanish actor also had a role in the last film by Vincente Minnelli, A Matter Of Time (Nina), along with Liza Minnelli, Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer; as well as in Le Dernier Amant romantique (1978) by Just Jaeckin and in The Desert of the Tartars by Valerio Zurlini, where he coincided with several European stars such as Vittorio Gassman, Max von Sydow, Jean-Louis Trintignant and his compatriot Francisco Rabal.

Labeled as a prestigious and solvent actor, who gave packaging to any character, no matter how fleeting, Fernando Rey linked brief roles and cameos in multiple “de qualité». In 1977 he played King Gaspar in the series Jesús de Nazareth, directed and produced by Franco Zeffirelli with a stellar cast: Laurence Olivier, Anne Bancroft, Claudia Cardinale... In 1980 he participated in Caboblanco by J. Lee Thompson, starring Charles Bronson, Jason Robards and Dominique Sanda; in 1981 in La storia vera della signora delle camelie by Mauro Bolognini, with Isabelle Huppert and Gian Maria Volonté; and in 1982 in Frank Perry's Monsignor, alongside Christopher Reeve and Geneviève Bujold.

He played Geraldine Chaplin's father in Elisa, my life, by Carlos Saura, a role for which he received an award at the Cannes Film Festival; years later he was a member of the jury of this contest. He also participated in El crimen de Cuenca (1980) by Pilar Miró; in The Big Traffic Jam, by Luigi Comencini (starring Alberto Sordi, Ugo Tognazzi, Marcello Mastroianni and Stefania Sandrelli) and in Quintet (1979), by Robert Altman, in a cast that included Paul Newman, Bibi Andersson and Vittorio Gassman.

In Bearn or The Doll Room (Jaime Chávarri, 1983) Fernando Rey played an aristocrat in decline and shared the bill with Amparo Soler Leal and Ángela Molina. He also stood out in Our Father and Winter Journal , both by Francisco Regueiro; in the second he did a commented scene of full nude. For this role he was awarded a Goya Award and also the Silver Shell for best actor at the San Sebastian Festival. His role in My General (Jaime de Armiñán, 1987) was also relevant, where he coincided with Fernando Fernán Gómez, José Luis López Vázquez and Héctor Alterio, among others. He also participated in Spanish productions with an international vocation: in 1985, in El caballero del dragón by Fernando Colomo, a fantastic film with Miguel Bosé, Klaus Kinski and Harvey Keitel; and in 1987 in The Tunnel directed by Antonio Drove, where he rubbed shoulders with Jane Seymour and Peter Weller.

His roles were shorter in: La venganza (1984) by Stephen Frears, in a cast headed by John Hurt, Terence Stamp and Tim Roth; the western in a comedy key Rustlers' Hugh Wilson's Rhapsody (1985), starring Tom Berenger; The Animated Forest (José Luis Cuerda, 1987); The air of a crime (Antonio Isasi-Isasmendi, 1988); the comedy President by accident (1988) by Paul Mazursky, in which he worked with Richard Dreyfuss, Raúl Juliá and Sonia Braga; L'Atlantide (1992), with Tchéky Karyo and Jean Rochefort, and the blockbuster about Christopher Columbus 1492: The Conquest of Paradise (Ridley Scott, 1992), starring by Gerard Depardieu and Sigourney Weaver.

Last years

At a mature age, he increased his presence in films and television series. In 1982 she appeared in the television series A.D. Anno Domini, an Anglo-Italian co-production about the early years of Christianity, playing the philosopher Seneca, which featured stars from several generations: Ava Gardner, Susan Sarandon, Jack Warden, Jennifer O'Neill, Ian McShane... In 1985 he had a role in the medieval-themed telefilm Black Arrow, a Disney production starring Donald Pleasence and Oliver Reed. In the Spanish sphere, he had a brief appearance in the third season of the series The thieves go to the office (1993).

He remained active until his later years. One of his last great roles was Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes , an adaptation directed by Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón for Televisión Española, which achieved notable success and represented a commendable moral, mental effort at his age. and physical. He worked on the co-production Naked Tango (1991) and his last film appearance, in Jaime de Armiñán's film Al otro lado del túnel , was premonitory.

He died in Madrid of cancer at the age of 76.

During the 1980s and 1990s, Fernando Rey was awarded at the San Sebastian Film Festival and at the Cannes Film Festival, and obtained the Gold Medal from the Spanish Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences, as well as a Goya Award for Best Actor. He was president of said academy from 1992 until his death two years later.

Awards and nominations

Cannes International Film Festival

San Sebastian International Film Festival

Medals of the Film Writers Circle

Silver frames

Goya Awards

Huesca International Film Festival

Other acknowledgments

• Sant Jordi Award and ACE Award for Tristana (1970).
• National Film Prize (1990).
• Award of the Union of Actors of Spain to the best television actor by The Quixote (1992).
• Member of the 1975 Cannes Festival jury.
• Star on the Paseo de la Fama de Madrid (2011).

Filmography