Fernando Fernan Gomez

Fernando Fernández Gómez, known as Fernando Fernán Gómez or Fernando Fernán-Gómez (Lima, Peru, August 28, 1921-Madrid, Spain, November 21, 2007), was a Spanish novelist, playwright, actor, screenwriter and film, theater and television director. He was a member of the Royal Spanish Academy, in which he took possession of chair B on January 30, 2000.

Biography

Most likely, as he wrote in his memoirs, he was born in Lima on August 28, 1921, even though his birth certificate indicates that he was born in the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires. The reason for this is that his mother, the theater actress Carola Fernán Gómez, was on tour in South America when he was born in Lima, so his birth certificate was issued days later in Argentina, a nationality he maintained, in addition to the Spanish, which was granted in 1984. An extramarital son, his father was also an actor Fernando Díaz de Mendoza y Guerrero, son of María Guerrero, who prevented the marriage between the parents of Fernando Fernán Gómez.

After some school work as an actor, he studied Philosophy and Letters in Madrid, studies that he abandoned when he began college. Civil War, but his true vocation led him to the theater. During the Civil War he received classes at the CNT School of Actors, debuting as a professional in 1938 in the Laura Pinillos company; It was there that Enrique Jardiel Poncela discovered him, who gave him his first opportunity by offering him, in 1940, a role as a supporting actor in his play Eloísa is under an almond tree, premiered in Madrid on May 24, 1940. Three years later, he was hired by the film production company Cifesa and thus broke into the cinema with the film Cristina Guzmán, directed by Gonzalo Delgrás, and the following year he was offered his first leading role in It Started at a Wedding, by Raffaello Matarazzo. Indeed, he worked as an actor until the early forties to later dedicate himself to cinema, first as an actor (in hits such as Balarrasa or Anchor Button) and later as a director, without neglecting his vocation as a playwright and stage director, and a regular writer and scriptwriter for the gathering at Café Gijón. He led a nightlife in Madrid in the fifties, which he has recounted on more than one occasion. In the middle of this decade, a popular professional association began with the Argentine actress Analía Gadé, which began with Boyfriend Trip (1956), a film directed by León Klimovsky and later with several other comedies, many directed by Pedro Lazaga, as Girls in Blue (1957), Ana Says Yes (1958) or Summer Moon (1959). Fernán Gómez made his directorial debut with Manicomio (1954) and directed with Analía Gadé as the female lead the films Life ahead (1958) and Life around (1959).

He married and divorced the singer María Dolores Pradera (1945-1957), with whom he had a daughter, the actress Helena Fernán Gómez, and a son, Fernando, also related to culture. He then maintained a long relationship since the early seventies with the actress Emma Cohen, after meeting her in an episode of the TVE series Tres eran tres (1973). Cohen and Fernán Gómez married in 2000, and the marriage lasted until his death in 2007.

Starting in 1984, he turned his increasingly intense literary vocation into writing very personal articles in Diario 16 and the Sunday supplement of El País, also producing several volumes of essays and eleven novels, some strongly autobiographical and others historical: The Orange Seller, The Journey to Nowhere, Bad Love, The sea and time, The elevator for drunkards, Puerta del Sol, The cross and the golden lily, etc. His two-volume autobiography was a great success, El tiempo amarillo , of which there are two editions, the second somewhat larger; but perhaps his most resounding success was obtained with a theatrical piece soon made into a movie, Bicycles are for the summer , about his memories of adolescence during the Civil War.

Through his hand, cinema entered the Royal Spanish Academy, of which he was elected a member in 1998 and took possession of the B chair on January 30, 2000. He was awarded the Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts at the year 1995.

Cinema

Exhibition on the actor

Versatile, loved and respected by industry professionals and generations of viewers, he found popularity as an actor near the beginning of his film career with the black comedy classic Carnival Sunday (by the famous director Edgar Neville), in which he starred alongside Conchita Montes in 1945. Two years earlier he had appeared as a supporting role in another notable title of Spanish cinema from the forties as Cristina Guzmán. That same year, he accompanied an already consecrated Argentine Empire and the well-remembered heartthrob Alfredo Mayo in the exotic comedy Bambú, and also participated in a small fantastic comedy classic such as Destiny apologizes, by José Luis Sáenz de Heredia, following the style of the American subgenre in vogue during those years (The Invisible Couple, by Norman Z. MacLeod, I married a witch, by René Clair, Two in Heaven, by Victor Fleming, etc.). From then on he chained successful titles that today critics and moviegoers describe as indispensable, working with Gonzalo Delgrás ( The inhabitants of the uninhabited house ); Carlos Serrano de Osma (Embrujo, along with Lola Flores and Manolo Caracol); Sáenz de Heredia (The harvest is great, The eyes leave traces); Ramón Torrado, (Anchor button); José Antonio Nieves Conde (Balarrasa, The tenant); Luis Marquina, (Captain Venom). At that time he also worked in Barcelona as a dubbing actor.

In the 1950s, he established himself as a leading actor in a series of comedies (The Phenomenon), dramas (The Big Lie) and religious films (Balarrasa) or folkloric (Morena Clara), propaganda or directly escapist (which in many ways is also considered as propaganda by historians), while taking part in one of the first outposts of what would later become the «New Spanish cinema»: That happy couple by Bardem and Berlanga. He is also now taking part in some interesting co-productions such as La conciencia accusa (by the great Georg Wilhelm Pabst) or Lo scapolo (by Antonio Pietrangeli) together with Alberto Sordi, and finally, he began an incipient career as a director, with commissioned works of uneven success: in this sense, his version of the novel by Wenceslao Fernández Flórez El malvado Carabel and two excellent comedies in which he shared chemistry and the bill stand out. with the delicious Analía Gadé, one of his most recurring couples, such as La vida por delante and La vida alrededor.

Revenge of Don Mendo, directed and written by Fernando Fernán Gómez

In keeping with the Spanish cinema of the sixties, his filmography as an actor and director was filled with comedies of all kinds such as: La venganza de Don Mendo, Adiós, Mimí Pompom, Ninette and a man from Murcia, Imperfect Crime or A Vampire for Two, a parody of the Dracula films with José Luis López Vázquez and Grace Morales.

Even in this era of eminently commercial works, there are exceptions such as his directorial work in The World Goes On (1963), a tough naturalist drama, inspired by the homonymous novel by Juan Antonio Zunzunegui, where Two sisters with opposite conceptions of life confront each other in the midst of Spanish postwar society, his first success as a director, and in El extraño viaje (1964), in which he portrays, with almost greater insight than Berlanga himself, the stingy and oppressive climate of the Spanish society of the Franco regime and which remains one of the pinnacles of Spanish cinema of all time; both productions had tremendous run-ins with censorship. On the other hand, it is now when he begins a professional relationship with another of his most emblematic couples, Concha Velasco, with the black comedy Crime for newlyweds .

In the seventies, Fernán-Gómez became one of the most requested actors of the so-called Spanish Transition, with golden titles from those years such as The Spirit of the Beehive, Love of Captain Brando, Pim, pam, pum... fire!, My daughter Hildegart, The wreckage, Mom turns one hundred years old or Arriba Feat!. With this he began a successful collaboration with the notable director Jaime de Armiñán and also a close professional relationship with Carlos Saura, thereby earning himself a just prestige as an actor and director as well as recognition for his already long career. In 1976 he was involved in a title of undoubted value, although not for the general public, such as El anacoreta , awarded at the Berlin International Film Festival. He also directed and performed two successful productions for TVE (the telefilm Juan soldado and above all the series El pícaro ) that slip into the memory of the general public. After Franco's death and the legalization of the CNT-AIT, he was active in the Barcelona Entertainment Union, participating in the Barcelona Libertarian Days in July 1977 together with his partner Emma Cohen.

In 1981, he starred in a memorable film, Maravillas by Gutiérrez Aragón, and began to string together critical and public successes (La colmena, Stico, The Stilts, Requiem for a Spanish Peasant, Pharaoh's Court, Half Heaven and The Journey to Nowhere). She ends the decade with excellent works in films that are not very well received but quality: Esquilache and The river that takes us . In 1986, she filmed in Argentina a title to be taken into account, Poor Butterfly , by Raúl de la Torre, together with an international cast (Bibi Andersson, Vittorio Gassman, Fernando Rey, Graciela Borges); and this is also the decade in which he is most active in his work for TVE (Ramón y Cajal: Historia de una voluntad, Fortunata y Jacinta, Las pícaras , Juncal or Impossible Tales).

The 1990s witnessed the beginning of a period of less professional activity derived from some health problems and, surely, a lack of major roles for an actor like him. Except for Belle Époque and the Oscar for best foreign film, we must wait until 1998 to see him again in two films as different as they are important (each in their own way) such as The abuelo (nominated for an Oscar and great box office success) and Pepe Guindo (fictional tribute to the great actor by an undervalued but not mediocre director like Manuel Iborra). In between, he spent several seasons in the TV series Thieves go to the office, which would restore popularity to him and other big names in acting such as Agustín González, Manuel Alexandre or José Luis López Vázquez. Later he regained steam with three great films ( All About My Mother , Full Moon and the popular hit The Tongue of Butterflies ).

More recently, he shot Visionarios, by Gutiérrez Aragón; The spell of Shanghai, with Fernando Trueba; So you don't forget me , and the one that will probably remain as her last great interpretation in the splendid In the city without limits , by Antonio Hernández.

Marisa Paredes, president of the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences of Spain, in the delivery of the tenth Gold Medal, described him perfectly: «For an anarchist, for a poet, for a comedian, for columnist, academic, novelist, playwright, unique and consistent».

He collaborated for thirty-five years with the newspaper ABC.

Death

Entrance to the Fernando Fernán Gómez Theatre. Madrid

On November 19, 2007, he was admitted to the Oncology area of the La Paz University Hospital in Madrid to be treated for pneumonia. He died in Madrid of colon cancer two days later, on November 21, 2007, at the age of 86. After announcing it by the Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, in the actor's funeral chapel, the Government of Spain granted him the Grand Cross of the Civil Order of Alfonso X the Wise on November 23, posthumously. Also, the mayor of Madrid Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón announced that the Cultural Center of the Villa de Madrid will pass to called Teatro Fernando Fernán Gómez. In the funeral chapel his coffin was covered with an anarchist red and black flag, and was later cremated in the La Almudena Cemetery in Madrid.

Literary work

Novel

• The orange seller. Madrid, Thebes, 1961; Madrid, Espasa-Calpe, 1986. Logroño, Pepitas de Calabaza, 2021.
• The journey to nowhere. Madrid, Debate, 1985.
• Evil love. Barcelona, Planet, 1987; historical novel.
• The sea and time. Barcelona, Planet, 1988.
• The elevator of the drunks. Madrid, Espasa-Calpe, 1993.
• The Puerta del Sol. Madrid, Espasa-Calpe, 1995.
• Stop! Love novel!. Madrid, Espasa-Calpe, 1997.
• The cross and the golden lily. Madrid, Espasa-Calpe, 1998; historical novel.
• Gold and hunger. Barcelona, Muchnik, 1999, historical novel.
• Layer and sword. Madrid, Espasa-Calpe, 2001; historical novel.
• The time of trains. Madrid, Espasa-Calpe, 2004.

Theater

• Couple for eternity. Madrid, Acanto, 1947.
• Husband and a half. Comedia premiered on June 7, 1950 at the Teatro Gran Via in Madrid, unprecedented.
• Bicycles are for the summer. Madrid, Espasa-Calpe, 1984.
• The alibi. Sundays, Bacanal. Madrid, Espasa-Calpe, 1985; Madrid, Antonio Machado, 1987.
• Lazarillo de Tormes. Adaptation. Valladolid, Castilla Eds., 1994.
• From King Ordás and his infamy. Comedia premiered on August 22, 1983 at the Teatro Palacio del Progreso in Madrid, unprecedented.
• Forest eyes. Comedia premiered on July 9, 1986 at the Plaza de la Almudena in Madrid, within the program "Los veranos de la Villa", unpublished.
• The Picarus. Adventures and Adventures of Lucas Maraña. Premiered at the Spanish Central Theatre in Seville on September 8, 1992, unprecedented.
• The invaders of the palace. Madrid, Fundación Author, 2000.
• Defense of Sancho Panza. Released at the XXV Almagro International Classical Theatre Festival on July 19, 2002, published in Acotaciones 20.
• Die sane and live mad. Premiere at the Teatro Principal de Zaragoza on January 13, 2004, unprecedented.
• Theatre. It combines more than 20 theatrical texts recovered and analyzed for three years by her granddaughter Helena de Llanos. (Galaxia Gutenberg, 2019)[2]

Memories

• Diario de Cinecittà. International Film MagazineNo. 6, November 1952; No. 7, December 1952.
• Forgetfulness and memory. Autobiography of Fernando Fernán-Gómez. TriompheJanuary 1981.
• Yellow time. Memories. I (1921-1943) and II (1943-1987). Madrid, Debate, 1990.
• Yellow Time: Extended Memories (1921-1997). Madrid, Debate, 1998. Madrid, Captain Swing, 2015.

Poetry

• To Rome for something. Madrid, Separata de Spanish poetry (1954); Madrid, Fernán-Gómez Arte y Ediciones, 1982.
• The song is flight. Madrid, Visor, 2002 (full poetry).

Articles and essays

• The actor and the others. Barcelona, Laia, 1987.
• Prints and depressions. Barcelona, Planet, 1987.
• Stories of the picaresque. Barcelona, Planet, 1989.
• The art of desiring. Madrid, Temas de Hoy, 1992.
• Image of Madrid. Madrid, El País-Aguilar, 1992.
• Madrid roofs. Madrid, Telefónica de España, 1992.
• From the last row: 100 years of cinema. Madrid, Espasa-Calpe, 1995.
• We, the elders1999
• Pure theater and something else., 2002.
• Varieties, Huerga and Fierro, 2019

Children's Literature

• The thieves. Madrid, Anaya, 1986.
• Retail. Madrid, Anaya, 1988.

Various

• My dear General 1986.
• Stories of the picaresque1989.
• The intruder (TV screen on a Borges story), 1986
• Out of the game (guion de cine), 1991.
• The anecdotes of the theater: here goes to the pointer!, Barcelona, DeBolsillo, 1997.
• The good memory (book of talks between Fernando Fernán Gómez and Eduardo Haro Tecglen, collected by Diego Galán). Alfaguara, 1997
• The scene, the street and the clouds (relatos), Madrid, Espasa-Calpé, 2000.
• Conversations with Fernando Fernán-Gómez (book-interview by Enrique Brasó), Madrid, Espasa-Calpe, 2002.

As director

Cinema

Television

• Juan soldier (1973)
• The rogue (1974)
• Tertulia with... (1981)

Theater

• Life in a bloc (1953), by Carlos Llopis
• Right to ghost (1958), by Eduardo De Filippo
• The vile seduction (1967), by Juan José Alonso Millán.
• The mayor of Zalamea (1979) by Calderón de la Barca.

As an actor

Cinema

Television

Theater

• Thieves are honest people (1941), by Enrique Jardiel Poncela.
• Love only lasts 2,000 meters (1941), by Enrique Jardiel Poncela.
• Mother (father drama) (1941), by Enrique Jardiel Poncela.
• It's dangerous to look outside (1942), by Enrique Jardiel Poncela.
• The case of the man dressed in violet (1954) by Miguel Mihura.
• Majors with repairs (1965), by Juan José Alonso Millán.
• The vile seduction (1967), by Juan José Alonso Millán.
• Laziness (1968) by Ricardo Talesnik.
• An enemy of the people (1972), by Henrik Ibsen in version of Arthur Miller.
• The mayor of Zalamea (1979) by Calderón de la Barca.

Awards and nominations

Annual competitions

Goya Awards

Medals of the Film Writers Circle

Silver frames

Union of Actors

Festivals

Berlin International Film Festival

San Sebastian International Film Festival

Venice International Film Festival

Other awards

Emma Cohen received the Grand Cross of the Civil Order of Alfonso X the Sabio granted to Fernán Gómez as posthumous.

• National Theatre Award (1985).
• National Film Prize (1989).
• Prince of Asturias Award for Arts (1995).
• Valladolid International Film Week = Sponge of Honor
• Alcalá City Award for Arts and Letters (1998).
• Mariano Award of Cavia, for his article «The psaloncillo of my times», published in ABC (1999).
• Gold Medal to Merit at Work (2001)

• Gold Medal of the Academy of Arts and Film Sciences of Spain (2001).
• Gran Cruz de la Orden Civil de Alfonso X el Sabio, a posthumous title granted by the Government of Spain (2007).

• Star on the Paseo de la Fama de Madrid (2011).

Predecessor: Emilio Alarcos Llorach

Academician of the Royal Spanish Academy B 2000-2007

Successor: José Luis Borau Moradell