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Francisco Rabal
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Francisco Rabal (March 8 1926 - August 29 2001), perhaps better known as Paco Rabal, was a Spanish actor born in Águilas, a small town in the province of Murcia, Spain.
In 1936, the Spanish Civil War broke out. Rabal and his family left Murcia and moved to Madrid. Young Francisco had to work as a street salesboy and in a chocolate factory. When he was 13 years old, he left school to work as an electrician at Estudios Chamartín.
Rabal got some sporadic jobs as an extra.
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Encyclopedia
Francisco Rabal (March 8 1926 - August 29 2001), perhaps better known as Paco Rabal, was a Spanish actor born in Águilas, a small town in the province of Murcia, Spain.
In 1936, the Spanish Civil War broke out. Rabal and his family left Murcia and moved to Madrid. Young Francisco had to work as a street salesboy and in a chocolate factory. When he was 13 years old, he left school to work as an electrician at Estudios Chamartín.
Rabal got some sporadic jobs as an extra. Dámaso Alonso and other people advised him to try his luck with a career in theater.
During the following years, he got some roles in theater companies such as Lope de Vega or María Guerrero. It was there that he met Asunción Balaguer; they married and remained together for life. Their daughter, Teresa Rabal, is also an actor.
In 1947, Rabal got some regular jobs in theater. He used his full name, Francisco Rabal, as stage name. However, the people who knew him always called him Paco Rabal. (Paco is the familiar form for Francisco.) "Paco Rabal" became his unofficial stage name.
During the late 1940s, Rabal began acting in movies as an extra, but it was not until 1950 that he got some speaking roles in cinema. He only needed a few years to fully consolidate his career in this new medium, mainly thanks to Luis Buñuel and to his ease in roles as a beau or as a rogue. He starred in three films directed by Buñuel - Nazarín (1959), Viridiana (1961) and Belle de jour (1966).
William Friedkin thought of Rabal for the French villain of his 1971 movie The French Connection. However, he could not remember the name of "that Spanish actor". Mistakenly, his staff hired another Spanish actor, Fernando Rey. Friedkin discovered that Rabal did not speak English or French, so he decided to keep Rey. Rabal has previously worked with Rey in Viridiana. Rabal did, however, work with Friedkin in the much less successful Sorcerer (film).
Throughout his carrier, he worked in France, Italy and Mexico with famed directors such as Gillo Pontecorvo, Michelangelo Antonioni, Luchino Visconti, Luis Buñuel, Valerio Zurlini, Jacques Rivette, Alberto Lattuada, etc.
It is widely considered that Rabal's best performances came after Francisco Franco's death on 1975. In the 1980s, Rabal starred in Los Santos Inocentes, winning the Award as Best Actor in Cannes Film Festival, in El Disputado Voto del Señor Cayo and also in the TV series Juncal. In the 1999 he played the character of Francisco Goya in Carlos Saura ' Goya en Burdeos, winning a Goya Award as Best Actor.
Francisco Rabal is the only Spanish actor to have received a honoris causa doctoral degree from the University of Murcia.
Rabal died in 2001 from compensatory dilating emphysema, while on an airplane travelling to Bordeaux, when he was coming back from receiving an Award at Montreal Film Festival.
Selected Filmography
- La Prodiga (1946)
- Luna de sangre (1950)
- La honradez de la cerradura (1950)
- María morena (1951)
- Sor intrépida (1952)
- Hay un camino a la derecha (1953)
- La guerra de Dios (1953)
- La pícara molinera (1954)
- All Is Possible in Granada (1954)
- Historias de la radio (1955)
- El canto del gallo (El canto del gallo) (1955)
- La gran mentira (La gran mentira) (1956)
- Amanecer en Puerta Oscura (1957)
- Nazarín (1958)
- Los clarines del miedo (1958)
- El hombre de la isla (1959)
- Trío de damas (1960)
- Viridiana (1961)
- La Mano en la trampa (1961)
- L'eclisse (1962)
- Fra Diavolo (1962)
- El conde Sandorf (1963)
- El diablo también llora (1963)
- Llanto por un bandido (1963)
- María Rosa (1964)
- Currito de la Cruz (1965)
- La Religieuse 1965)
- Belle de jour (1966)
- Le Streghe (1966)
- Camino del Rocío (1966)
- Cervantes (1968)
- El largo día del águila (1969)
- Sangre en el ruedo (1969)
- Goya (historia de una soledad) (1970)
- Laia (1970)
- La Epopeya de Bolivar (1970)
- Nada menos que todo un hombre (1971)
- La Leyenda del Alcalde de Zalamea (1972)
- La guerrilla (1972)
- Tormento (1974)
- El buscón (1974)
- Las largas vacaciones del 36 (1976)
- The Desert of the Tartars (1976)
- Emilia... parada y fonda (1976)
- Corleone (1977)
- Sorcerer (film) (1977)
- Yo soy mia (1977)
- Así como eres (1978)
- Incubo sulla città contaminata (1980)
- El gran secreto (1980)
- Sal Gorda (1982)
- La colmena (1982)
- Treasure of the four crowns (1983)
- Epílogo (1983)
- Escapada Final (1983)
- Truhanes (1983)
- Padre nuestro (1984)
- Luces de Bohemia (1984)
- Los santos inocentes (film) (1984)
- Marbella, un golpe de cinco estrellas (1985)
- La hora bruja (1985)
- Los paraísos perdidos (1985)
- Camorra: Contacto en Nápoles (1986)
- El disputado voto del señor Cayo (1986)
- El hermano bastardo de Dios (1986)
- Tiempo de silencio (1986)
- Divinas palabras (1987)
- Barroco (1988)
- Gallego (1988)
- La Blanca Paloma (1989)
- ¡Átame! (1989)
- El aire de un crimen (1989)
- La taberna fantástica (1990)
- El hombre que perdió su sombra (1991)
- La Lola se va a los puertos (1993)
- El palomo cojo (1995)
- Así en el cielo como en la tierra (1995)
- Felicidades, Tovarich (1995)
- Edipo alcalde 1996)
- Airbag (1997)
- Pequeños milagros (1997)
- Water Easy Reach (1997)
- Pequeños milagros (1997)
- Un día bajo el sol (1998)
- Goya en Burdeos (1999)
- Tú qué harías por amor (1999)
- Lázaro de Tormes (2000)
- Divertimento (2000)
- Dagon (2001; Final film before death)
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