Francisco Rabal
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Male
Birthday
1926-03-08
Day of Death
2001-08-29 (75 years old)
Place of Birth
Águilas, Murcia, Región de Murcia, Spain
Francisco Rabal
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free 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, after 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 actress Asunción Balaguer; they married and remained together for the rest of Rabal's 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 1940s, Rabal began acting in movies as an extra, but it was not until 1950 that he was first cast in speaking roles, and played romantic leads and rogues. He starred in three films directed by Luis Buñuel - Nazarín (1959), Viridiana (1961) and Belle de jour (1967).
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 but Academy Award-nominated cult classic Sorcerer (1977), a remake of The Wages of Fear (1953).
Throughout his career, Rabal worked in France, Italy and Mexico with directors such as Gillo Pontecorvo, Michelangelo Antonioni, Luchino Visconti, Valerio Zurlini, Jacques Rivette and Alberto Lattuada.
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 1989, he was a member of the jury at the 39th Berlin International Film Festival. 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's final movie was Dagon, a film which was dedicated to him right before the credits. The dedication read "Dedicated to Francisco Rabal, a wonderful actor and even better human being."
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.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Francisco Rabal, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Acting
(2002)
Zero/infinito
as (voice)
(2002)
The Revolution on Two Horses
as Zio Henrique
(2001)
Dagon
as Ezequiel
(2001)
Lázaro de Tormes
as El Ciego
(2001)
(2001)
Just Run!
as Don Vicente
(2000)
Speaking of Buñuel
as Self
(2000)
(2000)
Peixe-Lua
as Tio Nini
(1999)
Goya in Bordeaux
as Goya
(1998)
Talk of Angels
as Don Jorge
(1998)
Divine
as Papá Basilio
(1998)
(1997)
Little Bird
as El Abuelo
(1997)
Airbag
as Villambrosa
(1997)
Day and Night
as Cristobal
(1997)
Little Miracles
as Don Francisco
(1997)
La novia de medianoche
as Wenceslao Corredoira
(1996)
Oedipus Mayor
as Tiresias
(1995)
One Hundred and One Nights
as Luis Buñuel (voice)
(1995)
On Earth as It Is in Heaven
as San Pedro
(1995)
The Lame Pigeon
as Tío Ricardo
(1995)
Felicidades, Tovarich
as Abuelo
(1994)
(1993)
La Lola se va a los puertos
as Don Diego
(1992)
The Man Who Lost His Shadow
as Antonio
(1992)
(1991)
La taberna fantástica
as Rogelio
(1991)
(1990)
Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!
as Máximo Espejo
(1990)
Manuel, le fils emprunté
as Juan Alvarez
(1989)
The White Dove
as Domingo
(1989)
Torquemada
as Torquemada
(1989)
Buñuel
as Self
(1989)
Baroque
as El Hispano
(1988)
A Time of Destiny
as Jorge Larraneta
(1988)
Scent of a Crime
as Coronel Olvera
(1987)
Divine Words
as Pedro Gailo
(1987)
Il mistero del panino assassino
as Arno dei conti Vincini
(1986)
Camorra (A Story of Streets, Women and Crime)
as Guaglione
(1986)
Tiempo de silencio
as Muecas
(1986)
El disputado voto del señor Cayo
as Señor Cayo
(1986)
(1986)
La Storia
as Remo
(1985)
La vieja música
as Domingo Ferreiro
(1985)
The Lost Paradise
as El político anciano
(1985)
The Witching Hour
as Cesar
(1985)
Bohemian Nights
as Max Estrella
(1985)
Marbella
as Juan
(1985)
Scapegoat
as Comisario Cárdenas
(1985)
Our Father
as Abel
(1985)
(1984)
The Holy Innocents
as Azarías
(1984)
Los zancos
as Manuel
(1984)
Epilogue
as Rocabruno
(1984)
Coarse Salt
as Gabino
(1984)
Victòria! 3: El seny i la rauxa
as Coronel Márquez
(1984)
(1983)
Victòria! La gran aventura d'un poble
as Coronel Márquez
(1983)
Treasure of the Four Crowns
as Sócrates
(1983)
Crooks
as Ginés Jiménez Valera
(1983)
Salzillo
as Salzillo
(1983)
Victòria! 2: La disbauxa del 17
as Coronel Márquez
(1982)
The Beehive
as Ricardo Sorbedo
(1981)
Reborn
as Giacomo
(1980)
Nightmare City
as Major Warren Holmes
(1980)
Under Siege
as William Lombard
(1980)
Vultures Over the City
as Bender
(1980)
El gran secreto
as Domingo
(1980)
The Rebel
as Tony
(1980)
Speed Driver
as Esposito
(1979)
Hunted City
as Don Alfonso
(1979)
El buscón
as Mata
(1979)
Ciao Cialtroni!
as Fra' Giovanni
(1978)
Stay as You Are
as Lorenzo
(1978)
Hotel Fear
as Marta's lover
(1978)
Corleone
as Don Giusto Provenzano
(1978)
Wages of Fear
as Nilo
(1977)
Sorcerer
as Nilo
(1977)
I Am the Law
as Albanese the Outlaw
(1977)
Io sono mia
as Padre di Orio
(1976)
The Desert of the Tartars
as M.llo Tronk
(1976)
The Long Vacations of '36
as Teacher
(1976)
(1975)
C.I.A. Secret Story
as Mehdi Ben Barka
(1975)
Eye of the Cat
as Eminenza
(1975)
Fight to the Death
as Comisario Emilio Mendoza
(1975)
Blanca's Weddings
as Antonio
(1975)
La peccatrice
as Turco
(1975)
The Dead Man
as Azevedo Bandeira
(1975)
The City of World
as Matteo
(1974)
(1974)
Death Will Have Your Eyes
as The Blackmailer
(1974)
The Tempter
as Bishop Marquez
(1974)
Dormir Y Ligar: Todo Es Empezar
as Self (uncredited)
(1974)
Tormento
as Agustín Caballero
(1973)
Counselor at Crime
as Vincent Garofalo
(1973)
La colonna infame
as Giacomo Mora - il barbiere
(1973)
La leyenda del alcalde de Zalamea
as Pedro Crespo, Alcalde de Zalamea
(1973)
(1973)
The Guerrilla
as El Cabrero (The Shepherd)
(1972)
It Can Be Done Amigo
as Sheriff
(1972)
N.P. - The Secret
as Ingegnere N.P.
(1972)
Nada menos que todo un hombre
as Alejandro Gómez
(1972)
Le soldat Laforêt
as Paco
(1972)
Planet Venus
as Party chauffer
(1971)
El apartamento de la tentación
as Hombre que se cruza con Julieta (uncredited)
(1971)
Exorcism's Daughter
as Fuso
(1971)
Goya: A Story of Solitude
as Goya
(1971)
The Big Black Sow
as Il Medico
(1970)
(1970)
Ann and Eve
as Francesco
(1970)
Diario Spagnolo
as Él mismo
(1970)
Cutting Heads
as Díaz II
(1969)
Eagles Over London
as Martin
(1969)
Blood in the Bullring
as Juan Carmona
(1969)
Simon Bolivar
as José Antonio Del Llano
(1969)
Un adulterio decente
as Conserje (uncredited)
(1969)
Spain Again
as Reportero
(1969)
The Challenges
as Carlos
(1968)
Bloody Che Contra
as Che Guevara
(1968)
After the Deluge
as Pedro
(1968)
(1967)
Belle de Jour
as Hyppolite
(1967)
Le avventure e gli amori di Miguel Cervantes
as Rodrigo Cervantes
(1967)
The Witches
as Paolo (segment "La strega bruciata viva")
(1967)
The Nun
as Dom Morel
(1967)
Long Days of Vengeance
as Sheriff Douglas
(1967)
Oscuros sueños de agosto
as Julio
(1966)
Hoy como ayer
as Ramón
(1966)
Camino del Rocío
as José Antonio
(1966)
Don Juan Tenorio
as Don Juan Tenorio
(1965)
The Blue Panther
as Paco Castillo
(1965)
(1965)
Legacy of the Incas
as Gambusino
(1965)
Currito de la Cruz
as Manuel Carmona
(1965)
The Devil Also Cries
as Tomás
(1965)
Intimidad de los parques
as Héctor
(1965)
España insólita
as (voice)
(1964)
The Big Hit
as Michel Arland
(1964)
Weeping for a Bandit
as José María 'El Tempranillo'
(1964)
The Other Woman
as Zaylor
(1963)
Mathias Sandorf
as Frédéric de Rotenbourg
(1963)
The Reunion
as Alberto
(1963)
Summer Night
as Bernardo
(1963)
Autopsia de un criminal
as Carlos
(1962)
L'Eclisse
as Riccardo
(1962)
Viridiana
as Jorge
(1962)
The Female: Seventy Times Seven
as Pascual
(1962)
I tromboni di Fra' Diavolo
as Fra Diavolo
(1961)
Pigeon Shoot
as Elia
(1961)
(1961)
The Hand in the Trap
as Cristóbal Archaval
(1961)
Azahares rojos
as Arturo Gómez Mancera
(1961)
At Five in the Afternoon
as Juan Reyes
(1960)
El hombre de la isla
as Lorenzo 'El Moro'
(1960)
(1960)
Trío de damas
as Alberto Sáinz Robledo
(1959)
Nazarin
as Father Nazario
(1959)
Sonatas
as Marqués Javier de Bradomín
(1959)
Diez fusiles esperan
as José Iribarren
(1959)
Two Men in Town
as Superintendente
(1958)
Revenge
as Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
(1958)
L'uomo dai calzoni corti
as Mario
(1958)
Cuenca
as Narrator (voice)
(1958)
La noche y el alba
as Pedro
(1957)
Marisa
as Antonio
(1957)
The Mighty Crusaders
as Tancredi d'Altavilla
(1957)
The Wide Blue Road
as Salvatore
(1957)
Whom God Forgives
as Juan Cuenca
(1957)
Saranno uomini
as Giacomo
(1956)
La gran mentira
as César Neira
(1955)
Death of a Cyclist
as (uncredited)
(1955)
Radio Stories
as Gabriel
(1955)
The Miller's Saucy Wife
as Cristóbal Paterna
(1955)
Revelation
as Sergio Gresky
(1955)
El canto del gallo
as Padre Miller
(1954)
All Is Possible in Granada
as Fernando Ortega
(1954)
Judas' Kiss
as Quinto Licinio
(1954)
Murió hace quince años
as Diego
(1953)
I Was a Parish Priest
as Martín
(1953)
Hay un camino a la derecha
as Miguel
(1952)
Luna de sangre
as Pedro Alvareda
(1952)
Sor Intrépida
as Tomás
(1952)
María Morena
as El Sevillano
(1951)
Doubt
as Rafael Figueroa
(1951)
(1951)
(1950)
La honradez de la cerradura
as Ernesto
(1948)
Alhucemas
as Tostado (uncredited)
(1947)
Don Quixote
as (uncredited)
(1946)
(1942)
La rueda de la vida
as Bronquista de pelea en salón (uncredited)
(1933)
Land Without Bread
as Narrator (voice)