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.
Known For
Acting
(2002)
Zero/infinito
as (voice)
(2002)
The Revolution on Two Horses
as Zio Henrique
(2001)
Dagon
as Ezequiel
(2001)
(2001)
Just Run!
as Don Vicente
(2001)
Lázaro de Tormes
as El Ciego
(2000)
Speaking of Buñuel
as Self
(2000)
(2000)
Peixe-Lua
as Tio Nini
(1999)
Goya in Bordeaux
as Goya
(1998)
Divine
as Papá Basilio
(1998)
Talk of Angels
as Don Jorge
(1998)
(1997)
Airbag
as Villambrosa
(1997)
Day and Night
as Cristobal
(1997)
Little Bird
as El Abuelo
(1997)
Little Miracles
as Don Francisco
(1997)
La novia de medianoche
as Wenceslao Corredoira
(1996)
Oedipus Mayor
as Tiresias
(1995)
On Earth as It Is in Heaven
as San Pedro
(1995)
The Lame Pigeon
as Tío Ricardo
(1995)
Felicidades, Tovarich
as Abuelo
(1995)
One Hundred and One Nights
as Luis Buñuel (voice)
(1994)
(1993)
La Lola se va a los puertos
as Don Diego
(1992)
The Man Who Lost His Shadow
as Antonio
(1992)
(1991)
(1991)
La taberna fantástica
as Rogelio
(1990)
Manuel, le fils emprunté
as Juan Alvarez
(1990)
Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!
as Máximo Espejo
(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)
El disputado voto del señor Cayo
as Señor Cayo
(1986)
La Storia
as Remo
(1986)
Tiempo de silencio
as Muecas
(1986)
Camorra (A Story of Streets, Women and Crime)
as Guaglione
(1986)
(1985)
The Witching Hour
as Cesar
(1985)
The Lost Paradise
as El político anciano
(1985)
Marbella
as Juan
(1985)
(1985)
Our Father
as Abel
(1985)
Scapegoat
as Comisario Cárdenas
(1985)
La vieja música
as Domingo Ferreiro
(1985)
Bohemian Nights
as Max Estrella
(1984)
(1984)
Los zancos
as Manuel
(1984)
The Holy Innocents
as Azarías
(1984)
Coarse Salt
as Gabino
(1984)
Epilogue
as Rocabruno
(1984)
Victòria! 3: El seny i la rauxa
as Coronel Márquez
(1983)
Victòria! 2: La disbauxa del 17
as Coronel Márquez
(1983)
Treasure of the Four Crowns
as Sócrates
(1983)
Victòria! La gran aventura d'un poble
as Coronel Márquez
(1983)
Crooks
as Ginés Jiménez Valera
(1983)
Salzillo
as Salzillo
(1982)
The Beehive
as Ricardo Sorbedo
(1981)
Reborn
as Giacomo
(1980)
The Rebel
as Tony
(1980)
Vultures Over the City
as Bender
(1980)
Under Siege
as William Lombard
(1980)
Speed Driver
as Esposito
(1980)
El gran secreto
as Domingo
(1980)
Nightmare City
as Major Warren Holmes
(1979)
Ciao Cialtroni!
as Fra' Giovanni
(1979)
El buscón
as Mata
(1979)
Hunted City
as Don Alfonso
(1978)
Stay as You Are
as Lorenzo
(1978)
Hotel Fear
as Marta's lover
(1978)
Corleone
as Don Giusto Provenzano
(1977)
Sorcerer
as Nilo
(1977)
Io sono mia
as Padre di Orio
(1977)
I Am the Law
as Albanese the Outlaw
(1976)
The Desert of the Tartars
as M.llo Tronk
(1976)
The Long Vacations of '36
as Teacher
(1976)
(1975)
The Dead Man
as Azevedo Bandeira
(1975)
La peccatrice
as Turco
(1975)
Blanca's Weddings
as Antonio
(1975)
Eye of the Cat
as Eminenza
(1975)
Fight to the Death
as Comisario Emilio Mendoza
(1975)
C.I.A. Secret Story
as Mehdi Ben Barka
(1975)
The City of World
as Matteo
(1974)
The Tempter
as Bishop Marquez
(1974)
Tormento
as Agustín Caballero
(1974)
(1974)
Death Will Have Your Eyes
as The Blackmailer
(1974)
Dormir Y Ligar: Todo Es Empezar
as Self (uncredited)
(1973)
Counselor at Crime
as Vincent Garofalo
(1973)
The Guerrilla
as El Cabrero (The Shepherd)
(1973)
La leyenda del alcalde de Zalamea
as Pedro Crespo, Alcalde de Zalamea
(1973)
La colonna infame
as Giacomo Mora - il barbiere
(1973)
(1972)
It Can Be Done Amigo
as Sheriff
(1972)
N.P. - The Secret
as Ingegnere N.P.
(1972)
Planet Venus
as Party chauffer
(1972)
Le soldat Laforêt
as Paco
(1972)
Nada menos que todo un hombre
as Alejandro Gómez
(1971)
Exorcism's Daughter
as Fuso
(1971)
The Big Black Sow
as Il Medico
(1971)
El apartamento de la tentación
as Hombre que se cruza con Julieta (uncredited)
(1971)
Goya: A Story of Solitude
as Goya
(1970)
Cutting Heads
as Díaz II
(1970)
Ann and Eve
as Francesco
(1970)
(1970)
Diario Spagnolo
as Él mismo
(1969)
The Challenges
as Carlos
(1969)
Un adulterio decente
as Conserje (uncredited)
(1969)
Eagles Over London
as Martin
(1969)
Simon Bolivar
as José Antonio Del Llano
(1969)
Spain Again
as Reportero
(1969)
Blood in the Bullring
as Juan Carmona
(1968)
After the Deluge
as Pedro
(1968)
Bloody Che Contra
as Che Guevara
(1968)
(1967)
Belle de Jour
as Hyppolite
(1967)
The Nun
as Dom Morel
(1967)
The Witches
as Paolo (segment "La strega bruciata viva")
(1967)
Le avventure e gli amori di Miguel Cervantes
as Rodrigo Cervantes
(1967)
Oscuros sueños de agosto
as Julio
(1967)
Long Days of Vengeance
as Sheriff Douglas
(1966)
Camino del Rocío
as José Antonio
(1966)
Don Juan Tenorio
as Don Juan Tenorio
(1966)
Hoy como ayer
as Ramón
(1965)
Currito de la Cruz
as Manuel Carmona
(1965)
The Devil Also Cries
as Tomás
(1965)
Legacy of the Incas
as Gambusino
(1965)
España insólita
as (voice)
(1965)
The Blue Panther
as Paco Castillo
(1965)
Intimidad de los parques
as Héctor
(1965)
(1964)
Weeping for a Bandit
as José María 'El Tempranillo'
(1964)
The Big Hit
as Michel Arland
(1964)
The Other Woman
as Zaylor
(1963)
The Reunion
as Alberto
(1963)
Mathias Sandorf
as Frédéric de Rotenbourg
(1963)
Autopsia de un criminal
as Carlos
(1963)
Summer Night
as Bernardo
(1962)
L'Eclisse
as Riccardo
(1962)
Viridiana
as Jorge
(1962)
I tromboni di Fra' Diavolo
as Fra Diavolo
(1962)
The Female: Seventy Times Seven
as Pascual
(1961)
Pigeon Shoot
as Elia
(1961)
Azahares rojos
as Arturo Gómez Mancera
(1961)
At Five in the Afternoon
as Juan Reyes
(1961)
(1961)
The Hand in the Trap
as Cristóbal Archaval
(1960)
El hombre de la isla
as Lorenzo 'El Moro'
(1960)
Trío de damas
as Alberto Sáinz Robledo
(1960)
(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)
La noche y el alba
as Pedro
(1958)
Revenge
as Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
(1958)
Cuenca
as Narrator (voice)
(1958)
L'uomo dai calzoni corti
as Mario
(1957)
The Mighty Crusaders
as Tancredi d'Altavilla
(1957)
Whom God Forgives
as Juan Cuenca
(1957)
The Wide Blue Road
as Salvatore
(1957)
Marisa
as Antonio
(1957)
Saranno uomini
as Giacomo
(1956)
La gran mentira
as César Neira
(1955)
Revelation
as Sergio Gresky
(1955)
El canto del gallo
as Padre Miller
(1955)
The Miller's Saucy Wife
as Cristóbal Paterna
(1955)
Death of a Cyclist
as (uncredited)
(1955)
Radio Stories
as Gabriel
(1954)
Murió hace quince años
as Diego
(1954)
Judas' Kiss
as Quinto Licinio
(1954)
All Is Possible in Granada
as Fernando Ortega
(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)
María Morena
as El Sevillano
(1952)
Path to the Kingdom
as Tomás
(1951)
(1951)
Doubt
as Rafael Figueroa
(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)