Concha Catalá (1881-1968) was a Spanish actress of

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

heritage and a pioneer of early Spanish theater in the early twentieth century.

Early life

Concepción García Paz Catalá was born on 11 February 1880 in

Bilbao Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the Provinces of Spain, province of Biscay and in the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the List o ...

, Spain. Her father was a band leader and as a child, she moved with her family to Madrid. She studied at the French school of San Luis in Madrid and then moved to the Conservatory to study piano. She began studying theater under the teaching of .

Career

Her professional debut occurred in 1900, in the play ''Los Galeotes'' at the Teatro de la Comedia in Madrid in the theater troupe of actress . The following year, she performed in ''Las flores'' with the

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. In 1908, she appeared in ''La Corte de Napoleón'' with and

María Tubau María Álvarez Tubau (1854 – 13 March 1914) was a Spanish actress, a contemporary of María Guerrero. Biography María Álvarez Tubau was born in Madrid, the daughter of Mercedes Tubau of Barcelona and Manuel Álvarez Robles of Avilés. She ...

. She worked with some of the most prestigious actors of the era including ,

María Guerrero María Ana de Jesús Guerrero Torija (April 17, 1867 - January 23, 1928), better known as María Guerrero, was a prominent Spanish theatre actress, producer and director. Life and work María Guerrero Torija was born in Madrid in 1867. She enr ...

and Fernando Díaz de Mendoza y Aguado, , and José Vico, as well as writers and authors, including

Jacinto Benavente Jacinto Benavente y Martínez (12 August 1866 – 14 July 1954) was one of the foremost Spanish dramatists of the 20th century. He was awarded the 1922 Nobel Prize in Literature "for the happy manner in which he has continued the illustrious t ...

Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright, poet and actor. Ibsen is considered the world's pre-eminent dramatist of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama." He pioneered ...

and

José María Pemán José María Pemán y Pemartín (8 May 1897 in Cadiz – 19 July 1981, Ibid.) was a Spanish journalist, poet, playwright, novelist, essayist, and monarchist intellectual. Biography Originally a student of law, he entered the literary world wi ...

. Though she made a few films, ''Una morena y una rubia'' (1933), ''Suspiros de España'' (1939) and ''Su hermano y él'' (1941), Catalá was primarily a stage actress. In 1940 she formed her own company with Manuel González, Carmen Carbonell and , that they called Los Cuatro Ases (the Four Aces), and performed together for ten years.

Recognition

In 1948, she received the Medal of Order of Alfonso X the Wise. Her last performance was of Pemán's play ''Doña Clarines'' in the 1962–1963 season at the Teatro Recoletos in Madrid. Catalá died in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

on 3 July 1968.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Catala, Concha 1881 births 1968 deaths Spanish stage actresses Spanish film actresses