Francisco Rabal

Francisco Rabal Valera (8 March 1926 – 29 August 2001), popularly known as Paco Rabal, was a Spanish actor. His career spanned more than 200 film and television roles, between 1942 and 2001. He received numerous accolades both in Spain and abroad, the Cannes Film Festival's Best Actor Award and the Goya Award for Best Actor.

Rabal was best known internationally for his collaborations with director Luis Buñuel, with Ronald Bergan writing "most of his other major roles he carried the heady, perverse whiff of the great surrealist director with him." He worked with many other notable directors, including Carlos Saura, Pedro Almodóvar, William Friedkin, Michelangelo Antonioni, Claude Chabrol, Luchino Visconti, and Gillo Pontecorvo.

One of Spain's most-loved and acclaimed actors during his lifetime, he also was known for his commitment to human rights and other social causes.

Early life

Rabal was born in Águilas, a town in the south-western part of the province of Murcia. 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 film studios 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 in 1951 and remained together for the rest of Rabal's life. Their daughter, Teresa Rabal, is also an actress.

Career

In 1947, Rabal got some regular jobs in theater. He used his full name, Francisco Rabal, as his 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) - with whom he would develop a lifelong friendship.

He was named best actor by the Círculo de Escritores Cinematográficos for in 1962.

Rabal was William Friedkin's first choice to play the antagonist Alain Charnier in his 1971 film '' The French Connection''. However, he could not remember the name of "that Spanish actor", only remembering that his name started with an 'F' and that he worked with Luis Buñuel. Mistakenly, his staff hired another Spanish actor, Fernando Rey. Friedkin later discovered that Rabal did not speak English or French, so he decided to keep Rey. Rabal had 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, Alberto Lattuada and Silvano Agosti.

It is widely considered that Rabal's best performances came after Francisco Franco's death in 1975. In the 1980s, Rabal starred in '' Los Santos Inocentes -'' winning the Award for Best Actor at the 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 1999 he played the part of Francisco Goya in Carlos Saura's '' Goya en Burdeos'', winning a Goya Award for Best Actor.

Rabal's final movie was ''Dagon'', directed by Stuart Gordon. The film, which was released after Rabal's death in 2001, was dedicated to him. The dedication, which appears before the end credits, reads: "Dedicated to Francisco Rabal, a wonderful actor and even better human being."

Death

Rabal died in 2001 from compensatory dilating emphysema while on an airplane travelling to Bordeaux, returning from having received an Award at the Montreal World Film Festival

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