Rafael Rodríguez Rapún (1912–18 August 1937) was a Spanish football player, actor and soldier during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlism, Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebeli ...

. He was the companion of Spanish poet

Federico García Lorca Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936), known as Federico García Lorca ( ), was a Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblemat ...

Life

A mining engineer by profession, great sportsman,

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in ...

football player,

PSOE The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( es, Partido Socialista Obrero Español ; PSOE ) is a social-democraticThe PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * political party in Spain. The PSOE has been in gov ...

activist, Rafael Rodríguez Rapún was from a working-class background. In 1933, he joined Federico García Lorca's ''La Barraca'' theater company as an actor. García Lorca affectionately nicknamed him "The Man with the Three Rs", in reference to his initials.

Luis Sáenz de la Calzada Luis Sáenz de la Calzada (1912–1994) was a Spanish painter, poet and actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern ...

, a painter and also an actor of La Barraca, described his: "Kinky, hair, not very wide forehead furrowed by a deep transverse wrinkle; correct nose that gave him, to a certain extent, the profile of a Greek statue." García Lorca and Rodríguez Rapún fell in love during the summer of 1935 tour of ''La Barraca,'' when he named him clerk of the company. Once the assassination of García Lorca by

Francoist Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spai ...

militias was announced at the end of summer 1936, Rodríguez Rapún decided to join the front to defend the Republic during the

. After undergoing artillery training in the town of Lorca,

province of Murcia The Region of Murcia (, ; es, Región de Murcia ), is an autonomous community of Spain located in the southeastern part of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Mediterranean coast. The region is in area and had a population of 1,511,251 as at the st ...

, he was sent to the Cantabrian front with a rank of lieutenant. He died on 18 August 1937 during the

Battle of Santander The Battle of Santander was a battle fought in the War in the North campaign of the Spanish Civil War during the summer of 1937. Santander's fall on 26 August assured the Nationalist conquest of the province of Santander, now Cantabria. The ba ...

, a year after the assassination of his companion. His memory was resurfaced by Ian Gibson in the book "Lorca y el mundo gay" in 2009 and by the writer and friend of Rafael María Teresa León, who considered him one the muses of the masterpiece ''los Sonetos del amor oscuro.'' Others believe, however, that the inspiration was Juan Ramírez de Lucas, another love interest of the poet.

References

1912 births 1937 deaths Military personnel from Madrid Spanish military personnel killed in the Spanish Civil War (Republican faction) Male actors from Madrid 20th-century Spanish male actors Spanish gay actors Spanish male stage actors 20th-century Spanish LGBT people Gay sportsmen Gay military personnel Spanish LGBT footballers Burials at Ciriego Cemetery Men's association football players not categorized by position Association football players not categorized by nationality Federico García Lorca {{Spain-actor-stub