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This Spanish actor began his career in theatre in 1939, when he was only 17, with the support of the director Modesto Higueras and the painter José Caballero. His first jobs were as actor, set decorator and costume designer in non-commercial amateur theatre plays, mainly at the Teatro de las Organizaciones Juveniles (TOI) and at the TEU. In cinema, he started as a costume designer in films mostly directed by José López Rubio and Rafael Gil and as an assistant director to Pío Ballesteros and Enrique Herreros.

His debut as a professional actor was in 1946 at the 'Teatro María Guerrero' theatre in Madrid, playing roles in plays like 'El Anticuario', 'El vergonzoso en palacio' or 'La dama boba'. Later he formed part of the companies owned by Conchita Montes and Alberto Closas. His debut as a cinema actor was also in 1946 with a little role in _María Fernanda la Jerezana (1946)_. In 1951, in the film _Esa pareja feliz (1951)_, he appeared in the credits together with two debutant key directors in Spanish cinema: Juan Antonio Bardem and Luis García Berlanga.

His first roles were comic roles in general; later ones increased in importance. In 1958 he started to have his first successes ('Una muchachita de Valladolid' in theatre together with 'Elisa Montes' and Alberto Closas, and The Little Apartment (1958) in cinema together with Mary Carrillo and Concha López Silva).

From that moment on, he acted in the best theatre companies and also became an almost indispensable figure in Spanish cinema in the following two decades. Some of his best films from this stage are El cochecito (1960), Placido (1961), Robbery at 3 O'clock (1962) and The Executioner (1963). He met film-makers like Marco Ferreri, Juan Antonio Bardem, José María Forqué and Luis García Berlanga, who were able to extract from his funniness amazing nuances like tenderness, dirtiness, meanness, absurdity and even nonsense. His popularity raised dramatically after he worked together with Gracita Morales in several films of less importance under the direction of Mariano Ozores and also performed the main role in the TV series "Tercero izquierda".

In the early 1970s he began to deliver dramatic performances in films including _Peppermint frappé (1967)_, The Garden of Delights (1970), _Bosque del lobo, El (1970)_ (Best Actor Award in the 1971 Chicago Film Festival), _Mi querida señorita (1971)_ (Best Actor Award in the 1972 Chicago Film Festival), La cabina (1972) (TV; winner of an Emmy Award), or Habla, mudita (1973). He made a great success with these films, which became even stronger after the international effects caused by his TV film 'La cabina' and his contribution to George Cukor's Travels with My Aunt (1972). This success defined the rest of his career, full of successful films both dramatic and comic (_Escopeta nacional, La (1978)_, _Verdad sobre el caso Savolta, La (1979)_, La colmena (1982), _Corte del faraón, La (1985)_, Mi general (1987), _Largo invierno, El (1991)_...

In 1985 he received the 'Medalla de Oro de las Bellas Artes' (Arts Gold Medal).

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José Luis López Vázquez

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