JC
Photo of Juan Calvo

Juan Calvo

Actor
Born May 22, 1892Died March 7, 1962 (69 years)
Juan Calvo was a Spanish actor. He began his contact with cinema in 1934, with a small part in the sound version of Florián Rey's La hermana San Sulpicio. During part of the war he was representing theatrical plays in the national zone, but at the end of the war he abandoned the stage to devote himself fully to the cinema, whose filmography consists of about eighty titles. In 1938 he shot in the German studios of Ufa, Suspiros de España, by Benito Perojo, and the following year he finished shooting the film by Fernando Delgado, El genio alegre, begun in 1936, which had remained unfinished due to the outbreak of the Civil War. After shooting Florián Rey's La Dolores in 1940, he spent a couple of seasons filming between Spain and Italy, where he stood out in Ladislao Vajda's film Conjura en Venecia. In the first half of this decade he also stood out in two other films by this director, El testamento del Virrey and Cinco lobitos, as well as in Raza and El escándalo, by José Luis Sáenz de Heredia; Huella de luz, El clavo, Eloísa está debajo de un almendro and Tierra sedienta, by Rafael Gil; Boda en el infierno and Los últimos de Filipinas, by Antonio Román, or Tuvo la culpa Adán and Ella, él y sus millones, by Juan de Orduña. In 1946 he moved to Mexico, where he filmed until 1953, although he finished filming Don Quixote de la Mancha for Rafael Gil in Madrid in 1947, excelling in his interpretation of Sancho Panza.

In his Aztec journey he worked under the orders of some Spanish directors who were in exile, standing out in Bel Ami, la historia de un canalla (Bel Ami, the story of a scoundrel), by Antonio Momplet. It is also worth mentioning his performance in Allá en el rancho grande, by Fernando de Fuentes. After filming La venenosa, La virgen desnuda and El mártir del calvario for Miguel Morayta, and, finally, Educando a papá, for Fernando Soler, he returned to film again in Spain, although at this stage he definitively stopped alternating with theater. Of his activity on the screen, in this decade he stands out in the film by Ladislao Vajda, Marcelino, pan y vino, in which he gave a memorable performance in the character of Fray Papilla, for which he received the Círculo de Escritores Cinematográficos Award in 1955, an entity that also distinguished him the following year for his work in Calabuch, a film by Berlanga, which gave him the same year the award of the Sindicato Nacional del Espectáculo (National Union of the Spectacle). He also shot for Vajda, Aventuras del barbero de Sevilla, Tarde de toros and Mi tío Jacinto, and for Berlanga, Los jueves, milagro, as well as in Historias de la radio and in Diez fusiles esperan, for Sáenz de Heredia. His last screen appearance was in 1961, in Fray Escoba, by Ramón Torrado.

In his long cinematographic history, he was mainly cast in the roles of bullfighting impresario and businessman, often with the repeated image of an angry man, with a Havana cigar between his fingers, although it was also common that behind that interpretative mask he was allowed to show off his bonhomie.

That easy-going spirit was consubstantial in him. He always stood out for his very personal voice, which he had undoubtedly educated in his years of work in the theater.

Known For

  • The Miracle of Marcelino
  • The Rocket from Calabuch
  • Miracles of Thursday
  • Il conte Max
  • Don Quijote de la Mancha
  • Uncle Hyacynth
  • Los tramposos
  • Historias de la radio
  • Los últimos de Filipinas
  • Sólo para hombres
  • Eloísa está debajo de un almendro
  • El fenómeno
  • Fray Escoba
  • Afternoon of the Bulls
  • The Adventurer of Seville
  • Correo de Indias
  • Martes y trece
  • The Story of Tosca
  • La patria chica
  • La Dolores
  • Sighs of Spain
  • El puente de la paz
  • El fantasma y Dª Juanita
  • La mujer de todos

Filmography

1962
Martes y trece · as Inspector De Policía
1961
Fray Escoba · as Fray Barragán
1961
La estatua · as Don Rogelio
1961
Nel blu dipinto di blu · as Sor Ettore
1960
1959
Quanto sei bella Roma · as Sor Checco
1959
Los tramposos · as Belilla
1959
Ten Ready Rifles · as Capellán
1958
El puente de la paz · as Don Galo
1958
1957
1957
Il conte Max · as Zio Giovanni
1957
Miracles of Thursday · as Don Antonio
1956
1956
Afternoon of the Bulls · as Don César
1956
El fenómeno · as Ramón Fernández
1956
La gran mentira · as Paulino Sándalo
1956
Uncle Hyacynth · as Used Clothing Salesman
1955
Historias de la radio · as Señor Gordo
1955
The Miracle of Marcelino · as Fray Papilla
1954
The Adventurer of Seville · as El Cartujano
1953
Carne de horca · as Lorenzo Ruiz
1952
1951
1951
Entre abogados te veas · as El Patrón (don Carlos)
1950
1949
Nosotros los rateros · as Don Raimundo
1949
Out on the Big Ranch · as Venancio
1948
Hermoso ideal · as Don Pedro Rubio
1948
Flor de caña · as Cast
1947
Don Quijote de la Mancha · as Sancho Panza
1947
Bel Ami · as Coronel Duclos
1946
Lágrimas de sangre · as Jorge Aviles
1946
La mujer de todos · as Conde
1945
Los últimos de Filipinas · as Cabo Olivares
1945
El fantasma y Dª Juanita · as Don Elpidio
1944
El testamento del virrey · as Diógenes
1944
Ella, él y sus millones · as Lucas, Mayordomo De Arturo
1944
The Nail · as Campesino
1944
Tuvo la culpa Adán · as Adán Olmedo De Alcaraz
1944
Adventure · as El Alcalde
1943
1943
Ídolos · as Director Maretti
1943
Deliciosamente tontos · as Organista
1943
A Sight of Light · as Mike
1943
1943
1942
1942
Raza · as El Campesino
1942
Goyescas · as Patillas
1941
The Conspiracy of the Crazy · as Giovanbattista Da Monteseccio
1941
1940
La Dolores · as Fede, Funcionario De Hacienda
1939

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