Francisco Rabal (March 8, 1926 – August 29, 2001), perhaps better known as Paco Rabal, was a Spanish actor born in Águilas, a small town in the province of Murcia, Spain.
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 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 and remained together for the rest of Rabal's life. Their daughter, Teresa Rabal, is also an actor.
In 1947, Rabal got some regular jobs in theater. He used his full name, Francisco Rabal, as 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).
William Friedkin thought of Rabal for the French villain of his 1971 movie The French Connection. However, he could not remember the name of "that Spanish actor". Mistakenly, his staff hired another Spanish actor, Fernando Rey. Friedkin discovered that Rabal did not speak English or French, so he decided to keep Rey. Rabal has 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 and Alberto Lattuada.
It is widely considered that Rabal's best performances came after Francisco Franco's death on 1975. In the 1980s, Rabal starred in Los santos inocentes, winning the Award as Best Actor in 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 the 1999 he played the character of Francisco Goya in Carlos Saura Goya en Burdeos, winning a Goya Award as Best Actor.
Francisco Rabal is the only Spanish actor to have received a honoris causa doctoral degree from the University of Murcia.
Rabal's final movie was Dagon, a film which was dedicated to him right before the credits. The dedication read "Dedicated to Francisco Rabal, a wonderful actor and even better human being."
Rabal died in 2001 from compensatory dilating emphysema, while on an airplane travelling to Bordeaux, when he was coming back from receiving an Award at Montreal Film Festival.
2002 | Alla rivoluzione sulla due cavalli as Zio Henrique |
2002 | Zero/infinito as (voice) |
2001 | Dagon as Ezequiel |
2001 | ¿Tú qué harías por amor? as Don Vicente |
2001 | Lázaro de Tormes as El Ciego |
2001 | Las noches de Constantinopla |
2000 | Divertimento |
2000 | Peixe-Lua as Tio Nini |
2000 | A propósito de Buñuel as Self |
1999 | Goya as Goya |
1998 | Talk of Angels as Don Jorge |
1998 | El evangelio de las maravillas as Papá Basilio |
1998 | En dag til i solen |
1997 | La novia de medianoche as Wenceslao Corredoira |
1997 | Pequeños milagros as Don Francisco |
1997 | Pajarico as El Abuelo |
1997 | Airbag as Villambrosa |
1997 | Le Jour et la Nuit as Cristobal |
1996 | Edipo alcalde as Tiresias |
1995 | Así en el Cielo como en la Tierra as San Pedro |
1995 | El palomo cojo |
1995 | 101 Gece as Luis Buñuel (voice) |
1995 | Felicidades, Tovarich as Abuelo |
1994 | La mujer cualquiera |
1993 | La Lola se va a los puertos as Don Diego |
1992 | L'Homme qui a perdu son ombre as Antonio |
1992 | Ni contigo ni sin ti |
1991 | L'autre |
1991 | La taberna fantástica as Rogelio |
1990 | Manuel, le fils emprunté as Juan Alvarez |
1990 | Bağla Beni as Máximo Espejo |
1989 | La blanca paloma as Domingo |
1989 | Barroco as El Hispano |
1989 | Torquemada as Torquemada |
1989 | Buñuel as Self |
1988 | El aire de un crimen as Coronel Olvera |
1988 | Kader Zamani as Jorge Larraneta |
1987 | Il mistero del panino assassino as Arno dei conti Vincini |
1987 | Divinas palabras as Pedro Gailo |
1986 | El disputado voto del señor Cayo as Señor Cayo |
1986 | El hermano bastardo de Dios |
1986 | Tiempo de silencio as Muecas |
1986 | Un complicato intrigo di donne, vicoli e delitti as Guaglione |
1986 | La storia as Remo |
1985 | Escapada final (Scapegoat) as Comisario Cárdenas |
1985 | La hora bruja as Cesar |
1985 | Marbella, un golpe de cinco estrellas as Juan |
1985 | La vieja música as Domingo Ferreiro |
1985 | Luces de Bohemia as Max Estrella |
1985 | Padre nuestro as Abel |
1985 | Futuro Imperfecto |
1985 | Los paraísos perdidos as El político anciano |
1984 | Los zancos as Manuel |
1984 | Los santos inocentes as Azarías |
1984 | Sal gorda as Gabino |
1984 | Victòria! 3: El seny i la rauxa as Coronel Márquez |
1984 | Epílogo as Rocabruno |
1984 | Un delitto |
1983 | Victòria! 2: La disbauxa del 17 as Coronel Márquez |
1983 | Truhanes as Ginés Jiménez Valera |
1983 | Victòria! La gran aventura d'un poble as Coronel Márquez |
1983 | El tesoro de las cuatro coronas as Sócrates |
1983 | Salzillo as Salzillo |
1982 | La colmena as Ricardo Sorbedo |
1981 | Reborn as Giacomo |
1980 | Incubo sulla città contaminata as Major Warren Holmes |
1980 | Speed Driver as Esposito |
1980 | El gran secreto as Domingo |
1980 | Traficantes de pánico as William Lombard |
1980 | Buitres sobre la ciudad as Bender |
1980 | Poliziotto, solitudine e rabbia as Tony |
1979 | El buscón as Mata |
1979 | Ciao Cialtroni! as Fra' Giovanni |
1979 | Sbirro, la tua legge è lenta... la mia... no! as Don Alfonso |
1978 | Corleone as Don Giusto Provenzano |
1978 | Così come sei as Lorenzo |
1978 | Pensione paura as Marta's lover |
1977 | Io sono mia as Padre di Orio |
1977 | Il prefetto di ferro as Albanese the Outlaw |
1977 | Dehşetin Bedeli as Nilo |
1976 | Tatar Çölü as M.llo Tronk |
1976 | Las largas vacaciones del 36 as Teacher |
1976 | Emilia... parada y fonda |
1975 | Las bodas de Blanca as Antonio |
1975 | Attenti al buffone as Eminenza |
1975 | Le città del mondo as Matteo |
1975 | Cacique Bandeira as Azevedo Bandeira |
1975 | Faccia di spia as Mehdi Ben Barka |
1975 | La peccatrice as Turco |
1975 | Metralleta 'Stein' as Comisario Emilio Mendoza |
1974 | Il sorriso del grande tentatore as Bishop Marquez |
1974 | Tormento as Agustín Caballero |
1974 | No es nada, mamá, sólo un juego as Tío |
1974 | Dormir Y Ligar: Todo Es Empezar as Self (uncredited) |
1974 | La moglie giovane as The Blackmailer |
1973 | Il consigliori as Vincent Garofalo |
1973 | La otra imagen |
1973 | La colonna infame as Giacomo Mora - il barbiere |
1973 | La leyenda del alcalde de Zalamea as Pedro Crespo, Alcalde de Zalamea |
1973 | La guerrilla as El Cabrero (The Shepherd) |
1972 | Pianeta Venere as Party chauffer |
1972 | N.P. - Il segreto as Ingegnere N.P. |
1972 | Le soldat Laforêt as Paco |
1972 | Si può fare… amigo as Sheriff |
1972 | Nada menos que todo un hombre as Alejandro Gómez |
1971 | Goya: historia de una soledad as Goya |
1971 | El apartamento de la tentación as Hombre que se cruza con Julieta (uncredited) |
1971 | La grande scrofa nera as Il Medico |
1971 | Las melancólicas as Fuso |
1970 | Cabezas cortadas as Díaz II |
1970 | Ann och Eve - de erotiska as Francesco |
1970 | Diario Spagnolo as Él mismo |
1970 | Laia |
1969 | La battaglia d'Inghilterra as Martin |
1969 | Los desafíos as Carlos |
1969 | Simón Bolívar as José Antonio Del Llano |
1969 | Un adulterio decente as Conserje (uncredited) |
1969 | España otra vez as Reportero |
1969 | Sangre en el ruedo as Juan Carmona |
1968 | Después del diluvio as Pedro |
1968 | Les Anges exterminés |
1968 | El ''Che'' Guevara as Che Guevara |
1967 | Cervantes as Rodrigo Cervantes |
1967 | Oscuros sueños de agosto as Julio |
1967 | Gündüz Güzeli as Hyppolite |
1967 | I lunghi giorni della vendetta as Sheriff Douglas |
1967 | Le streghe as Paolo (segment "La strega bruciata viva") |
1966 | Camino del Rocío as José Antonio |
1966 | Don Juan Tenorio as Don Juan Tenorio |
1966 | Hoy como ayer as Ramón |
1966 | La Religieuse as Dom Morel |
1965 | María Rosa |
1965 | Das Vermächtnis des Inka as Gambusino |
1965 | Marie Chantal contre Dr. Kha as Paco Castillo |
1965 | Currito de la Cruz as Manuel Carmona |
1965 | España insólita as (voice) |
1965 | El diablo también llora as Tomás |
1965 | Intimidad de los parques as Héctor |
1964 | L'Autre Femme as Zaylor |
1964 | Llanto por un bandido as José María 'El Tempranillo' |
1964 | Le gros coup as Michel Arland |
1963 | La Rimpatriata as Alberto |
1963 | Autopsia de un criminal as Carlos |
1963 | Noche de verano as Bernardo |
1963 | Mathias Sandorf as Frédéric de Rotenbourg |
1962 | I tromboni di Fra' Diavolo as Fra Diavolo |
1962 | Setenta veces siete as Pascual |
1962 | Batan Güneş as Riccardo |
1962 | Viridiana as Jorge |
1961 | Azahares rojos as Arturo Gómez Mancera |
1961 | Tiro al piccione as Elia |
1961 | A las cinco de la tarde as Juan Reyes |
1961 | La mano en la trampa as Cristóbal Archaval |
1961 | Hijo de hombre |
1960 | El hombre de la isla as Lorenzo 'El Moro' |
1960 | Cavalcata selvaggia |
1960 | Trío de damas as Alberto Sáinz Robledo |
1959 | Sonatas as Marqués Javier de Bradomín |
1959 | Llegaron dos hombres as Superintendente |
1959 | Diez fusiles esperan as José Iribarren |
1959 | Nazarín as Father Nazario |
1958 | La noche y el alba as Pedro |
1958 | Cuenca as Narrator (voice) |
1958 | L'uomo dai calzoni corti as Mario |
1958 | La venganza as Narrator (voice) (uncredited) |
1957 | La Gerusalemme liberata as Tancredi d'Altavilla |
1957 | La grande strada azzurra as Salvatore |
1957 | Amanecer en Puerta Oscura as Juan Cuenca |
1957 | Saranno uomini as Giacomo |
1957 | Marisa la civetta as Antonio |
1956 | La gran mentira as César Neira |
1955 | Prigionieri del male as Sergio Gresky |
1955 | La pícara molinera as Cristóbal Paterna |
1955 | El canto del gallo as Padre Miller |
1955 | Muerte de un ciclista as (uncredited) |
1955 | Historias de la radio as Gabriel |
1954 | Murió hace quince años as Diego |
1954 | Todo es posible en Granada as Fernando Ortega |
1954 | El beso de Judas as Quinto Licinio |
1953 | Hay un camino a la derecha as Miguel |
1953 | La guerra de Dios as Martín |
1952 | María Morena as El Sevillano |
1952 | Luna de sangre as Pedro Alvareda |
1952 | Sor Intrépida as Tomás |
1951 | Duda as Rafael Figueroa |
1951 | Perseguidos |
1951 | María Antonia "La Caramba" |
1950 | La honradez de la cerradura as Ernesto |
1948 | Alhucemas as Tostado (uncredited) |
1947 | Don Quijote de la Mancha as (uncredited) |
1946 | El crimen de Pepe Conde |
1942 | La rueda de la vida as Bronquista de pelea en salón (uncredited) |
1933 | Las Hurdes as Spanish Narrator, 1996 (voice) |
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