Juan Calvo

Juan Calvo was a Spanish actor He began his contact with cinema in 1934 with a small part in the sound version of Florián Reys 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 Reys La Dolores in 1940 he spent a couple of seasons filming between Spain and Italy where he stood out in Ladislao Vajdas 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 easygoing 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