Celebrity Biographies
Antonio Gimenez-Rico
He has died at the age of 82 in Madrid, a victim of Covid-19. Antonio Giménez-Rico from Burgos became a popular television face thanks to the gatherings that accompanied the films “¡Qué grande es el cine!” by Jose Luis Garcia. But he has an interesting filmography behind him, where his adaptations of Miguel Delibes stand out.
Antonio Giménez-Rico was born in Burgos in 1938 and graduated in Law. He was passionate about cinema, but he did not consider that this could be a professional dedication for him. He until he discovered the cinema of Luis García Berlanga , and more specifically Plácido , and thought that perhaps it was a possibility, if he launched himself with films about realities that were more or less close to him.
He started out as Antonio Mercero ‘s assistant director in 1963 in the film with a title that seemed to refer to him It takes a boy . His first titles as a director, such as El hueso (1967) and El cronicón (1968), where he collaborated with Garci, were curious jokes, which apparently caused him problems with the censorship of the time. So he turned to television, providing professionalism in Plinio and Crónicas de un pueblo .
His adaptations of the work of Miguel Delibes span three decades and include Retrato de familia (1976), El disputado voto del señor Cayo (1986) and Las ratas (1997), perhaps the best of the three titles, a sensational look at the rural world. He also worked with prestigious scriptwriters in 1988, Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón in Jarrapellejos , which earned him a Goya, and Rafael Azcona in Soldadito español .
An affable man, loved by his professional colleagues, his filmography is irregular, but he loved his job, and he knew how to teach it to others, also from teaching at ECAM, the Madrid Community Film School. He also presided over the Film Academy between 1988 and 1992.