Celebrity Biographies
Antonio Isasi-Isasmendi
He managed to shoot thrillers and adventure films in the Hollywood style when in Spain only easy comedies and folk cinema were successful. Antonio Isasi-Isasmendi was the great precursor of directors such as Juan Antonio Bayona and Alejandro Amenábar. The director has died in Ibiza, on September 27, 2017, at the age of 90.
Born in Madrid on March 22, 1927, he began in cinema at a very young age, as a voice actor for children at the Voz de España studios in Barcelona. He was 13 years old when he voiced the protagonist of The Little Lord . After he went to the editing room, they achieved enormous prestige in this field with titles like En un rincón de España . He made his debut as a screenwriter with the film Apartado de correos 1001 , one of the great Barcelona crime films of the 50s, where he made it clear that he was more interested in stories similar to those of Hollywood cinema. After creating his own production company, he debuted as a director with Detective Story , a film of a similar nature.
He founded his own company, Producciones Isasi, with its own filming studios, for which he shot almost all his films. In a time of autarky, it is worthwhile that he was able to carry out co-productions that had international circulation, with renowned actors, such as the adventure film The Mask of Scaramouche , the James Bond-style adventure Istanbul 65 , the robbery film Las Vegas, 500 million , or the dynamic and impressive adaptation of a story by Alberto Vázquez Figueroa El perro , his last great project. He retired from the cinema after the thriller based on a novel by Juan Benet El aire de un crimen , from 1988.
The Spanish Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences awarded him the Goya de Honor in its XIV edition. As a result of his relationship with Marisa Paredes , his daughter, actress María Isasi , was born .