Jose Luis Lopez Vazquez

José Luis López Vázquez was born in Madrid on March 11, 1922. In addition to being an actor, his main occupation, he also worked as a costume designer and set designer. On stage he made his debut in 1946, at the María Guerrero theater in Madrid, with the play “El anticuario”, by Enrique Suárez de Deza , and later he would participate in many works by the Alberto Closas and Conchita Montes companies . 1951 would mark his film debut, but he didn’t really have an important role until 1954, with Novio a la vista , by the Luis García Berlanga and Juan Antonio Bardem tandem .

The memory of his films is imprinted in the memory of any Hispanic film buff, he did know how to elevate the so often mediocre Spanish cinema, based on enormous professionalism, contributing all his good work, whether it was for films by masters such as Marco Ferreri ( El cochecito , El pisito ), Luis García Berlanga ( El verdugo ), Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón ( Speak, mudita ) and Carlos Saura ( Cousin Angélica ), in the exponents of the best commercial cinema ( Atraco a las tres , La gran familia ), and even in infumable Spanish songs like Professor Eróticus orThe angry Cid . He represented perfectly, mainly in the field of comedy, the image of the average Spaniard, with his quick bald head and his mustache, always grumbling, perhaps deceived by his wife, or he being the character with light helmets, the husband unfaithful; which did not prevent him from making himself loved immediately. And he truly did not stop working, he was so prolific that there were years, like 1961, in which he appeared in nine films, some as important as Plácido and Tres de la Cruz Roja .

His harrowing composition of an ordinary citizen trapped in a telephone booth in La cabina , a medium-length film for television by Antonio Mercero with a script by José Luis Garci , was a true media phenomenon in 1972 . With the relaxation of censorship came the forgettable uncover cinema, where López Vázquez, like so many fellow professionals, helped to ensure that the level did not drop too low, something almost inevitable in this type of film.

Sentimentally, the life of the actor was moved. He was married to the actress Ana María Ventura , with whom he had no children. Later he would be linked to Catherine Magerus, who gave him two offspring, and to the journalist Flor Aguilar, with whom he would have two daughters. In recent times he lived with the actress Carmen de la Maza , who has accompanied him during her illness.

The actor was present in the famous Berlanguiana trilogy ( La escopeta nacional , Patrimonio nacional and Nacional III ), or was one of the actors in the choral adaptation of Cela’s work La colmena , under the baton of Mario Camus , or that of Eduardo Mendoza The truth of the Savolta case , directed by Antonio Drove . In recent times it is worth noting his intervention in El maestro de fencing and Luna de Avellaneda . Santiago Segura , as he had done with Tony Leblanc , gave him a small role in Torrente 2. Mission in Marbella. The actor was not lacking in awards, most awarded in his country, such as the Cinematographic Writers Circle Medal, the Entertainment Union Award, a Goya for his entire career, or the Fine Arts Medal. But without a doubt, if we asked him following the title of his latest film Of him, and who are you? , surely he would answer us in a Fordian plan, “My name is José Luis López Vázquez and I make Spanish films, mostly comedies”.