Juan Calvo

1892-05-22 Onteniente, Valencia, Spain

Biografia

Juan Calvo was a Spanish actor. He began his contact with cinema in 1934, with a small part in the sound version of Florián Rey's 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 Rey's La Dolores in 1940, he spent a couple of seasons filming between Spain and Italy, where he stood out in Ladislao Vajda's 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 easy-going 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.

Películas

	Un americano en Toledo		1965-06-30
	Martes y trece	Inspector de policía	1962-03-02
	Fray Escoba	Fray Barragán	1961-11-14
	Ella y los veteranos	Faustino	1961-01-01
	La fiel infanteria	Don Blas	1960-01-11
	Solo para hombres		1960-09-08
	Le tre eccetera del colonnello	Le maire Lucas	1960-08-26
	… Y después del cuplé		1959-01-01
	Las locuras de Bárbara		1959-02-02
	Diez fusiles esperan	Capellán	1959-06-15
	Quanto sei bella Roma	Sor Checco	1959-12-17
	Nel blu dipinto di blu	Sor Ettore	1959-03-11
	Los tramposos	Belilla	1959-11-02
	El hombre del paraguas blanco	El alcalde	1958-05-01
	El puente de la paz	Don Galo	1958-09-07
	L'uomo dai calzoni corti		1958-06-23
	Il conte Max	zio Giovanni	1957-08-30
	Los jueves, milagro	Don Antonio	1957-08-22
	La donna che venne dal mare	Miguel	1957-10-03
	Calabuch	Matías	1956-09-28
	Tarde de toros	Don César	1956-02-24
	Mi tío Jacinto	Used Clothing Salesman	1956-03-31
	El fenómeno	Ramón Fernández	1956-09-09
	La gran mentira	Paulino Sándalo	1956-04-01
	El tren expreso	Maestro D. Miguel	1955-05-23
	Historias de la radio	Señor gordo	1955-07-25
	Marcelino pan y vino	Fray Papilla	1955-02-24
	Suspiros de Triana	Don Atiliano Revuelta	1955-12-16
	La otra vida del capitán Contreras	Moñudo	1955-06-05
	Educando a papá		1955-08-25
	Buenas noticias	Alcalde	1954-04-05
	Aventuras del barbero de Sevilla	El Cartujano	1954-05-06
	El torero	Don Manuel	1954-08-09
	Carne de horca	Lorenzo Ruiz	1953-10-08
	Monte de piedad	Doctor	1951-08-01
	Vivillo desde chiquillo		1951-05-17
	La venenosa	Mr. Mullich	1949-10-04
	Nosotros los rateros	Don Raimundo	1949-09-07
	Allá en el Rancho Grande	Venancio	1949-01-21
	Don Quijote de la Mancha	Sancho Panza	1947-03-01
	La mujer de todos	Conde	1946-01-11
	El fantasma y doña Juanita	Don Elpidio	1945-03-31
	El hombre que las enamora	Tío Gundemaro	1944-12-13
	Ana María		1944-05-11
	Tuvo la culpa Adán	Adán Olmedo de Alcaraz	1944-10-09
	Lecciones de buen amor		1944-06-05
	Ella, él y sus millones	Lucas, mayordomo de Arturo	1944-12-25
	Eloísa está debajo de un almendro	Leoncio	1943-12-21
	Huella de luz	Mike	1943-03-05
	La patria chica		1943-02-01
	El escándalo		1943-01-01
	Fiebre		1943-05-19
	Capitan Tempesta	Hussif	1942-01-28
	Raza	El Campesino	1942-01-30
	Goyescas	Patillas	1942-10-09
	Correo de Indias		1942-12-07
	Giuliano de' Medici	Giovanbattista da Monteseccio	1941-02-27
	Tosca		1941-01-31
	L'ispettore Vargas	Agent	1940-10-18
	Suspiros de España		1939-10-16
	La hermana San Sulpicio	Hombre que pide otra copla (uncredited)	1934-10-18