Fernando Fernán Gómez - Features at Typically Spanish

Fernando Fernán Gómez
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By m.p. - Nov 21, 2007 - 8:39 PM

Fernando Fernán Gómez, during his acceptance speech at the Real Academia Española. Photo - EFE Archives.

The veteran actor and director died at the age of 86 on 21st November 2007

Fernando Fernán Gómez, one of the most well-known and best-loved figures of Spanish stage and film, was born in Lima on 28th August 1921, while his mother, the renowned stage actress, Carola Fernán Gómez, was on a tour of South America. Her son’s birth was registered in Buenos Aires, and indeed, he remained an Argentinean citizen until he took out Spanish nationality in 1970.
He first set foot in Spain at the age of three, and gave up his studies in Philosophy and Literature for the stage in Madrid, in what would prove to be the start of a many-faceted career which would take him onto the silver screen – both before and behind the camera – television acting, screenwriting and the world of literature.

He has starred in almost 200 films, the first of them the 1943 Gonzalo Pardo Delgrás film, ‘Cristina Guzmán,’ a comedy based on the novel by Carmen de Icaza, and, during that decade, went on to work with some of the most noted directors of the time, including Ladislao Vajda and Edgar Neville Romrée - the Count of Berlanga de Duero. It was also when he met the actress who would become his wife, the singer, María Dolores Pradera, and starred with her in a number of films over the coming years. The couple married in 1945 but divorced in 1959.

Fernando Fernán Gómez had his debut as a director with the 1954 film, ‘Manicomio,’ which he co-directed with Luís María Delgado, and his first solo film as a director with ‘El Mensaje’ the following year, and wrote, directed and starred in his 1958 comedy, ‘La Vida por Delante,’ where his mother was also a member of the cast. He’s directed more than 20 films during his extensive career.

He was a greatly-respected man, both by those in his field and by the millions of people who have enjoyed his work over the decades. He won many awards: Goya for Best Supporting Actor in the Fernando Trueba 1992 film ‘Belle Epoque,’ (a film which itself won the 1994 Oscar for the Best Foreign Language Film, 1995 BAFTA for Best Film not in the English Language, and eight other Goya’s in the 1993 awards); two more Goyas for his roles in the 1986 Mambrú se fue a la Guerra, and the 1998 El Abuelo; a Goya for the Best Adapted Screenplay for Lázaro de Tormes; and Goya for Best Director for El Viaje a Ninguna Parte. In fact he has more Goyas than any of his colleagues in Spain.
He also won two Silver Berlin Bears, and was awarded an Honorary Golden Berlin Bear in 2005, not to mention his many awards from the CEC Cinema Writers Circle in Spain.

His credits on the small screen number more than 20, including the TV film ‘Juan Soldado,’ which he both directed and starred in, and the mini-series ‘El Picaro,’ He also appeared in a number of seasons of the popular TVE series, ‘Los Ladrones Van a la Oficina.’ He met his current partner, the actress Emma Cohen, on the set of the television series ‘Tres Eran Tres’ in the 1970s.
He was awarded the Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts in 1995.

This prolific man was an essayist, a poet, a novelist and a playwright, and was chosen as a member of the Real Academia Española at the end of 1998: it is the institution responsible for regulating the Spanish language. Fernando Fernán Gómez took possession of his duties in charge of the letter ‘B’ on 30th January 2000.

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