Juan Calvo

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.