Sancho Gracia

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Sancho and the second or maternal family name is Gracia.
Sancho Gracia
Gracia at the San Sebastián International Film Festival in 2005
Born
Félix Ángel Sancho Gracia

(1936-09-27)27 September 1936
Madrid, Spain
Died8 August 2012(2012-08-08) (aged 75)
Madrid, Spain
OccupationActor
Years active1962–2012
Spouse
Noelia Aguirre
​
(m. 1969⁠–⁠2012)​
Children3 (including Rodolfo)

Félix Ángel Sancho Gracia (27 September 1936 – 8 August 2012) was a Spanish motion picture and television actor.

Career

Born in Madrid, Gracia started his acting career in Montevideo, Uruguay, where he lived from 1947 until 1961. In Montevideo he was a student of Margarita Xirgu. He made his movie acting debut in France in the 1963 film L'Autre femme opposite Annie Girardot. Since then he has appeared in more than eighty motion pictures including several Hollywood productions during the 1970s and in 1999's Outlaw Justice with Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson. Gracia also worked in Australia, performing as a regular cast member in the 1982 television series Runaway Island and in the 1991 made-for-TV film Pirates Island. He also participated in the Oscar-nominated Mexican film The Crime of Padre Amaro (2002).

In 2003, he was nominated for the Goya Award for Best Actor for his performance in the 2002 film 800 Bullets.

In addition to motion pictures, Sancho Gracia made more than sixty guest appearances on Spanish television shows. He became famous in Spain for the role of Curro Jiménez, in the Televisión Española drama series of the same name, that was broadcast from 1976 to 1979, being rebroadcast several times since then.

Personal life

In 1969, Sancho Gracia married Noelia Aguirre Gomensoro, the daughter of an Uruguayan National Party politician, with whom he had three children, including Rodolfo.[1]

During the shooting of the film 100 Rifles in Spain in 1968, Gracia had an affair with American actress Raquel Welch, who at the time was married to producer Patrick Curtis. Welch's husband, upon finding out about the affair, chased Gracia at gunpoint through the hotel where they were staying in Aguadulce.[2][3][4]

Death

Sancho Gracia died of lung cancer on 8 August 2012 in Madrid.

Selected filmography

References

  1. ^ "Fallece Sancho Gracia, eterno Curro Jiménez". Fotogramas. 9 August 2012.
  2. ^ Parraga Frutos, Nerea (February 15, 2023). "Cuatro maridos y varios amores: La agitada vida sentimental de Raquel Welch" [Four husbands and several loves: The turbulent sentimental life of Raquel Welch]. La Vanguardia (in Spanish). Retrieved February 16, 2023.
  3. ^ Fernández, Pilar (February 15, 2023). "Del botellazo contra un fotógrafo al affaire con Sancho Gracia: así fue la primera visita de Raquel Welch a España" [From the bottle against a photographer to the affair with Sancho Gracia: this was Raquel Welch's first visit to Spain]. El Economista (in Spanish). Retrieved February 16, 2023.
  4. ^ Romo, Luis Fernando (February 16, 2023). "Raquel Welch: cuatro maridos, romances con Sancho Gracia y un padre boliviano que le prohibió hablar español" [Raquel Welch: four husbands, affairs with Sancho Gracia and a Bolivian father who forbade her to speak Spanish]. El Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved February 16, 2023.
  5. ^ Benavent, Francisco María (2000). Cine español de los 90. Diccionario de películas, directores y temático. Bilbao: Ediciones Mensajero. p. 304. ISBN 84-271-2326-4.