
Juan Calvo
Born
May 22, 1892
Died
March 7, 1962 (69 years old)
Known For
Acting
Place of Birth
Onteniente, Valencia, Spain
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.
Known For

Un americano en Toledo
1965

Martes y trece
Inspector de policía
1962

Fray Escoba
Fray Barragán
1961

Ella y los veteranos
Faustino
1961

For Men Only
1960

Three Etc.'s and the Colonel
Le maire Lucas
1960

La fiel infanteria
Don Blas
1960

Quanto sei bella Roma
Sor Checco
1959

Los tramposos
Belilla
1959

Diez fusiles esperan
Capellán
1959

Nel blu dipinto di blu
Sor Ettore
1959

Las locuras de Bárbara
1959

… Y después del cuplé
1959

El puente de la paz
Don Galo
1958

L'uomo dai calzoni corti
1958

El hombre del paraguas blanco
El alcalde
1958

La donna che venne dal mare
Miguel
1957

Il conte Max
zio Giovanni
1957

Miracles of Thursday
Don Antonio
1957

The Rocket from Calabuch
Matías
1956

El fenómeno
Ramón Fernández
1956

La gran mentira
Paulino Sándalo
1956

Uncle Hyacynth
Used Clothing Salesman
1956

Afternoon at the Bulls
Don César
1956

Suspiros de Triana
Don Atiliano Revuelta
1955

Educando a papá
1955

Radio Stories
Señor gordo
1955

The Other Life of Captain Contreras
Moñudo
1955

El tren expreso
Maestro D. Miguel
1955

The Miracle of Marcelino
Fray Papilla
1955

Castles in Spain
Don Manuel
1954

The Adventurer of Seville
El Cartujano
1954

Buenas noticias
Alcalde
1954

Condemned to Hang
Lorenzo Ruiz
1953

Monte de piedad
Doctor
1951

Vivillo desde chiquillo
1951

La venenosa
Mr. Mullich
1949

Nosotros los rateros
Don Raimundo
1949

Allá en el Rancho Grande
Venancio
1949

Don Quixote
Sancho Panza
1947

Everybody’s Woman
Conde
1946

El fantasma y doña Juanita
Don Elpidio
1945

Ella, él y sus millones
Lucas, mayordomo de Arturo
1944

El hombre que las enamora
Tío Gundemaro
1944

Tuvo la culpa Adán
Adán Olmedo de Alcaraz
1944

Lecciones de buen amor
1944

Ana María
1944

Eloísa está debajo de un almendro
Leoncio
1943

Fiebre
1943

Huella de luz
Mike
1943

La patria chica
1943

El escándalo
1943

Correo de Indias
1942

Goyescas
Patillas
1942

Raza
El Campesino
1942

Capitan Tempesta
Hussif
1942

Giuliano de' Medici
Giovanbattista da Monteseccio
1941

Tosca
1941

L'ispettore Vargas
Agent
1940

Suspiros de España
1939

Sister San Sulpicio
Hombre que pide otra copla (uncredited)
1934