Raúl Juliá
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| Raúl Juliá | |
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 Raúl Juliá |
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| Born | Raúl Rafael Juliá y Arcelay March 9, 1940 San Juan, Puerto Rico |
| Died | October 24, 1994 (aged 54) Manhasset, New York |
Raúl Rafael Juliá y Arcelay (Spanish pronunciation: [raˈul rafaˈel xuˈlja i aɾseˈlai]; March 9, 1940 – October 24, 1994), better known as Raúl Juliá, was a Golden Globe award-winning actor from Puerto Rico, who lived and worked for many years in the continental United States. His career included dramatic, comic, and musical roles in theater, film and television.
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[edit] Early life
Juliá was born at the Floral Park subsection of San Juan, the son of Olga Arcelay and Raúl Juliá.[1] He was the oldest of four brothers and sisters; his brother Carlos Rafael died in an automobile accident in 1960. His mother was a mezzo-soprano who abandoned a potential career as a singer when she married Juliá's father. Some relatives on his father's side were part-time musicians.
Raúl's father was the founder of "La Cueva del Chicken Inn", a restaurant in San Juan. It was modeled after a similar restaurant in Madrid, Spain, called "Las Cuevas de Luis Candelas". On the other hand, he hired an Italian cook in New York City who could prepare authentic Italian pizza for Puerto Rican palates. Raúl's sister María Eugenia claims that their father was, in a way, the first fast food mogul Puerto Rico ever had, since the relatively simple food would ensure prompt service at the restaurant. He founded the restaurant at the very house where Raúl and his brother Rafael were born, the brothers and sisters literally grew up with the family business, and the property is still owned by the Juliá family.
Throughout his youth, the success of his father's business ensured excellent schooling for young Raúl and his brothers and sisters. He finished his high school studies at the local Colegio San Ignacio de Loyola and had a strict Jesuit upbringing. After spending a year at Fordham University, he returned to Puerto Rico and attended the University of Puerto Rico where he was a member of Phi Sigma Alpha Fraternity[2] and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree.
[edit] Career
Juliá discovered acting early in his academic career, beginning with a role in first grade. "From then on, that was it," he told Cigar Aficionado magazine in 1993. "I knew there was something special about the theater for me something beyond the regular reality, something that I could get into and transcend and become something other than myself." He was deeply involved in drama and art clubs in his high school years, and even played the role of Rodrigo in Othello at a local drama production. For a while he was also a game show host and teen program host on Puerto Rican television.
Upon graduation from college, Juliá was faced with a difficult choice between his parents' wishes and his own. They wanted him to remain in Puerto Rico and continue on to law school. They also pointed out that his uncles were the owners of a mental hospital, and that he could have guaranteed success as a doctor. He, however, wanted to pursue an acting career. Finally, like so many aspiring actors, he left for New York City in 1964. He asked his parents only to finance the tuition fees of any acting classes he might take, while he would support himself through various odd jobs, including selling fountain pens and serving as a telemarketer. Juliá began studying drama with Wynn Handman. He soon found work in off-Broadway theater and at open air performances in New York's Central Park.
In 1966, Juliá began working with theater impresario Joseph Papp and the New York Shakespeare Festival. He credited his recently-developed sales skills and sheer persistence with convincing Papp—after several tries—of allowing him to do Shakespearean roles, which he considered the epitome of acting roles. His Shakespearean roles included Edmund in King Lear in 1973 and the title role of Othello in 1979. Juliá went on to enjoy great success on the musical stage, receiving four Tony Award nominations for his roles in Two Gentlemen of Verona (1972, for which he also won the 1972 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Performance), Where's Charley? (1975), as Mack the Knife in The Threepenny Opera (1977), and in the Fellini-inspired Nine (1982). He appeared in over a dozen Broadway productions, including the legendary 1973 flop musical Via Galactica. During this time he also starred in the critically acclaimed satirical stage rendition of Dracula. The stage successes led to his formal film debut in The Organization (1971), in which he starred opposite Sidney Poitier (he had played bit parts in two previous films, Stiletto and The Panic in Needle Park). In the early 1980s, Juliá was invited to join Francis Ford Coppola's Zoetrope Studios company and appeared in One from the Heart (1982).
In 1971, Juliá also appeared as a regular cast member, Rafael, on the children's TV series Sesame Street. Rafael only appeared on the show during the third season; afterward, Juliá moved on to other projects.
Although he never became a major film superstar (he was partial towards theater), Juliá had notable dramatic and comic roles in a number of films and made-for-TV movies. Julia portrayed the over-sexed Italian road-race driver Franco Bertolini in 1975's The Gumball Rally. Julia was never thrilled with the film, and it was not listed among his screen credits after his passing. He further dismissed the film while appearing as a guest on CNN's Larry King live, in which a caller asked him what he thought of the move. Julia would go onto have an exceptional performance in the film biography of 20th century Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis in Onassis: The Richest Man in the World in which he co-starred with the late Anthony Quinn. In 1983, he starred in a spectacularly disastrous made-for-TV movie, Overdrawn at the Memory Bank, an adaptation of a John Varley short story which would later be mocked on Mystery Science Theater 3000. In 1984, he appeared in the Puerto Rican film La Gran Fiesta, directed by Marcos Zurinaga; his small monologue near the end of the film is regarded as the film's turning point. In Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), he played a passionate political prisoner (he lost considerable weight to make the role credible), and in Romero (1989) he played the Salvadoran Archbishop Óscar Romero (his research for doing the film demanded that he concelebrate a Roman Catholic mass along with the two priests that served as advisors to the film's production). One of his most memorable roles came as Sandy Stern, the defense attorney of Harrison Ford's character Rusty Sabich in Presumed Innocent (1990).
[edit] The Addams Family films
In the first two popular Addams Family films, Juliá played Gomez Addams, which elevated him to superstar status. He also noted that his earlier recollections of the role were those from the Spanish-dubbed version of the first television series (starring John Astin in the role of Gomez—renamed "Homero" in the Spanish version), and as such, he could not draw much from them; he had to adapt the role directly from the original Charles Addams cartoons. He also lent his voice to the Addams Family pinball machine, which would become the top-selling pinball of all time.
[edit] Personal life
Juliá met his wife, Merel Poloway, when they were both touring for a show called "Illya Darling." They were married in 1976. In 1983, they had their first son Raul Sigmund Julia. In 1987, they had their second son, Benjamin Rafael Julia. He had been previously married to Magda Vassallo Molinelli from 1965 to 1969.
Raúl Juliá was a lifelong supporter of Puerto Rico's independence movement. He had to convince his agent to allow him to do an advertising campaign on behalf of the Puerto Rico Tourism Company, out of his love of the country.
Juliá's favorite actor was Laurence Olivier; he was also a fan of William Shakespeare, Federico García Lorca, and particularly of Don Quixote, whom he portrayed onstage in the 1992 revival of Man of La Mancha. He was also a fan of opera, and while not classically trained, he would sing operatic arias when asked to.
He was a member of Phi Sigma Alpha fraternity.
Juliá was also very much involved in "The Hunger Project", which attempted to minimize world hunger through philanthropic galas; he had a personal goal of raising USD$1 million for the organization. He gave numerous anonymous donations to various organizations in Asia, Africa and Latin America, including seed money for erecting a Roman Catholic church in Mexico.
Actor and humanitarian for his portrayal of Archbishop Romero in the film "Romero" and Chico Mendez in the film "Burning Seasons". He was awarded the Courage of Conscience award March 24, 1992.[3]
[edit] Death
In 1991, Juliá was diagnosed with stomach cancer, but he continued to perform. The illness began to take its toll on Juliá late in 1993, while he was in Mexico acting in one of his most memorable roles as Brazilian rainforest activist Chico Mendes in The Burning Season (1994), for which he posthumously won a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award. Juliá in fact kept his illness a secret almost until the day he died, explaining that his increasingly gaunt physical appearance was the result of a macrobiotic diet for acting roles. He denied rumors that he was suffering from cancer after a few of his friends anonymously told reporters the true nature of his condition. A little later after filming The Burning Season, Juliá traveled to Vancouver to star in the videogame-inspired film Street Fighter as the villainous M. Bison, for whom he used an English accent.
It is also known that Julia was to reprise his role as M. Bison in the video game version of the Street Fighter film. Unfortunately, although he did meet with the game's staff, he was already very ill, and in the end, he couldn't participate in the project.[4] The movie's ending credits nevertheless began with the words "FOR RAUL. Vaya Con Dios" (Spanish, lit. "Go with God"). Juliá's last movie was a supporting role in the made-for-cable TV drama Down Came a Blackbird, where he was so gaunt by this time that he could barely walk.
On October 16, 1994, Juliá suffered a stroke in his New York City apartment and fell into a coma. He died eight days later, at the age of 54. Juliá's body was flown back to Puerto Rico, where he was given a state funeral attended by thousands. He was survived by his wife and his two sons.
Film critic Leonard Maltin said of him: "Droopy-eyed, dark, and suavely handsome, this extremely versatile actor was one of the most respected stage performers of his generation."
[edit] Raúl Juliá Award notes
Actress Sandra Bullock was presented with the 2002 Raúl Juliá Award for Excellence,[5] in her efforts as the executive producer of ABC’s hit sitcom The George Lopez Show in helping to expand career openings for Hispanic talent in media and entertainment fields. America's tenor Daniel Rodriguez was honored for his charitable work, receiving the first Raúl Juliá Award[6] from the Puerto Rican Family Institute in 2003.
[edit] Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Other notes |
| 1969 | Stiletto | ||
| 1971 | The Organization | Juan Mendoza | |
| Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me | Juan Carlos Rosenbloom | ||
| The Panic in Needle Park | Marco | ||
| 1976 | The Gumball Rally | Franco Bertollini | |
| 1978 | Eyes of Laura Mars | Michael Reisler | |
| 1979 | A Life of Sin | Paulo | |
| 1981 | Strong Medicine | ||
| 1982 | Tempest | Kalibanos | |
| The Escape Artist | Stu Quinones | ||
| One from the Heart | Ray | ||
| 1983 | Overdrawn at the Memory Bank | Aram Fingal | made for TV |
| 1985 | Compromising Positions | David Suarez | |
| Kiss of the Spider Woman | Valentin Arregui | ||
| Mussolini: The Untold Story | Count Galeazzo Ciano | made for TV | |
| La Gran Fiesta | |||
| 1986 | The Morning After | Joaquin Manero | |
| 1987 | Trading Hearts | Vinnie Iacona | |
| The Alamo: 13 Days To Glory | Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana | made for TV | |
| 1988 | Tequila Sunrise | Carlos/Comandante Xavier Escalante | |
| Onassis: The Richest Man in the World | Aristotle Onassis | made for TV-cable | |
| Tango Bar | Ricardo | ||
| Moon Over Parador | Roberto Strausmann | ||
| The Penitent | Ramon Guerola | ||
| 1989 | Romero | Archbishop Oscar Romero | |
| 1990 | Havana | Arturo Duran | |
| The Rookie | Strom | ||
| Frankenstein Unbound | Dr. Victor Frankenstein | ||
| Presumed Innocent | Sandy Stern | ||
| Mack the Knife | MacHeath | ||
| 1991 | The Addams Family | Gomez Addams | |
| 1992 | La Peste (The Plague) | Cottard | |
| 1993 | Addams Family Values | Gomez Addams | |
| 1994 | The Burning Season | Chico Mendes | made for TV-cable |
| Street Fighter | General M. Bison | ||
| 1995 | Down Came a Blackbird | Tomas Ramirez | final role |
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Raul Julia Biography (1940-1994)
- ^ Capitulo Eterno. fisigmaalfa.org. Retrieved on 2008-04-28.
- ^ http://www.peaceabbey.org/awards/cocrecipientlist.html
- ^ Alan Noon. Street Fighter the Movie Broke My Heart. “We did briefly meet Mr. Julia, but sadly, he was very ill at the time, so we did not get an opportunity to digitize him.”
- ^ Washington Life Magazine - November 2002 - Around Town
- ^ http://www.northeasttimes.com/2003/0703/rita.html Northeast Times
[edit] External links
- Raúl Juliá at the Internet Movie Database
- Raul Julia at the Internet Broadway Database
- Raul Julia at the TCM Movie Database
- Raúl Juliá at Find-A-Grave
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Juliá, Raúl |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Arcelay, Raúl Rafael Juliá y |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | actor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 9, 1940 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | San Juan, Puerto Rico |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 24, 1994 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | Manhasset, New York |
