Fernán-Gómez, Fernando 1921-2007 (Fernando Fernan Gomez)

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born August 28, 1921, in Lima, Peru; died of cardiac arrest, November 21, 2007, in Madrid, Spain. Actor, director, and writer. Fernán-Gómez was not widely known in the United States, but he was a prolific and much-loved actor in his Spanish homeland (where he had moved at the age of three). In a career that spanned nearly sixty years, beginning in 1943, he appeared in more than 200 films. He was probably best known to English-speaking filmgoers as Manolo, the father, in the 1992 film Belle Epoque; his last known film appearance occurred in the 2006 Spanish film Mia Sarah. He launched his directorial career in 1954, and helmed about thirty films over nearly fifty years. Fernán-Gómez was honored by many Spanish awards, including the Spanish version of the American Oscars, and the Prince of Asturias Prize for the Arts in 1995, and he was elected to the venerated Royal Spanish Academy in 1998. Fernán-Gómez was also the author of about thirty screenplays and a handful of television scripts, all released or broadcast in Spanish. His last known screenplay is Lázaro de Tormes, released in 2001. Fernán-Gómez also wrote novels, poetry, and plays, and an autobiography, Tiempo amarillo: memorias (1990).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

BOOKS

Fernán-Gómez, Fernando, Tiempo amarillo: memorias (autobiography), Debate (Madrid, Spain), 1990.

PERIODICALS

Los Angeles Times, November 24, 2007, p. B9.

New York Times, November 24, 2007, p. A14.

Times (London, England), January 2, 2008, p. 44.