
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.

La otra vida del capitán Contreras

El fenómeno

Calabuch

Historias de la radio

汚れなき悪戯

Il conte Max

Mi tío Jacinto

Los jueves, milagro

Huella de luz

La donna che venne dal mare

Fray Escoba

Los tramposos

El escándalo

Nosotros los rateros

La mujer de todos

Suspiros de Triana

Nel blu dipinto di blu

La gran mentira

Lecciones de buen amor

La fiel infanteria

Correo de Indias

La virgen desnuda

Don Quijote de la Mancha

Solo para hombres

El Buen Mozo

El puente de la paz

Allá en el Rancho Grande

Aventuras del barbero de Sevilla

Carne de horca

Entre abogados te veas

La venenosa

Ella, él y sus millones

Eloísa está debajo de un almendro

Tosca

Vivillo desde chiquillo

Suspiros de España

… Y después del cuplé

Educando a papá

Capitan Tempesta

L'uomo dai calzoni corti

Las locuras de Bárbara

Martes y trece

El hombre que las enamora

Diez fusiles esperan

Monte de piedad

Médico de guardia

Mi marido

Raza

Tarde de toros

El torero

El fantasma y doña Juanita

L'ispettore Vargas

Ella y los veteranos

La patria chica

Quanto sei bella Roma

Tuvo la culpa Adán

Ana María

Fiebre

La hermana San Sulpicio

Le tre eccetera del colonnello

Buenas noticias

El hombre del paraguas blanco

Goyescas

Giuliano de' Medici

El tren expreso

Un americano en Toledo