The actor who did not want to reign

The dark beauty. A perfect definition for one of the most unique Spanish actors: Julian Mateos. In the decades of the 60s and 70s she earned a well-deserved prestige with international echoes with roles that sometimes showed a vulnerable and bright side and, at other times, a dark and lethal side. Or mixing both images with fascinating results. A gallant full of seduction and danger. And, suddenly, that young talent who had bewitched world stars and who achieved a memorable performance as Cervantes in the series of the same name, left acting, set up a production company with his wife, also an actress. Maribel Martinand set milestones in the history of our cinema such as The holy innocents and The journey to nowhere. His premature death before turning 59 interrupted a singular, atypical and exciting career of an actor who did not want to reign.

To the writer and critic Carlos Aguilar He was so attracted to this enigmatic and special figure that he delved into it with his usual rigor and sagacity. The result, a book very well edited by the Ibérico de Cinema festival of Badajoz with more than sixty photographs. “I have always been interested in atypical figures of Spanish cinema,” says the author, “which is why I have written books about Joaquín Romero Marchent, Jesus Franco, Ricardo Palacios, Eugenio Martin? I always loved the ambiguity of Julián Mateos's film image: when he played good, he seemed bad, because of the sinister touch of his expression, and when he played bad, he seemed good, because of how handsome he was. was. This is very interesting for an actor, it gives a lot of play, and it was used to incorporate into Spanish cinema an archetype that did not exist until then, not even remotely.”

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The question is inevitable: why did he retire from acting at a young age? “I think it was due to a certain coquetry, so as not to age in front of the camera, in addition to the fact that he became progressively interested in production.”

In his private life he was as reserved as in his public life: “It took him a while to make friends, to incorporate someone into his social circle.” Had he been born in France, would he have been a Alain Delon? “I think he would have even ousted him, because his face was much more interesting, ductile and expressive than Delon's, an overrated actor.”

“The Holy Innocents” is a film marked “by the fact that it reflects a reality that Mateos suffered, even in passing: the inhumane living conditions in Extremadura during the worst years of Franco's regime in which he grew up.”

In his other emblematic title, “The Journey to Nowhere”, this time directed by Fernando Fernán Gómez, the producer's hand can be seen, as in “The Holy Innocents”, in which “it reflects a reality suffered firsthand, which is the very hard life of the actor during the sixties”.

The resounding and unfair failure of his last film, “El Niño de la Luna”, was a sad culmination of his career, although nothing predicted that result because “he invested all the money and enthusiasm possible.” Would such a producer have a place in current Spanish cinema? “I don't know, have times changed that much? But, of course, it would be great if there was.”

What seems clear is that it would have anticipated decades Antonio Banderas as king of Hollywood if he had wanted to: “In fact he thought about it, when he became friends with Yul Brynner during the filming of 'The Return of the Magnificent Seven'. By the way, Julián Mateos seems to me to be a much better actor than Antonio Banderas.” Why the beautiful tenebroso? “Beau tenebraux is what they called Alain Delon. Since Mateos acclimatized an archetype that began to be defined in France, with Jean-Paul Belmondo and Delon himself, I found it funny to translate the term literally, so that in the subtitle of the book there would be a touch of Gallicism.

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When choosing an interpretation that perfectly defines his talent, we would have to stick with “Los flamencos”, a “splendid” film that went sadly unnoticed. In his absolute leading role, Julián Mateos is brilliant, intense and pathetic at the same time. And, modesty Furthermore, in this book I believe I am the first to vindicate this film, which I consider one of the masterpieces of Spanish cinema of the 60s.”

There was a frustrated project that marked him: playing Lute. “The first project to make his autobiography into a film was his. And I am convinced that he would have done it very well.”

Already in the frivolous field, the man who filmed alongside women like Senta Berger, Sue Lyon, Melina Mercouri, Romy Schneider or Brigitte Bardot herself always carried the reputation of having been a seducer of stars. Was he real? “Half and half. But it is also true that since he married Maribel Martín they formed a faithful and united couple, as far as I know.”

On December 27, 1996, Julián Mateos died in Madrid from lung cancer. Five days before turning 59, the glow of the dark beauty went out forever.