Juan Diego

Juan Diego — Biography

Juan Diego was one of the best-known character actors of Spanish cinema and television. His raspy voice and his gift for abrupt, authoritarian and even fascist-like figures set him apart, and a wide audience knew him as the foul-mouthed Don Lorenzo in the series Los hombres de Paco, which ran from 2005 to 2010. A three-time Goya winner and a Silver Shell recipient, he died in Madrid on 28 April 2022.

He began on stage in 1957. After studying performing arts in Seville he moved to Madrid, worked in television theatre and made his film debut in Fantasía... 3 in 1966. His breakthrough came with Mario Camus's Los santos inocentes (1984), in which he played the repellent landowner Señorito Iván, and his portrayal of Franco in Dragon Rapide earned his first Goya nomination. Supporting parts followed in films such as Jamón, jamón, and he led the miniseries Padre coraje. Later in his career he often worked with newcomer directors, including Nightfall in India.

He won the Goya twice for supporting roles, for El rey pasmado and París-Tombuctú, and once as best actor for Vete de mí, which also brought him the Silver Shell at San Sebastián. Having joined the then clandestine Communist Party of Spain in the late 1960s, Diego played a leading part in organising the 1975 actors' strike and took part in the struggle for film workers' labour rights.