Manolo Gómez Bur (21 April 1917 – 30 May 1991) was a Spanish actor of theatre and films. He appeared in over 90 films between 1943 and 1983. He was born in Madrid and he was soon an actor and he died in Andalucía, Spain.

Career

Gómez Bur came from a theatrical family and became interested in acting at an early age. His father, Vicente Gómez Bur, was a well-known comic tenor, while his maternal grandfather was associated with the Teatro Coliseo de Lavapiés in Madrid. Gómez Bur made an early appearance on stage as a child in the zarzuela La Bejarana at the Teatro Novedades. In 1934, at the age of 17, he appeared with an amateur theatrical company at the Teatro María Guerrero in Madrid in Los hijos de la noche. He initially undertook dramatic roles, but his comic performances proved particularly successful with audiences, leading him to concentrate increasingly on comedy and musical theatre.

After the Spanish Civil War, Gómez Bur began his professional acting career. He worked in musical revue and comedy and subsequently performed with several theatre companies. His stage career included productions such as La sopera, La venganza de Don Mendo and Las que tienen que servir, through which he established himself as a leading comic actor. His performances were characterized by a deliberately understated comic manner and by characters portrayed as innocent, timid or unlucky, qualities that became closely associated with his public persona.

Gómez Bur also developed an extensive film career. The Biblioteca Nacional de España records him in numerous Spanish film productions, including Tres de la Cruz Roja, Amor a la española and 091, Policía al habla, while its biographical record notes that his most important period in cinema came during the 1960s. During that decade he appeared regularly in Spanish comedies alongside other prominent comic actors, including Tony Leblanc and José Luis López Vázquez. Among his films were Tres de la Cruz Roja (1961), El día de los enamorados, La ciudad no es para mí, Las que tienen que servir, Amor a la española, Los subdesarrollados and La dinamita está servida. The Cervantes Virtual Centre has also highlighted his performance in El grano de mostaza (1962), describing his interpretation of the character Evelio Galindo as a notable element of the film.

One of his notable film partnerships was with Tony Leblanc and José Luis López Vázquez. The three appeared together in Tres de la Cruz Roja (1961), which El País later described as one of the successful Spanish comedies of its period. Gómez Bur continued to appear alongside leading performers of Spanish comedy throughout the 1960s and early 1970s.

Alongside cinema, Gómez Bur maintained a substantial career in television. RTVE preserved a 1981 programme, El actor y sus personajes, devoted specifically to his professional career and presenting a selection of his work for Spanish television. He also appeared in television theatre productions, including the 1971 Estudio 1 adaptation of Carlos Llopis's Nosotros, ellas y el duende, and was interviewed on programmes such as Estudio abierto in 1982.

During the 1970s and 1980s, Gómez Bur increasingly combined cinema and television with a renewed emphasis on theatre. His later stage work included La sopera, La venganza de Don Mendo, Barba Azul y sus mujeres, La señora presidenta and Juana la loca. His career on stage remained an important part of his professional activity until the final years of his working life.

Gómez Bur died in Bailén, Jaén, on 30 May 1991, aged 74. At the time of his death, El País described him as a popular theatre actor, a prolific television performer and one of the most frequently employed comic actors in Spanish cinema during the 1960s.

Selected filmography Un enredo de familia (1943) - Casimiro Es peligroso asomarse al exterior (1946) ¡Olé torero! (1949) - Pedestrian in Buenos Aires (uncredited) Cuento de hadas (1951) - Paco A Room for Three (1952) - Enriqueta Sister San Sulpicio (1952) - Daniel Suárez Last Day (1952) - Agente Molina Duelo de pasiones (1955) Congress in Seville (1955) - Señor raro Al fin solos (1955) - Loco en manicomio La fierecilla domada (1956) - Don Mario de Acevedo Don Juan (1956) - Lebourreau Red Cross Girls (1958) - Pepéfano El día de los enamorados (1959) - Mariano Los tramposos (1959) - Kilométrico Quanto sei bella Roma (1959) - Nino Juicio final (1960) Crimen para recién casados (1960) - Vigilante The University Chorus (1960) - Tristán Villasante The Showgirl (1960) - Felipe The Two Rivals (1960) Police Calling 091 (1960) - Bicho Festival en Benidorm (1961) - Luis Vidal Aquí están las vicetiples (1961) - Feliciano Recuenco Fantasmas en la casa (1961) - Aniceto El pobre García (1961) - Paco Tres de la Cruz Roja (1961) - Manolo Accidente 703 (1962) - Rogelio The Mustard Grain (1962) - Evelio Galindo You and Me Are Three (1962) - Cabo Rebollo Escuela de seductoras (1962) - Antonio Vuelve San Valentín (1962) - Antonio Queen of The Chantecler (1962) - Guardia (uncredited) You Have the Eyes of a Deadly Woman (1962) Los Guerrilleros (1963) - Tio Kiko Trampa para Catalina (1963) - Cardona Esa pícara pelirroja (1963) - Fernández La pandilla de los once (1963) - El Marconi La batalla del domingo (1963) - Cayetano The Troublemaker (1963) - Viruta The Daughters of Helena (1963) - Leopoldo Júrame (1964) El pecador y la bruja (1964) - Manolo Fin de semana (1964) - Ramírez ¡¡Arriba las mujeres!! (1965) - Leónidas Captain from Toledo (1965) - (uncredited) La ciudad no es para mí (1966) - Guardia Lola, espejo oscuro (1966) - Rodolfo Nuevo en esta plaza (1966) - Pepe Hoy como ayer (1966) - Estanislao Operación Secretaria (1966) - Trinidad Negrete El arte de casarse (1966) - Don Ramón (segment "La niña alegre") Amor a la española (1967) - Patricio Ruiz ¿Qué hacemos con los hijos? (1967) - Sr. Cotufa Las que tienen que servir (1967) - Lorenzo de Soto Los chicos con las chicas (1967) - Dn Hilario Los subdesarrollados (1968) - Ramón Aguirre Sacristán Los que tocan el piano (1968) - Don Federico Martínez Hojas 'El Tizona' La dinamita está servida (1968) - Campos Ramirez Una vez al año ser hippy no hace daño (1969) - Silvestre La que arman las mujeres (1969) - Sebastián A Decent Adultery (1969) - Melecio Pecados conyugales (1969) - Eulogio Soltera y madre en la vida (1969) - Don Ramiro Las panteras se comen a los ricos (1969) - Vicente Educando a una idiota (1969) - Bermúdez El señorito y las seductoras (1969) - Pablo The Locket (1970) - Aquiles Lombardo Después de los nueve meses (1970) - Antón ¿Por qué pecamos a los cuarenta? (1970) - Tocón El cronicón (1970) - Conde Sandro II el Bravo En un lugar de La Manga (1970) - Garralla El dinero tiene miedo (1970) - Agustín Pardo Growing Leg, Diminishing Skirt (1970) - Hombre con casco de buzo (uncredited) La casa de los Martínez (1971) Cómo casarse en 7 días (1971) - Don Porfirio Andrés Una chica casi decente (1971) - Marcelino Redondo Las ibéricas F.C. (1971) - Bernardino Ligue Story (1972) - Higinio Perruleti Dos chicas de revista (1972) - Antón Perdiguero Casa Flora (1973) - Atilano Las señoritas de mala compañía (1973) - Eloy Como matar a papá... sin hacerle daño (1975) - Don Arturo Fulanita y sus menganos (1976) - Jaime Pepito piscina (1978) - El conde Donde hay patrón... (1978) - Don Felipe All Is Possible in Granada (1982) - José Heredia Jiménez 'Petaca' Bésame, tonta (1982) - Peralta Cristóbal Colón, de oficio... descubridor (1982) - Cardenal Cisneros En busca del huevo perdido (1982) Juana la Loca... de vez en cuando (1983) - Cardenal Cisneros El Cid cabreador (1983) - Emir de Zaragoza

References

External links