RIP José Martín

Actor Pepe Martín, the popular 'Conde de Montecristo', dies

El Mundo

6/7/2020

The Barcelona actor Pepe Martín, the popular protagonist of the TVE series 'El Conde de Montecristo' and one of the emblematic voices of the Spanish scene, died this Sunday in Madrid at the age of 87 due to heart disease, he reported to EFE the producer and distributor Concha Busto.

The actor, who had been retired from the theater for several years, became ill last Wednesday, they treated him in the hospital and when he improved he returned to his home but yesterday he was very tired and today at noon he had a crisis that he has not been told. retrieved, added Bust.

José Martín Balcells 'Pepe Martín', born on September 7, 1932, studied law, graduated and studied International Law in Paris for three years, where he discovered that he wanted to be an actor.

It started with the French National Popular Theater, with a role in the English comedy 'Exercise for Five Fingers' and then came 'Long Journey Into the Night' and 'The Loyal King'.

He returned to Spain and joined Spanish Television in the production directed by Juan Guerrero Zamora 'The heartthrob of the petrified forest', and from then on he became one of the most fashionable hotspots but his maximum popularity came with the interpretation of the role of Edmundo Dantés in the series 'El conde de Montecristo', which was recorded in 1970.

Then he became the first actor of the Tirso de Molina Company, of the Spanish Festivals, and combined it with the cinema, with Chilean and Argentine productions. In 1977 he also starred on TVE in the series 'Larra', with a script by Ricardo López Aranda.

At the beginning of the 80s, he premiered in Madrid with Juan Diego 'The Kiss of the Spider Woman', by the Argentine Manuel Puig, with which he also had great success in Barcelona and for which he won the Bilbao Critics' Interpretation Award.

In 1985 he starred in the theater play 'The Embraces of the Octopus', by Vicente Molina Foix, in which Julieta Serrano, Lola Gaos and Javier Gurruchaga also took part.

Two years later, he filmed in Santander the film 'Oficio de muchachos', based on the novel by Manuel Arce and directed by Carlos Romero Marchent.

In 1989 he worked in the dramaturgy of a play based on Antonio Machado, 'Cartas a Guiomar', written by Andrés Amorós on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the death of the Sevillian poet.

That same year, the film 'Friend, Comrade', which reflects the life of the miners , was shot in Finland under Rauri Mollberg.

Along with her great friend actress Charo Soriano, she starred in several recitals in the early 90's -'Poemas a dos voces'- and did with Victoria Vera a version of 'Lulú', by Wedeking.

In mid-1995 he returned to the stage with 'The Kiss of the Spider Woman', this time with Jorge de Juan, while continuing with his poetry recitals, such as the one he presented in 1996 in tribute to Alberti, the one who starred dedicated to Gerardo Diego or the one he did with María Jesús Valdés dedicated to the bullfighter Manolete.

'El derribo', by Gerardo Malla, with Manuel de Blas, Paco Casares, Ana María Barbany and Luisa Martínez; 'The Fall', which he starred in and co-directed with Ronald Brower, based on the work of Albert Camus or 'Don Juan Tenorio', marked his time in the theater in recent times.

Films such as 'La conjura de El Escorial' (2008) or 'Fuera de carta' (2008) and his intervention in several chapters of the TVE series 'Cuéntame' are some of the latest works by Martín, married to Silvia Lagos.

MARTIN, José (José Martín Balcells)

Born: 9/7/1932, Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

Died: 6/7/2020, Madrid, Madrid, Spain]

José Martin’s westerns – actor:

Gunfighters of Casa Grande - 1963 (Don Luis Ariola)