RIP Gerard Barray

 

French actor Gérard Barray, hero of the swashbuckling cinema rescued by Amenábar, dies in Marbella

The heartthrob and musician ran a popular nightclub in Puente Romano with his wife, actress Teresa Lorca

Diario SUR

By Francisco Griñán

February 16, 2024

 

With his gallant bearing, he spoke perfect Spanish with a French accent. This made him a highly sought-after actor for roles with this profile in Spain. That is precisely what Alejandro Amenábar was looking for when he gave him the character of the doctor who unraveled the complicated plot of his now classic film 'Open Your Eyes' (1997). But before that, Gérard Barray was the essential hero of the swashbuckling films of the sixties, from D'Artagnan to Scaramouche, as well as giving life to Commissioner San Antonio and starring in a couple of adventure films under the orders of Robert Siodmak. After leaving the big screen, he settled in the late 70s in Marbella, where he died this Thursday, at the age of 92, accompanied by his wife, the actress Teresa Lorca, and their two children.

The couple formed by the French actor and the Sevillian performer became regulars in the summers of the Costa del Sol since the 60s, where they were seen in saraos and nightclubs, along with Sean Connery, Alain Delon, Alfonso de Hohenlohe, Jaime de Mora y Aragón, and the other great actor who rivaled Barray in the role of the swordsman Scaramouche, Stewart Granger. Later, when Gérard and Teresa settled permanently in the province of Malaga, they invested in the glamorous Puente Romano hotel, where they opened the Gerard Barray Club, one of the obligatory stops of the Marbella nightlife.

"Before he was an actor, my father was a jazz pianist in France and was a good friend of Louis Armstrong, so he would sit every night in front of the piano bar, while my mother, who was also a singer and dancer, would do the vocals. They were very iconic of that Marbella," recalls Julián Barray, who reports that the protagonist of 'The Mask of Scaramouche' and 'The Three Musketeers' will be buried next Sunday, at 12 noon, in the San Bernabé Cemetery in Marbella.

Friendship with Antonio Isasi-Isasmendi

Born in Toulouse (France) in 1931, Gerard Barray enrolled in medicine for two years, but dropped out because of his gifts for the arts. He had attended the conservatory as a teenager, where he studied music, and went to Paris to train in drama, a stay he paid for while performing as a jazz pianist in nightclubs. His dedication to music led him to compose more than fifty songs, an activity that he would recover decades later as a nightlife entrepreneur in Marbella.

His appearance as a heartthrob brought him his first roles in thrillers and dramas of the late 50s, although his popularity would reach him in the 60s when he gave life to charming heroes of swashbuckling films in a dozen feature films of great success at the box office, such as 'Captain Fracassa', 'The 3 Musketeers', 'Milady's Revenge', 'Captives of Vengeance', 'The Knight of Pardaillan', 'Scheherazade', 'The Diabolical Swordsman' and 'The Mask of Scaramouche', among others. The latter would star under the orders of Antonio Isasi-Isasmendi, who would become one of his best friends, the actor spending seasons at the filmmaker's house in Ibiza, and vice versa in Marbella.

During the filming of 'The Treasure of the Aztecs', and 'The Pyramid of the Sun God', under the orders of Hollywood director Robert Siodmak ('The Spiral Staircase'), Barray met the Sevillian actress Teresa Lorca, who rose to fame as the protagonist of the new version of 'La Revoltosa'. The daughter of a Betis player and a family of female artists, she followed the tradition. "My mother was Rocío Jurado's artistic partner as a dancer and both of them toured all the tablaos on the coast and all the way to Madrid," explains Julián Barray about his mother, who married Gérard in 1965. The actor continued to star in adventure films and gave life to Commissioner San Antonio in a saga of films, although he ended up retiring from cinema.

"When he lived in France, he produced several films and did poorly. His thing was to be in front of the camera, but he became disenchanted and threw in the towel, so we went to live in the Caribbean," recalls the actor's youngest son who, along with his mother and sister Marie, lived the American adventure. "But my mother was very Sevillian, she didn't feel comfortable and wanted to return to Spain, so they came to live in Marbella at the end of the 70s and set up the night club," says Julián about the definitive arrival of his parents to the Costa del Sol, where they not only became popular faces, but also promoted the creation of the Marbella International Film Festival which, However, it was short-lived.

Although he retired from the front line after his disappointment in cinema, from the 70s he continued to accept roles in numerous Spanish productions to embody secondary characters, such as his remembered passage in Amenábar's film 'Open Your Eyes' or the international production 'Sexy Beast' (2000), alongside Ben Kingsley. His last role was in 2006 in several episodes of the Telecinco series 'El Comisario'.

BARRAY, Gerard (Gérard Marcel Louis Baraillé)

Born: 11/2/1931, Toulouse, Haute-Garonne, Midi-Pyrénées, France

Died: 2/15/ 2024, Marbella, Andalusia, Spain

 

Gerard Barray’s westerns – actor:

Pyramid of the Sun god – 1965 (Count Alfonso di Rodriganda y Sevilla)

Treasure of the Aztecs – 1965 (Count Alfonso di Rodriganda y Sevilla)