Alfredo Mayo

Biography

Alfredo Mayo was born Alfredo Fernández Martínez in Barcelona in 1911, where his parents had been married. The family soon moved to Madrid and then to León where his father had been born. He started studying Medicine but after 3 years left it for a theatrical career, entering Ernesto Vilches company still in his teens. In his 20s he made his first films, El ciento trece (1935) (Rafael Sevilla, 1935) and Las tres gracias (1936) (Leitao de Barros, 1936). Then the Spanish Civil War broke out and he opted for the National side, becoming a flight lieutenant, in a real life prologue to his military roles in many pictures, for which he would become famous. Tall enough, handsome and with screen presence he soon became one of the leading men of postwar Spanish pictures. He often played military roles with a strong national feeling ready to die for his country, most favored by Franco's regime : ¡Harka! (1941) (Carlos Arévalo), Escuadrilla (1941) (Antonio Román), ¡A mí la Legión! (1942) (Juan de Orduña) and specially Raza (1942) (José Luis Sáenz de Heredia). He also played comedies and historical dramas such as Sarasate (1941) (Richard Busch), Deliciosamente tontos (1943) (Juan de Orduña), El marqués de Salamanca (1948) (Edgar Neville) or The Lioness of Castille (1951) (Juan de Orduña). He was often paired with Amparito Rivelles; in fact they became engaged and were about to marry. He also played theatre during these years. In the sixties he appeared in The Hunt (1966) (Carlos Saura), an allegorical film covertly criticizing Franco's regime and the Civil War conflict. Later on he would often play TV along with movies and documentaries, adapting to the political and ideological changes following Franco's death in the 70s : Patrimonio nacional (1981) (Luis García Berlanga) and Hablamos esta noche (1982) (Pilar Miró) being two examples. He died in 1985 in Mallorca after suffering a heart attack during the filming of a TV series.