Joaquín Carrasco

Biography

Barcelona, 14 August 1881: the city’s Ramblas were already buzzing when Joaquín Carrasco first opened his eyes to their swirl of light and shadow. By 1927 the same streets were lining up to watch him burn up the screen in *Malvaloca*, a performance that sealed his leap from provincial stages to national stardom. Fourteen years—and countless curtain-calls—later, he turned kidnapper into charmer with the breezy comedy *Rápteme usted* (1941), and in 1947 he checked into *El huésped del cuarto número 13*, proving that even a hotel corridor could become a kingdom under his command. The cameras finally stopped rolling on 6 December 1956, back where it all began; Barcelona claimed her native son again, leaving the city’s lights a shade dimmer yet forever flickering with his memory.