Fernando Fernández Gómez (28 August 1921 – 21 November 2007) better known as Fernando Fernán Gómez was a Spanish actor,ánGó screenwriter, film director, theater director and member of the Royal Spanish Academy for seven years. He was born in South America while his mother, Spanish actress Carola Fernán-Gómez, was on tour. He would later use her surname for his stage name when he moved to Spain in 1924.
Biography
According to his memoir, he was probably born in Lima on 28 August 1921, even though his birth certificate indicates that he was born in the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires. The reason for this is that his mother, the theater actress Carola Fernán Gómez, was touring South America when he was born in Lima, so his birth certificate was issued days later in Argentina, a country whose nationality he retained, in addition to Spanish nationality, which was granted to him in 1984. Being an extramarital son, his father was also the actor Fernando Díaz de Mendoza y Guerrero, whose mother, María Guerrero, prevented the marriage between Fernando Fernán Gómez's parents.
After the Spanish Civil War he began to study law but interrupted his studies to work in theater. In 1942 he began to act in movies but also continued working on plays. He formed his own theater company and received awards for directing and writing. In the 1950s he began to direct movies, including the film of his novel, El viaje a ninguna partewhich explores the pueblo as a meeting place of national motifes. He received praise for his 1958 comedy La vida por delante, which led to a sequel, La vida alrededor. In 1977, he won the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the 27th Berlin International Film Festival for his role in The Anchorite. He won the award again at the 35th Berlin International Film Festival in 1985 for his role in Stico and finally the Honorary Golden Bear at the 55th Berlin International Film Festival in 2005.
Having been very much in demand during the 1970s and 1980s, the 1990s was a less active period for him, but towards the end of his life, he enjoyed something of a revival, featuring in three major projects: "Todo sobre mi madre", "Plenilunio", and a starring role in the hit "La lengua de las mariposas".
He married María Dolores Pradera in 1945; they divorced in 1959. He married Emma Cohen in 2000.
Fernando Fernán Gómez died in Madrid on 21 November 2007 from a heart failure aggravated by pneumonia and colon cancer. On 19 November 2007, he was admitted to the Oncology area of the Madrid University Hospital La Paz to be treated for pneumonia. After the President of the Government José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero announced the death of the actor, the Government of Spain posthumously awarded Fernán Gómez the Grand Cross of the Civil Order of Alfonso X, the Wise on 23 November. The mayor of Madrid, Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón, also announced that the Cultural Center of the Villa de Madrid would be renamed the Fernando Fernán Gómez Theater. As he was a lifelong anarchist, his coffin was covered in a black and red anarchist flag and was later cremated in the Almudena Cemetery in Madrid.