Marsillach, Adolfo

b. 1928, Barcelona

   Actor and theatre director

   One of the most prominent directors in Spain, Marsillach began his acting career in radio plays. His first stage role was in Cyrano de Bergerac, and he went on to play in works by Calderón, Sartre and Tennessee Williams. In 1953, he made his début as a theatrical director, and in the early 1960s added cinema and television direction to his portfolio, a mixture which he maintained throughout the succeeding three decades. He has also written plays, including Mata-Hari (1983) and Feliz aniver-sario (Happy Anniversary) (1991). His main importance, however, is that he was one of a small number of directors interested in heightening awareness among Spanish audiences of theatrical developments in other countries, and also in revitalizing the classic Spanish theatre of the seventeenth century through his leadership, since 1986, of the National Classical Theatre Company. Since 1989 he has been Director-General of the Instituto Nacional de Artes Escénicas y Música (INAEM—National Institute of Theatre Arts and Music). He is a recipient of the National Prize for Theatre and the Gold Medal for Fine Arts (1992).

   See also: performing arts; theatre

   EAMONN RODGERS