98-year-old Conrado San Martín dies, the last gallant of Spanish cinema
El Diario Vasco
By Oskar Belategui
April 26, 2019
The actor leaves a filmography of more than a hundred films, with such popular titles as 'Locura de amor'' and 'Hasta que llegó su hora'. His great sorrow was not to make Cid Campeador: "They brought one from America."
Conrado San Martín went to be an agricultural engineer, but the Civil War changed his plans. At age 18 he worked as an extra in 'Oro vil' (1941), considered the first film of the West of Spanish cinema, in which they needed someone who knew how to punch. He was recruited by the stunt coordinator, a former boxer, with whom San Martin, physical education teacher and budding athlete, agreed at the gym where he trained. He was paid five dollars a day and the hotel room. Then came more than a hundred movies and series which made him one of the classic gallants of our cinema.
Protagonist of jewels of the black sort like 'Apartado de correos 1001' and 'Relato policíaco', star of popular successes like 'Los últimos de Filipinas' and 'Locura de amor', Conrado San Martín died in Madrid at the age of 98 after doing everything in the cinema and the theater. He was an Army officer in 'Alhucemas', head of a Falangist picket in 'Requiem for a Spanish peasant' and inquisitor in 'Extramuros'. His name appears in the 'peplums' or Roman films filmed in Spain, such as 'The Legions of Cleopatra' and 'The Colossus of Rhodes'. He also frequented Jesus Franco's tapes -'Gritos en la noche ',' Death Whistles the Blues'- and could even boast of being part of the cast of 'Hasta que su hora' and '¡Agáchate, maldito', As well as if he were General Pompeyo of 'King of Kings', by Nicholas Ray.
Born in Higuera de las Dueñas (Ávila) in 1921, San Martín began in the theater as an extra, with a spear and a shield. He boxed as an amateur but the interpretation was more. At the height of his popularity in the 50s, he even had his own office in the magazine 'Fotogramas'. When "Simón Bolívar" was filming in 1969, his horse slipped and his spine was fractured. The accident kept him away from the sets for two years. He got into the construction business and set up decoration stores. But he ended up going back to interpretation. In the 90s, he was fixed in series like 'Los jinetes del alba', 'El oro y el barro' and 'Hermanos de leche'.
“I had my dreams. When I was young I wanted to make “El Cid”, I thought I had enough experience. But, boy, they brought one from America (Charlton Heston)," the actor joked that in 2015 he said goodbye to the cinema with the horror film 'Vampyres' by Víctor Matellano. Great fan of hunting, San Martin was married to the same woman, Olga Quiles, since 1955, with whom they had five children. He created his own production company, Laurus Films, and at age 80 returned to the stage in 'Doce hombres sin piedad'. In addition to the Gold Medal of the Fine Arts, he obtained the prizes of the Cinematographic Writers Circle and the Silver Frames, in both cases for the whole of his career.
San MARTIN, Conrado (Conrado San Martin Prieto)
Born: 2/20/1921, Higuera de las Dueñas, Ávila, Castilla y León, Spain
Died: 4/26/2019, Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Conrado San Martin’s westerns – actor:
Dirty Gold - 1941
In a Colt's Shadow - 1965 (Duke Buchanan [as Conrado Sanmartin]
Long Days of Revenge - 1967 (Mr. Cobb)
Turn I’ll Kil You – 1967 (Ted Shaw)
Once Upon a Time in the West – 1968 (neighbor)
And God Said to Cain – 1969 (prison warden)
Duck You Sucker – 1970
Al este del Oeste – 1983 (Alcalde)
Once Upon a Time in Europe (TV) – 2001 [himself]
Sergio Leone: Cinema, Cinema – 2001 [himself]
Stop Over in Hell – 2016 [archive footage]