Fernando Díaz de Mendoza y Aguado

Fernando Díaz de Mendoza y Aguado (7 June 1862 – 20 October 1930) was a Spanish actor, impresario and theatre director. According to some critics, he was one of the 20th century's best actors.

Life Early years Fernando Díaz de Mendoza y Aguado was born in Jumilla in the southeast of Spain. He was of aristocratic provenance. He had as titles 7th Marquis de San Mamés, 6th Marquis de Fontanar, Count of Balazote, Count of Lalaing and was a Grandee of Spain. His father was Mariano Díaz de Mendoza y Uribe, 5th Marquis de Fontanar, Grande de España and his mother Concepción Aguado y Flores. Little is known of his early years: during his adolescence he was a member of the society set in Murcia, known to friends as Fernando Fontanar, a reference to one of the several aristocratic titles he would later inherit from his father. As a young man he engaged in the pursuits appropriate to his wealth and status, involving hunting, partying and gambling. Back home, readers of would have found the newspaper's Madrid correspondent eulogistic on the subject Díaz de Mendoza's theatre performances in the capital. In October 1894 he starred opposite María Guerrero in the classic by the priest-dramatist Tirso de Molina. His co-star was the daughter of Ramón Guerrero who had given him his contract with the Spanish Theatre: the stage partnership on which the two of them embarked in 1894 became a more substantial matter in 1896 when they married. Around this time Fernando Díaz de Mendoza became lead actor, director and impresario of Madrid's Spanish Theatre.

The Guerrero-Díaz de Mendoz company met with similar triumph in Montevideo. The first South American tour was a critical success which paved the way for further tours which would provide opportunities to perform in countries including Peru, Colombia, Bolivia and Cuba. In his old age he was placed in charge at the Madrid Royal Conservatory. Bárcena hurriedly married and the boy grew up with his natural father's first name and his step father's surname as Fernando Vargas.

His artistic family appears in the dictionary work on Spanish artistic sagas. Teatralerias, tres siglos de la escena, (2018) Madrid: P & V,