Vicente Parra

Vicente Parra Collado (5 February 1931 – 2 March 1997) was a Spanish actor.

Early career Born in Oliva (Valencia), in a lower-class family, he began his career at a young age in the theater. He formed part of a number of theatrical companies. He made his film debut at age eighteen with the film Rumbo (Heading) (1949) in a small role. He became famous with the thriller film El expreso de Andalucía (The Andalusian express) (1956) under the direction of Francisco Rovira Beleta. He then put his work in the theater in the background to concentrate in pursuing a career in films. Two years later, he reprised the role in the film's sequel ¿Dónde vas, triste de ti? (Where are you going sad man) ? (1960) in which the Mexican actress Marga López, took the role of Queen María Cristina, Archduchess of Austria. Both films, inspired by the "Empress Sissi" trilogy of films (fictional treatments of the life of Empress Elisabeth of Austria), were highly sentimental and typecast him. His popularity declined afterwards.

Later career After these films, Parra's career never took off again. For a couple of years, he lived and worked in Argentina. Back in Spain, his works were spaced out appearing in brief iconic parts in films like: Las Largas vacaciones del 36 ( The long vacations of 1936) (1976) directed by Jaime Camino; La siesta (The nap) (1976), directed by Jorge Grau; the comedy Nosotros que fuimos tan felices (We who were so happy) (1976), directed by Antonio Drove and La Guerra de Papá (Dad's war) (1977) (an adaptation of Miguel Delibe's novel El príncipe destronado) under the direction of Antonio Mercero.

During the first part of the 1980s, Vicente Parra retired for a decade from acting both in films and theater. He came back to the big screen with secondary roles in two films directed by José Luis García Sánchez: Suspiros de españa y Portugal (Sights of Spain and Portugal) (1995), a black comedy, and Tranvía a la Malvarrosa (Streetcar to the Malvarosa) (1997), which was his last film. He died, age 66, of lung cancer.

Partial filmography