José Luis Sáenz de Heredia

José Luis Sáenz de Heredia y Osio (born April 10, 1911 in Madrid , † November 4, 1992 ibid) was a Spanish director and screenwriter .

Life

Against the wishes of his aristocratic family, who would have liked to see him as an architect or naval officer, Sáenz de Heredia turned to Serafin Ballesteros' young studio immediately after his military service and, at the age of 23, made his first two films as a director based on a script he had written himself .

After two comedies and an appearance as an actor in a film supervised by Luis Buñuel (with whom he was friends throughout his life despite very different political views), he was arrested by the communists when the Spanish civil war broke out , almost lost his life and fought on the side of Francoist troops . In 1939 he made documentaries; he was General Franco's "house director".

In 1941 he returned to the feature film warehouse with a comedy and began a long series of hugely successful films that were sometimes light in nature, sometimes politically clear, like the race written by Francisco Franco himself . In the 1950s he was the director of the national film institute. He also found time for documentaries about Real Madrid and General Franco . By 1975 he made 40 films in which he himself often had a short appearance. With the end of the Franco regime, he withdrew.

Filmography (selection)

• 1942: Race ( Raza , also: El espíritu de una raza )
• 1952: The eyes also leave traces
• 1959: Ten rifles are waiting
• 1971: A decent woman

Awards

• 1945: for the film Bambù - National Film Prize for Music
• 1947: for the film Las aguas bajan negras - 5th National Film Award for the best film
• 1956: for the film Faustina - National Film Award for the best screenplay

Web links and sources

• José Luis Sáenz de Heredia in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Biography (french)