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Fernando Casado D'Arambillet, known as Fernando
Rey, (September 20 1917 - March 9 1994) was born
in A Coruña, then known as La Coruña, the son of
Colonel Casado Veiga.

He studied architecture, but then the Spanish
Civil War began, interrupting his university days.

In 1936, he began his career in movies as an
extra, being sometimes even credited. It was then
that he chose his stage name, Fernando Rey. He
kept his first name, but he took his mother's
second surname, Rey, a short surname with a clear
meaning ("Rey" is Spanish for "King").

In 1944 his first speaking role was the Duke de
Alba in José López Rubio's Eugenia de Montijo.

This was the start of a prolific career in movies,
radio, theater and television. Rey was also a
great dubbing (filmmaking)|dubbing actor in
Spanish television. His voice was considered
intense and personal, and he became the narrator
of important Spanish movies like Luis GarcĂ­a
Berlanga's Bienvenido Mr. Marshall (1953),
Ladislao Vadja's Marcelino Pan y Vino (1955), and
even Orson Welles' Don Quixote (1992). In fact, he
acted in four different versions of Don Quixote in
different roles, including Welles'.

His work with Luis Buñuel during the 1960s and
1970s made him internationally famous; he was the
first "international Spanish actor".

He played the French villain Alain Charnier in
William Friedkin's The French Connection (1971).
Initially, Friedkin intended to cast Francisco
Rabal as Charnier, but could not remember his
name: he only knew it was a Spanish actor. Rey was
hired before Friedkin could see him. Rey did not
speak French, but Friedkin discovered that Rabal
spoke neither French nor English, so he opted to
keep Rey.

During the 1980s and 1990s, Rey was awarded at San
Sebastián and Cannes, and got the gold medal of
the Spanish Art and Movie Sciences Academy. He
became the president of that Academy from 1992
till his death two years later.

He died in Madrid, of cancer.