Raul Julia (full name Raul Rafael Julia and Arcelei) is a Puerto Rican theater, film and television actor. He was nominated for a Golden Globe 4 times, but only posthumously received this award, as well as an Actors Guild Award and an Emmy for his role in the film Season of Fire.
Fans of the cult films The Addams Family and The Adams Family Values directed by Barry Sonnenfeld know and love the actor well for his role as Gomez Adams.
Since childhood, Raul dreamed of being an actor, but his parents wanted to see their son as a lawyer and successor to his father's business. Raul's father was the first restaurateur in Puerto Rico to make and sell pizza in his restaurant. But the young man decided to fulfill his dream and eventually went to conquer show business in New York.
The artist's creative biography includes more than 70 roles in television and film projects. Many admirers of Raoul's talent and representatives of the film industry consider him an underrated actor. Only after his death did he receive several cinematic awards, including Golden Globe and Emmy. He has many nominations for awards: Saturn, Tony, MTV, Actors Guild, National Council of Film Critics, CableACE Awards.
Biography facts
Raul was born in Puerto Rico in the spring of 1940. He was the eldest child in a family of seven. His mother sang in the church choir before she got married. Then she was engaged in housekeeping and raising children.
The boy's father worked as an electrical engineer. He had 3 higher educations. He then went into business and opened his own restaurant, La Cueva del Chicken Inn, in a former gas station and auto shop. It was he who first started making and selling pizza in Puerto Rico. For this, the restaurateur specially invited a chef from New York to his establishment.
Raoul's great aunt was a singer and musician. It was she who inspired the boy to be creative and in every possible way supported his desire to become an actor.
Raul received his primary education at the Catholic private school Colegio San Ignacio de Loyola High School. From the first grade, the boy began to take an active interest in creativity and theatrical art. He played his first role at the age of 8, appearing before the audience in the form of the Devil, which immediately attracted the attention of students and teachers. In the future, he played in almost all performances staged within the walls of the school.
Once Raoul attended a production of The Adventures of Robin Hood, where Errol Flynn played the main role. He was so impressed with the play and the performer that he decided to devote his future life to art.
The family did not support the boy's desires and tried to dissuade him from a rash act. The father dreamed that his son would continue his work, but first he would learn to be a lawyer. However, Raoul, against his wishes, was determined to become an actor.
Having received his secondary education, the young man still entered the private university of Fordham University in New York at the Faculty of Law, but studied there for only a year. Returning to his homeland, he was enrolled in the Universidad de Puerto Rico, where he became a member of the Phi Sigma Alpha fraternity. At the end of his studies, Julia received a bachelor of arts degree and decided to immerse himself in creativity.
In his student years, the young man began performing in local theaters and clubs. At one of these performances, actor Orson Bean noticed him and persuaded the young man to go to New York to pursue an acting career.
Creative way
Julia quickly found work in Manhattan and began performing in off-Broadway theaters. In 1966, he began acting in classic Shakespearean productions and quickly won the recognition of the public and theater critics.
A few years later, Raoul decided to try his hand at cinema. Already in 1971, the artist appeared on the screen in the drama directed by Jerry Schatzberg "Panic in Needle Park" in the form of Marcos. The picture was shown at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the Palme d'Or.
The film follows the love between drug dealer Bobby and the young artist Helen. Gradually, the girl becomes addicted to drugs, the relationship of young people ceases to be romantic. They are forced to constantly hide from the police and obtain money illegally. But Bobby and Helen want to end such a life and dream of getting out of the city, although this is not so easy to do.
In the future, the actor played in the projects: "If you fall for a very long time, you can get up", "Organization", "Great performances", "Death scream", "Eyes of Laura Mars", "From the bottom of my heart."
In 1983, he was first nominated for a Golden Globe for his supporting role in Paul Mazursky's science fiction drama The Tempest.
The actor received his next Golden Globe nomination in 1986, playing the main role in the drama The Kiss of the Spider Woman. His third nomination for this award in 1989 brought him a central role in the comedy melodrama Moon over Parador.
In 1991, the movie "The Adams Family" was released, where the actor played the head of the Gomez family. For this role, he received a nomination for a Saturn Award for Best Actor. In the same image, Raoul appeared in the second part of the project "Values of the Adams Family" in 1993.
The actor played his last roles in 1994 in the films "Season of Fire", "Street Fighter", "And the Raven Came Down". Only after his death he was awarded the Emmy, Actors Guild and Golden Globe awards for his role in Chico Mendes in the film "Season of Fire".
Personal life
Julia was married twice. The first wife in 1965 was Magda Vasallo. They lived together for 4 years and divorced in 1969.
Raoul married the actress Merell Polway for the second time. The wedding took place in 1976. In 1983, the couple had their first son, Raoul Sigmund, and in 1987, Benjamin Raphael was born. The husband and wife lived together until the death of the actor.
In 1994, Raoul was diagnosed with stomach cancer. He underwent surgery and after a few months continued to work on a new project. During filming, the actor was seriously poisoned and was urgently hospitalized in a Los Angeles hospital. After a long treatment, he returned to the set again, but felt very bad.
In the same year, on October 16, Raul and his wife attended a performance, after which he felt bad, he was taken to the clinic. Julia was diagnosed with a stroke. A few hours later, he fell into a coma and was connected to a life support apparatus.
On October 24, Raoul died without regaining consciousness. His body was sent home in Puerto Rico, where he was buried in the local Buxeda Cemetery. Thousands of people came to say goodbye to their favorite actor. At the time of his burial, a helicopter hovered in the air and hundreds of carnations fell from its cockpit.
