Raul Julia
Raúl Rafael Carlos Juliá y Arcelay (March 9, 1940 – October 24, 1994) was a Puerto Rican actor. He was known for his intense and varied roles on stage and screen. He started his career in the Public Theatre before transitioning to film. He received numerous accolades including a Drama Desk Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award and nominations for four Tony Awards. In 2017, The Daily Telegraph named him one of the best actors never to have received an Academy Award nomination.[1]
In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Juliá and the second or maternal family name is Arcelay.
Raul Julia
October 24, 1994 (aged 54)
Buxeda Memorial Park Cemetery, Río Piedras, Puerto Rico
- Actor
- humanitarian
1963–1994
2
Born in San Juan, Julia took an interest in acting while in school and pursued the career upon completion of his studies. After performing locally for some time, he was convinced by the actor and entertainment personality Orson Bean to move to New York City.[2] Julia, who had been bilingual since childhood, soon gained interest in Broadway and Off-Broadway plays. He performed in mobile projects, including the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater. Julia was eventually noticed by producer Joseph Papp, who offered him work in the New York Shakespeare Festival.[2]
In 1978, Julia starred alongside Meryl Streep in a revival of Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew at the Delacorte Theater.[3] He received four Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical nominations for
Two Gentlemen of Verona (1972), Where's Charley? (1975), The Threepenny Opera (1977), and Nine (1982). Julia starred in the original Broadway production of Harold Pinter's Betrayal (1979). He also starred in revivals of Design for Living (1984), Othello (1991), and his final Broadway role Man of La Mancha (1994).[4][5]
Julia gained prominence for his role as Gomez Addams in two film adaptations of The Addams Family.[6] He received Golden Globe Award nominations for Tempest (1982), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), and Moon Over Parador (1988). He also is known for his film roles in The Panic in Needle Park (1971), One from the Heart (1982), The Morning After (1986), Romero (1989) and Presumed Innocent (1990). In 1994, Julia suffered several health afflictions, eventually dying after suffering a stroke. For his work in The Burning Season he was posthumously awarded the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Limited Series, Anthology Series or Television Motion Picture.[7][8][9]
Early life and education[edit]
Julia was born March 9, 1940, in Floral Park (Hato Rey), a suburb of San Juan, to Olga Arcelay and Raúl Juliá. He was the oldest of four brothers, and sisters Maria Eugenia Juliá and Olga Maria Juliá.[10][11] His mother was a mezzo-soprano who sang in a church choir before marrying Julia's father, who was an electrical engineer graduated from Trine University.[12]
Julia's brother, Rafa, died in a car accident when Julia was 19 years old.[13] Some relatives were also musicians, including his great aunt María González, whom he credited as the inspiration behind his artistic career.[14] The family was Catholic.[11]
Raúl's father was the founder of La Cueva del Chicken Inn, a restaurant in San Juan.[12] The building was originally a gas station and body shop before being remodeled after a similar restaurant in Madrid, Spain, called Las Cuevas de Luis Candelas, which is intended to mimic the structure of a gypsum cave. Julia's father claimed that he brought pizza to Puerto Rico, after he hired an Italian cook in New York City who could prepare pizza.[12] The restaurant is also supposed to be the first to distribute chicken-in-a-basket within the archipelago, which Miriam Fitts helped him think of.[12]
Julia was enrolled in the Colegio Espíritu Santo in Hato Rey, a Catholic private school,[15] where most of the personnel spoke exclusively English.[14] There, he participated in his first play in first grade, interpreting the devil, with his performance earning him participation in all subsequent school plays.[16] After witnessing Errol Flynn's performance in The Adventures of Robin Hood, he decided to pursue an acting career.
During his childhood, Julia's family followed a strict Jesuit practice, often taking homeless children into their household.[17] His mother received recognition from the Catholic University of Ponce for these efforts.[17]
By the seventh grade, Julia was able to speak English fluently and had gained interest in the works of William Shakespeare. Julia concluded his secondary education at Colegio San Ignacio de Loyola, where he would organize plays of Julius Caesar, Hamlet, King Lear, and The Tempest.[18] Seeking to please his parents, he continued his education with a year at Fordham University,[6] the well known private Jesuit university in New York City, before returning home to enroll at the University of Puerto Rico, where he joined the Phi Sigma Alpha fraternity.[19]
Julia continued acting in local plays and nightclubs[18] as he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree. Julia eventually realized that he had no interest in pursuing the law career favored by his parents, choosing to act full-time despite having doubts that he could sustain himself working as an actor.[18]
Acting career[edit]
New York Shakespeare Festival[edit]
Consequently, Julia began performing in several plays that were held in San Juan. He performed in a re-staging of Macbeth, which was held in one of the municipality's colonial castles in order to simulate the setting of the work.[20] Other works included playing the role of Roderigo in Othello at a local drama production. Parallel to this, Julia began making presentations at the Ted Mack Amateur Hour. After joining a musical group named the Lamplighters, despite receiving opposition from his parents, he was recruited by Lillian Hurst to perform alongside her, eventually receiving work at a hotel named El Convento.[21]
During this time, he began considering the possibility of moving to Europe to take acting classes. During one of their acts, Julia was approached by Orson Bean, who was on vacation in Puerto Rico and provided him with contact information, wanting him to travel to New York and work there.[6][21] His parents were shocked by the proposal, but ultimately agreed to support his decision.[21] Julia's departure was postponed after his younger brother, Rafael, died in a traffic collision. During this time, he became engaged to Magda Vasallo Molinelli.[22]
In 1964, when he was 24 years old, he traveled to New York, arriving in the middle of a winter storm. After establishing residence in Manhattan, Julia worked at a variety of odd jobs to pay his expenses, going so far as to attend sales training (provided by a distributor) in the proper way to sell pens.[23] When Hurst visited him, they attended a Broadway play, which prompted a discovery that surprised him—that it was possible to work as an actor full-time.[24] As a result, Julia began seeking employment in both Broadway and Off-Broadway plays. Seeking to further improve his acting, he took lessons from Wynn Handman, who was recommended by Bean; his class included future fellow star Christopher Walken.[25][24]
His first work was in a production of Pedro Calderón de la Barca's Life Is a Dream, where he played Astolfo, thereby making himself eligible to receive his Actors Equity card from Actors' Equity Association.[26] Initially, Julia received an allowance from his parents, but after hiring manager Jeff Hunter, he landed a role in a production of Bye Bye Birdie, thereafter declining further financial assistance.[26] He began performing with Phoebe Brand's mobile theatre, presenting plays in low-income neighborhoods of New York. In 1965, he married Vasallo Molinelli.
In 1966, Julia was cast in the role of Macduff in a Spanish-language version of Macbeth, and also performed in The Ox Cart (La Carreta), a stage play written by Puerto Rican playwright René Marqués.[27] Miriam Colón Valle, who also participated in La Carreta, established the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater, where he performed. In 1967, the founder of the New York Shakespeare Festival (NYSF), Joseph Papp, attended a performance at Delacorte Theater, where Julia was reading patriotic Puerto Rican poetry.[28] Subsequently, Papp offered him the role of Demetrius in a staging of Titus Andronicus.[29] After this play concluded, he contacted Papp who offered him the job of stage manager in NYSF's Hamlet.[6] While performing this task, Julia also performed in some of the plays.[30]
Health and death[edit]
Unbeknownst to the public, Julia had suffered from stomach cancer for three years prior to his death and had undergone surgery for it. In early 1994, during the filming of The Burning Season in Mexico, he contracted food poisoning after consuming sushi.[56] Julia was airlifted to a hospital in Los Angeles to receive medical attention. After recovering, he returned to Mexico to finish the film, although he had lost some weight and was physically weakened by his condition.[57] On October 16, 1994, Julia and Poloway attended the Metropolitan Opera in New York;[58] afterwards, Julia began feeling intense abdominal pain and was taken by ambulance to North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, Long Island. At first, he did not appear worried about his condition and was seen in his hospital bed eagerly reviewing the script for his upcoming role in Desperado, but his condition gradually worsened.[58] On the night of October 20, 1994, Julia suffered a stroke, fell into a coma, and was put on life support.[59] Four days later, on October 24, 1994, Julia died at the age of 54 from complications of a stroke, never having regained consciousness.[6][59]
In accordance with Julia's instructions, his body was transported to Puerto Rico. A state funeral was held in San Juan on October 27, 1994, with Julia’s body being escorted to the building of the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture, where a funeral ceremony was held.[60] The service was attended by thousands of Puerto Ricans, with native plena music being played in the background. The burial ceremony was also attended by thousands, with "La Borinqueña" being sung by Lucecita Benítez prior to the procession.[61] After stopping at San Ignacio de Loyola Church, the procession advanced to Buxeda Cemetery, where politician and activist Rubén Berríos offered the final words. As Julia's coffin was lowered, a load of carnations was dropped from a helicopter while the crowd shouted "¡Viva Puerto Rico Libre!"[62] Julia was a lifelong supporter of the Puerto Rican independence movement; on one occasion, he convinced his agent to allow him to do an advertising campaign on behalf of the Puerto Rico Tourism Company.
Subsequent memorial ceremonies were held at Joseph Papp Public Theater in New York and in Los Angeles, where several actors and personalities, including Rubén Blades and Edward James Olmos, expressed their grief.[63] A mass in Miami and numerous private ceremonies were also held. The staff of Universal Pictures paid homage to him by dedicating Street Fighter to his memory, adding the phrase "For Raúl. Vaya con Dios." in the film's ending credits. Julia had been set to reprise his role as M. Bison in the video game version of the Street Fighter film, having already met with the production staff. The New York Shakespeare Festival bought an obituary notice in Variety, where his birth and death dates were accompanied by a quote from Shakespeare.[64] The Puerto Rican Traveling Theater established The Raúl Juliá Training Unit, giving free acting classes to young actors.
For his performance in The Burning Season, Julia was posthumously awarded a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a CableACE Award, and an Emmy Award. Although he did not make his screen debut before 1950, Julia was a nominee for the American Film Institute's AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars.[65] Actors such as Helen Hunt and Jimmy Smits have cited him as a source of inspiration.[66][67] On November 21, 1994, then-Mayor of New York City Rudy Giuliani declared that date Raul Julia Day.[68] In 1996, he was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame on Broadway.[69] The Puerto Rican Chamber of Commerce created the Raúl Juliá Scholarship Fund in 1997, intended to provide college education for teenagers.[70]
Humanitarian work[edit]
During his lifetime, Julia continued the charitable work done by his parents during his childhood, engaging in social and educational activities. His contributions were acknowledged with an invitation to join the New York Council for the Humanities.[71] Much of Julia's charity work was focused on at-risk youth, the Latin American community, and the arts. Concerned about rising levels of violence among teenagers, he sponsored scriptwriting programs in high schools and supported young actors.[66] To promote other Latin American artists, Julia actively lent his support to the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors (HOLA) and co-founded Visiones Luminosas, an initiative to foster screenwriters.[72] He continued to work in the NYSF, electing to donate his time.[69]
In a similar fashion, Julia cooperated with independent filmmakers in Puerto Rico by acting in their productions for free or receiving a reduced salary.[71] This constant involvement with the Latin American community earned him a posthumous Hispanic Heritage Award.[73] Julia also promoted interracial acceptance and cooperation as a member of Racial Harmony and served as the chairman of the Joseph Papp Celebrity Coalition for Racial Harmony.[74]
As part of his work for The Hunger Project, Julia made monthly donations to a food bank.[75] He also promoted the program on television and radio and served as the narrator of bilingual videos about the Hunger Project. Julia somehow found time in his notoriously busy schedule to participate in multiple benefit galas on behalf of the organization as well.[75] Due to this work, the project gave him their Global Citizen Award. His involvement was also recognized in "Ending Hunger: An Idea Whose Time Has Come".[75] On March 24, 1992, Julia received the Courage of Conscience Award.[76] In 1994, the government of El Salvador recognized him for his human rights activism, selecting him to serve as overseer of their general elections in representation of Freedom House.[77] During his visit to the country, he visited the tomb of Romero, subsequently describing his experience in a piece published in Freedom Review.
In recognition of his wide-ranging impact, the National Endowment for the Hispanic Arts offers the Raul Julia Award for Excellence annually.[78] In 2002, actress Sandra Bullock was presented with the award.[79] She received it for her work as the executive producer of the George Lopez TV series, which offered work and exposition for Hispanic talent. In 2003, Daniel Rodríguez won the first Raul Julia Global Citizen Award from the New York-based Puerto Rico Family Institute, receiving the recognition for his charitable work.[80]
Bibliography