Sancho Gracia

Félix Ángel Sancho Gracia (27 September 1936 – 8 August 2012) was a Spanish motion picture and television actor.

Born in Madrid, Gracia started his acting career in Montevideo, Uruguay, where he lived from 1947 until 1961.

In Montevideo he was a student of Margarita Xirgu.

He made his movie acting debut in France in the 1963 film L'Autre femme opposite Annie Girardot.

During the shooting of the film 100 Rifles in Spain in 1968, Gracia had an affair with American actress Raquel Welch, who at the time was married to producer Patrick Curtis.

Welch's husband, upon finding out about the affair, chased Gracia at gunpoint through the hotel where they were staying in Aguadulce.

In 1969, Sancho Gracia married Noelia Aguirre Gomensoro, the daughter of an Uruguayan National Party politician, whom with he had three children, including Rodolfo.

Since then he has appeared in more than eighty motion pictures including several Hollywood productions during the 1970s and in 1999's Outlaw Justice with Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson.

He became famous in Spain for the role of Curro Jiménez, in the Televisión Española drama series of the same name, that was broadcast from 1976 to 1979, being rebroadcast several times since then.

Gracia also worked in Australia, performing as a regular cast member in the 1982 television series Runaway Island and in the 1991 made-for-TV film Pirates Island.

He also participated in the Oscar-nominated Mexican film The Crime of Padre Amaro (2002).

In 2003, he was nominated for the Goya Award for Best Actor for his performance in the 2002 film 800 Bullets.

In addition to motion pictures, Sancho Gracia made more than sixty guest appearances on Spanish television shows.

He died of lung cancer on 8 August 2012 in Madrid.