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Eduardo Manzanos Brochero's biography

Eduardo Manzanos Brochero was born in Madrid the 10th November 1914. 10 de Noviembre de 1919 en Madrid. He began his artistic career with the publication of poems alter the Spanish civil war. He wrote too some plays with Spanish dramatists as Antonio Lara de Gavilán and José García Nieto.
In 1947 he arrived in the cinema World as producer of “Dulcinea”, a film which was directed by Luis Arroyo and his sister Ana Mariscal, in the title-role. The next year he co-wrote the screenplay of “Brindis a Manolete” by Florián Rey with Manuel Ortega in the role of the unforgettable Spanish bullfighter Manolete and “Gente sin importancia” by José González de Ubieta, with in particular Antonio Riquelme.

In 1952 Manzanos directed his first film, “Cabaret”, with Fernando Rey and Nati Mistral. The next year he directed José Luis Ozores as the heroes of “Buenas noticias” adapted for a work of his friend José Garcia Nieto. And as director of the "Unión Films", he became producer of ones of the first films of the future great directors, Juan Antonio Bardem for “Cómicos”Players (1954) and Fernando Fernán Gómez for “El malvado Carabel”.

But in the fifties he made too as director a very funny and original comedy, “Suspenso en comunismo” (1955) with Antonio Vico, Alfredo Mayo and Juanjo Menéndez who play very strange spies. Adapted again García Nieto’s work, “El andén” (1957) with Jesús Tordesillas, in the role of an old chief of a railway little station in Castile between Madrid and Irún. And he helped the Italian actor and director Aldo Fabrizi during the filming of “El Maestro”/The teacher and the miracle (1957) with the children Marco Paoletti, Eduardo Nevola, and Alfredo Mayo as the director of the college. He was too co director of Hispano-Italian productions: “Carta a Sara/tormento d’amore” (1953) with Marta Toren, and by Leonardo Bercovici & Claudio Gora; “Río Guadalquivir/ Dimentica il mio passato” (1953) by Primo Zeglio, with Maria Luz Galicia & Massimo Girotti; “Las aeroguapas” with José Suárez, Gino Cervi, and by Mario Costa.

In the sixties 60 Eduardo Manzanos was always screenplay writer but he financed too with his new company the “Copercines” a lot of European western films. He was the first producer who had the idea of building a true Far West village near Madrid as we have explained in our pages about the Spanish western films in the section Historical & film Notes of our website.

Eduardo Manzanos made too some political films as the documentary ¿Por qué morir en Madrid?(1966) /Why to die in Madrid? which completed “Morir en España”(1965) To die in Spain by Mariano Ozores, two answers for “Mourir à Madrid” (1963) To die in Madrid by the French journalist Frédéric Rossif, a documentary which was considered by his detractors as not impartial and complete. Manzanos made too the fiction film “Proceso de Gibraltar” (Gibraltar trial) in 1967, in which some contemporary students set up a inquiry against England because of the occupation of the Spanish peninsula of Gibraltar since 1704.

In the seventies, always a very active producerr, Manzanos followed his work of screenplay writer with in particular “The legend of Frenchie King/ Les pétroleuses" with Brigitte Bardot and Claudia Cardinale, a film by the old French director Christian-Jaque; and a characteristic spaghetti western, “Apocalipsis Joe/Un uomo chiamato Apocalisse Joe” with Anthony Steffen aka de Teffé, and his regular acolyte, the Spanish actor Eduardo Fajardo. He made too two retrospective films about Hispanic songs and music and about the Spanish humour: “Canciones de nuestra vida” (1975) and “El chiste” (1977).

Eduardo Manzanos in the eighties made as director his last fiction, "Él y él”/ He and he (1979) with José Luis López Vázquez, and whose theme, the homosexuality, was rather innovative in the Spanish cinema of this period. He made too a documentary about the General Franco, "¡¡Franco!! un proceso histórico" (1980), with interviews of personalities as Felipe González, the future chief of Spanish government (1982). Alter the production of two TV films in 1981, this prolific and eclectic 7th art manager finished his very active and long career with a filmography of about 40 productions, 50 screenplays and 14 films as director.

Husband of the Spanish actress María Luz Galicia, herself niece of the poet León Felipe and cousin of the bullfighter Carlos Arruza, Eduardo Manzanos Brochero died in Madrid the 16th of october 1987, some days before his 68th birthday.

If you want more details read Eduardo Manzanos Brochero's Spanish or French biography version