Calvo, Armando

(1919-1996)

(Armando Pascual Calvo Gaspier)

   Spanish actor (although reportedly born in Puerto Rico) who relocated to Mexico in 1946 and became a popular leading man opposite stars like María Félix, María Antonieta Pons, and Gloria Marín. Calvo, the son of well-known Spanish actor Juan Calvo, began working on the stage at the age of 5. His Spanish film debut came in 1934, and in late 1945 he was hired by Mexico producer Gregorio Walerstein to appear with María Félix in La mujer de todos (1946).

   During the 1960s, Calvo returned to work in the Spanish film industry, but came back to Mexico in the 1970s, where he was a TV and stage regular and made occasional film appearances. During the last few years of his life, Calvo was something of a recluse, living in straitened circumstances in a Mexico City hotel and spending his time writing and painting. He suffered from emphysema and kidney trouble, and died of heart failure in July 1996.