I don’t think there is a daughter who honors her father more than I do. Electra complex? Absolutely,” admits Blanca Marsillach bluntly. On April 6, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the death of Adolfo Marsillach, the actress will premiere ‘Una noche con los Clásicos’, a play her father directed today by Mario Gas. “Doing something he did is a bit dizzying to me. Sometimes I feel like he’s on stage with me. And watching him say the verse, thinking about life, death, love, grievances, power, money.. Seeing him as a father, as a director, as an actor, as a man of the theatre, as a writer, as an author … many things wake me up.”
At 56, the younger daughter of the two that Marsillach had with actress Tere del Río considers herself lucky. But it didn’t always feel that way. Unlike her sister Cristina, Blanca was “the rebel of the family” and that confronted her father. “We argued a lot. In my youth we had a rather difficult relationship. But then we made up. I wanted to be free. He wanted me to be, but within an order, ha, ha, ha…» .
As a father, Marsillach was demanding and a bit shy to express how much he loved his daughters, as a director he was ruthless. “Very demanding, very hard, he has done a lot of tests with me. I had to go through many castings with him. It was the opposite of a plug,” the actress recalls.
Today Blanca sees similarities between her father and Miguel Rellán. “Miguel is an exceptional creature, almost from another galaxy. An impeccable person with an amazing sense of humor. He and my father, who even laughed at his shadow, have that kind of sarcasm. They use humor to not show their feelings. My father more British style and Miguel, more Spanish. But I think they’re both hiding something, heh, heh…».
Present in her home, through the portraits and in her professional life, through the extensive legacy she left behind, Blanca longs above all for the father she lost twenty years ago. “What I remember most about him is his scent, his little curls on his neck, his smile, his way of walking. The scent was a mix of perfume and personal scent. I think he used Agua Brava. It always smelled delicious. His way of laughing made him Chinese eyes. He was very naughty and a great seducer. And then he had an incredible lip, he was a swordsman, there was no one to beat him in an argument.
Blanca is convinced that if she had been born in England, her father would be Laurence Olivier. “But this is a country that doesn’t do justice to the people who have meant something important.” He says he inherited the capacity for work and self-demand. Daughter of actors and at home used to hearing that “with this profession I would starve”, Blanca worked in her youth with international stars such as Christopher Lambert, Vittorio Gassman, Laura Antonelli… And she shot ‘Meat and Blood’. However, he would start his own company and has been committed to social theater for years.
“We interpreted the classics through rap because the verse has the same rhythm as the hendecasyllables. We do like a cockfight with the ‘Mighty lord is mister money’. It’s a way of following the legacy of my father, who founded the National Classical Theater Company to bring this kind of theater closer to the people and not see it as boring.
Born in 1966 in Barcelona, Blanca grew up in the exclusive El Viso neighborhood of Madrid. “My sister and I went to a very progressive school, Josefina Aldecoa, where all the teachers had been in prison or were militants.” She was roommate of Miguel Bardem, cousin of Oscar winner Javier… «But I didn’t feel like it. I was an “outsider” and always wondered who those parents were who were doing such weird things. Then I did those weird things, because there’s nothing that attracts more than genetics,” the actress says with a laugh.
At the time, he only thought about leaving home and completed his studies in England, the United States and Ireland. «I’ve always felt freer abroad, maybe because I didn’t feel the pressure to be with such a famous father, such a beautiful and famous mother…». Today he sees it differently. “Maturity isn’t just wrinkles, you learn to appreciate things and be more grateful. I feel privileged today.”
Source: La Verdad
Lloyd Grunewald is an author at “The Fashion Vibes”. He is a talented writer who focuses on bringing the latest entertainment-related news to his readers. With a deep understanding of the entertainment industry and a passion for writing, Lloyd delivers engaging articles that keep his readers informed and entertained.
