Actor, director and writer, Fernando Fernán Gómez happened to be born in Lima (Perú) in August 1921, while his mother was on a theatre tour of Latin-America. A few days later his birth was registered in Buenos Aires, and he kept his Argentinean nationality until he was granted Spanish citizenship. His desire to study Philosophy and Arts was cut by the outbreak of the civil war and when it ended he began to work in small theatrical roles, on radio and in dubbing films. In 1943 he was hired by the production company CIFESA, making various films and thus covering the first stage in his intense cinema career. With Carlos Saura's "Ana y los lobos" (1972), he began a new stage in his acting career, characterised by higher quality films, of which we may single out, among others, "El espíritu de la colmena" (1973), "Mamá cumple cien años" (1979) or "Epílogo" (1984). His long and fruitful work has covered theatre, cinema, television and literature. He has received many important awards. In 1961 and 1962 he received the National Prize for Dramatic Interpretation for "Mi querido embustero". In 1976 he won the Silver Bear for Best Actor in Berlin for "El anacoreta". With "Las bicicletas son para el verano" he won the Lope de Vega prize in 1978, and in 1982 the public's and critic's awards. In 1985 he received the National Theatre Award and another Silver Bear for Best Actor in "Stico". He has also obtained the Goya prize on two occasions, and the National Cinematographic Award in 1989. Under the direction of Fernando Trueba, he played in "Belle Époque" a liberal painter in the Spain of 1931, a role in which he obtained the individed praise of all critics. For this role he was again awarded the Goya for male actor and the film won the 1994 Hollywood Oscar for Best Film in a Foreign Language. He holds the Gold Medal of Fine Arts (1981) and the Gold Medal of the Region of Madrid (1994).

Fernando Fernán-Gómez died in Madrid on November 21, 2007.