Varéla, José

(July 29, 1933, Paris, France - )

   The son of a Parisian mother and a Spanish father, he was raised by an American. He grew up in Gre­noble, where he became a movie buff. Educated at the Polytechnic Institute of Lausanne, he intended to become an architect engineer but instead took acting courses at the Charles Dullin School. Spotted by stage director Antoine Bourseiller, he worked for four years with Peter Brook (he notably performed Rodolfo in Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge, in 1957) and played Mick in Harold Pinter's The Care­taker (directed by Roger Blin, 1961). Seen in several films (1958 Liberté surveillée, Henri Aisner, Vladimir Vleck, France / Czechoslovakia; L'Opéra Mouffe, short, Agnès Varda; 1960 Le Huitième Jour, Marcel Hanoun; 1962 Le Signe du Lion / UK and USA: The Sign of Leo, Eric Rohmer, shot in 1959; 1965 Béatrice, Jean-Roger Richter, France / Romania; 1967 Lettre à Carla / Brieef aan Carla, Jean-José Richter, France / Bulgaria; 1968 Les Gauloises bleues, Michel Cournot; 1977 Ben et Benedict, Paula Delsol) and TV movies (1965 Evariste Gallois, Alexandre Astruc; 1966 Les Compa­gnons de Jéhu, 6 X 52', Michel Drach, 1981 L'Etouffe Grand-Mère, Jean-Pierre Bastid; 1994 Une qui promet, Marianne Lamour), he also worked as a production assistant (1965 paris vu par . . . / UK and USA: Six in Paris, Jean-Daniel Pollet, Jean Rouch, Jean Douchet, Eric Rohmer, Jean-Luc Godard, Claude Chabrol), editor (1975 La Route, Jean-François Bizot, shot in 1972), and co-screenwriter (1983 Cap Canaille, Juliet Berto, Jean-Henri Roger). He authored several novels (1980 Drick, Engrenages, republished by Marabout in 1986; 1985 Phil Meteor, Editions Jean-Claude Lattès; 1996 Rivière salée, Fleuve Noir) and wrote articles for Libération and Paris-Hebdo (1979-1980). He was a TV reporter for fifteen years (Dim Dam Dom; Pop 2; Plein Cadre).

 Filmography

        ◘ La Bagnole (short)

        ◘ Ballade pour ailleurs (short)

1967 ◘ Commencer par les Maçons (short)

        ◘ Mamaïa (also co-screenwriter; co-dialogist)

1969 ◘ Money, Money (also screenwriter; dialogist)

1973 ◘ Faire la Déménageuse (also screenwriter, dialogist; shot in 1971)

        ◘ Laire Marie pleine de Grâce (unreleased)

 Television Filmography

1990 ◘ Le Vagabond des Mers (6 X 52', also co-screenwriter, co-dialogist)