Alfredo Landa was born on March 3, 1933 in Pamplona. His father was captain of the Benemérita, so he spent his childhood between Catalonia and the Basque Country.
He began to study Law in San Sebastián, but, as has happened with so many actors, at the University he began to participate in theatrical works and this awakened his vocation as an actor. He then went to Madrid to dedicate himself to it, and at the beginning of the 60s he began to participate in some works, such as “The gazebo”, in which he worked with Julia Gutiérrez Caba.
In 1962 he began to work in the cinema, being his first jobs as a dubbing actor. The first movie he worked on as an actor was “Robbery at three” scored by José María Forqué when we have the information. In this first stage of his career, he alternated cinema with theater. From this time we can cite titles such as “Almost a gentleman” or “Body present”, as well as a small role in El verdugo by Luis García Berlanga.
Starting in the 70s, what was later called “landismo” began, a series of films that Spanish cinema gave, without any cinematographic or background quality, in which the Spanish was represented as a repressed, uneducated character, boastful and macho, which its creators justified by defending that they represented the “average Spaniard”. From this time we can cite perfectly forgettable and expendable films such as “Come link to the West”, “You will not want the neighbor’s wife” or “Naked weekend”.
As of the transition, however, Alfredo Landa’s career took an unexpected turn, participating in quality films and under the orders of prestigious directors such as Juan Antonio Bardem, with whom he shot. “The bridge”, a film considered one of his best works, or Luis García Berlanga, with La vaquilla.
His interventions in Los santos inocentes by Mario Camus are also from this time, “The green meadows” from {bio: José Luis Garci}, or The Animated Forest by José Luis Cuerda, all of them some of the best films that Spanish cinema has given. Also noteworthy is El crack, a feature film that was very successful at the time, and of which a sequel was made, in which Landa makes a very good performance of a private detective.
As for television, he also had successes in some series such as “Sadness of love”, “Full, please”or “Finally alone”, among others.
He has received a large number of awards and recognitions, which it would be impossible to cite here, although we can highlight the 1984 Cannes Film Festival Award for the best male performance, which he shared with Francisco Rabal for their performance in “The Holy Innocents”. Or the Goya, to whom he was nominated 7 times, getting two for his films “The animated forest” and “The sow”, and another that was awarded in 2007 for his artistic career.
In this same year 2007, at the Malaga Spanish Film Festival he announced his retirement from the profession.
Other notable films of his filmography are “The lost paradises”, “Black flag”, “My father”, “The river that takes us” o Lullaby.