José Isbert was born on March 3, 1886 in Madrid. However, he was always linked to the town of Tarazona de la Mancha, in the province of Albacete, since his family was from there, and where he spent most of his life.
Despite the fact that he obtained the title of Commercial Professor and began to work as such, even becoming a member of the Court of Accounts, he decided to leave everything and dedicate himself to interpreting.
He immediately got his first role at the Apolo Theater in Madrid, with the play “The deluded Cañizares”. Shortly after, he began to work at the Lara Theater, where he played various roles with success, and with great recognition from the critics. In this theater he participated in works such as “The cheerful and confident city“,”The Immaculate of Sorrows“Or”Miss Trevélez”, The latter by the playwright Carlos Arniches, of whom José Isbert was a family.
Despite the fact that in 1912 he made his film debut with the film “Assassination and burial of Don José Canalejas”, Playing the role of the anarchist Pardiñas, he no longer wanted to make more feature films throughout the silent film era, dedicating himself only to theater, since he did not like cinema.
It was not until the arrival of talkies that José Isbert was seen again on the big screen, with the film “The plain truth”, In 1931. However, throughout the 1930s he continued to dedicate himself to the theater, with great success, since he managed to ensure that all the works in which he participated remained on stage for a long time, most of them exceeding one hundred performances. The successes of some comedies such as “Mr. Badanas”, By Carlos Arniches, or“Angelina or the honor of a brigadier“By Jardiel Poncela, are attributed to him.
During the 40s he participated in some films, such as “The viceroy’s testament“Or”Silence pact”.
But his golden age in cinema was in the 50s and 60s, especially from his role as mayor in the movie Welcome, Mr. Marshall, which was followed by films that are part of the history of the best Spanish cinema, such as El Executioner, Miracle Thursdays or El pram. In all of them he represented a character with little culture, simple and endearing, this being the memory that we all have of the actor, despite his large number of works, of a very diverse genre.
It is worth noting, among his latest works, the feature film La gran familia, in which he played the role of grandfather, which was very successful, even filming a couple of sequels to it.
Throughout his professional career he obtained a large number of awards and recognitions. In addition, it can be said that he created a saga of very prestigious actors, such as his daughter, the actress María Isbert, or his grandchildren Tony, Carlos and José S. Isbert, the first two actors and the third actor, playwright and screenwriter.
José Isbert died on November 28, 1966 in Madrid.
We can quote, from the rest of his filmography, “Eleven pairs of boots“,”Radio stories“,”Thieves are honest people“,”What it costs to live“An angel passed through Brooklyn,”Fair days“Or”You and I are three”.