Raúl Juliá

Acting

Raúl Juliá

Born 1940-03-09 · San Juan, Puerto Rico

Raúl Rafael Juliá y Arcelay (March 9, 1940 – October 24, 1994) was a Puerto Rican actor. His film career peaked in the US in the early 1990s. Born in San Juan, he gained interest in acting while still in school. Upon completing his studies, Juliá decided to pursue a career in acting. After performing in the local scene for some time, he was convinced by entertainment personality Orson Bean to move and work in New York City. Juliá, who had been bilingual since his childhood, soon gained interest in Broadway and "Off Broadway" plays. He performed in mobile projects, including the Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre. Juliá was eventually noticed by Joseph Papp, who offered him work in the New York Shakespeare Festival. After gaining notoriety, he received roles in two television series, Love of Life and Sesame Street. For his performance in Two Gentlemen of Verona, he received a nomination for the Tony Award and won a Drama Desk Award. Between 1974 and 1982, Juliá received Tony Award nominations for Where's Charley?, The Threepenny Opera and Nine. During the 1980s, he worked in several films, receiving nominations for the Golden Globe Awards, for his performance in Tempest, and Kiss of the Spider Woman, winning the National Board of Review Award for Best Actor for the latter. In 1991 and 1993, Juliá portrayed "Gomez Addams" in two film adaptations of The Addams Family. In 1994, he filmed The Burning Season and a film adaptation of the Street Fighter video games. Later that year, Juliá suffered several health afflictions, eventually dying after suffering a stroke. His funeral was held in Puerto Rico, being attended by thousands. For his work in The Burning Season, Juliá won a posthumous Golden Globe and Emmy Award.

Acting credits

Addams Family Values poster
7.0

Siblings Wednesday and Pugsley Addams will stop at nothing to get rid of Pubert, the new baby boy adored by parents Gomez and Morticia. Things go from bad to worse when the new "black widow" nanny, Debbie Jellinsky, launches her plan to add Fester to her collection of dead husbands.

Addams Family Values

1993

The Addams Family poster
7.1

When a man claiming to be long-lost Uncle Fester reappears after 25 years lost, the family plans a celebration to wake the dead. But the kids barely have time to warm up the electric chair before Morticia begins to suspect Fester is fraud when he can't recall any of the details of Fester's life.

The Addams Family

1991

The Rookie poster
5.9

Veteran cop Nick Pulovski is used to playing musical partners; many of the partners he's had in the past have died on the job, and often as a result of Nick's risky tactics. But the rookie who's been assigned to help Nick bust a carjacking ring is almost as hotheaded as he is … and when Nick gets kidnapped, his newbie partner is his only hope.

The Rookie

1990

Street Fighter poster
4.7

Colonel Guile and various other martial arts heroes fight against the tyranny of dictator M. Bison and his cohorts.

Street Fighter

1994

Presumed Innocent poster
6.8

Rusty Sabich is a deputy prosecutor engaged in an obsessive affair with a coworker who is murdered. Soon after, he's accused of the crime. And his fight to clear his name becomes a whirlpool of lies and hidden passions.

Presumed Innocent

1990

Tequila Sunrise poster
6.1

In a seaside California town, best friends Mac and Nick are on opposite sides of the law. Mac is a former drug dealer trying to clean up his act, while Nick is a high-profile detective trying to take down a Mexican drug lord named Carlos. Soon Nick's loyalties are put to the test when he begins an affair with restaurateur Jo Ann -- a love interest of Mac's -- unwittingly leading his friend into a police-orchestrated trap.

Tequila Sunrise

1988

Kiss of the Spider Woman poster
7.0

The story of two radically different men thrown together in a Latin American prison cell. One is Valentin, a journalist being tortured for his political beliefs. The other is Molina, a gay window-dresser who fills their lonely nights by spinning romantic fantasies drawn from memories of old movies.

Kiss of the Spider Woman

1985

Frankenstein Unbound poster
5.9

The ultimate weapon, claimed to be safe for mankind, produces global side-effects including time slides and disappearances. The scientist behind the project and his car are zapped from the year 2031 to 1817 in Switzerland where he meets Dr. Victor Frankenstein, Mary Shelley and others.

Frankenstein Unbound

1990

Death Scream poster
6.6

Loosely based on the true story of the killing of Kitty Genovese: A young woman's murder is witnessed by fifteen of her neighbors who do nothing to help and refuse to cooperate with the police.

Death Scream

1975

One from the Heart poster
5.9

In a dazzling, dreamlike Las Vegas, longtime couple Hank and Frannie break up on their fifth anniversary and each pursue the fantasy of new love over one neon-soaked night—he with a free-spirited acrobat, she with a seductive musician. But as illusion and reality blur, both must decide whether passion or devotion truly defines the heart.

One from the Heart

1982

The Organization poster
6.3

After a group of young revolutionaries break into a company's corporate headquarters and steal $5,000,000 worth of heroin to keep it off the street, they call on San Francisco Police Lieutenant Virgil Tibbs for assistance.

The Organization

1971

The Panic in Needle Park poster
6.8

A stark portrayal of life among a group of heroin addicts who hang out in Needle Park in New York City. Played against this setting is a low-key love story between Bobby, a young addict and small-time hustler, and Helen, a homeless girl who finds in her relationship with Bobby the stability she craves.

The Panic in Needle Park

1971

Eyes of Laura Mars poster
5.8

A famous fashion photographer develops a disturbing ability to see through the eyes of a serial killer.

Eyes of Laura Mars

1978

Strong Medicine poster
6.3

Adaptation of an avant-garde play about Rhoda, a hysterical heroine who feels oppressed by the people around her. She suffers through her birthday party, goes to see a doctor, plans a vacation, argues a lot and even breaks the fourth wall.

Strong Medicine

1981

Disclosure poster
7.8

An investigation of how Hollywood's fabled stories have deeply influenced how Americans feel about transgender people, and how transgender people have been taught to feel about themselves.

Disclosure

2020

The Morning After poster
6.0

Failed actress Alex Sternbergen wakes up hungover one morning in an apartment she does not recognize, unable to remember the previous evening -- and with a dead body in bed next to her. As she tries to piece together the events of the night, Alex cannot totally rely on friends or her estranged husband, Joaquin, for assistance. Only a single ally, loner ex-policeman Turner Kendall, can help her escape her predicament and find the true killer.

The Morning After

1986

Havana poster
5.8

During the revolution, a high-stakes gambler arrives in Cuba seeking to win big in poker games. Along the way, he meets and falls in love with the wife of a Communist revolutionary.

Havana

1990

Stiletto poster
5.3

A rich, jet-setting playboy has a secret life: he's also a professional Mafia hitman. When he decides it's time to retire from that life, he finds that his former employers don't like the idea that someone who knows so much about them won't be under their control anymore, and decide to send their own hitmen to eliminate him.

Stiletto

1969

The Gumball Rally poster
6.1

A group of people from different backgrounds have one thing in common: when they hear the world "gumball" whispered by one of the others, they know that it's time for the Gumball Rally: a no-holds barred, secret, winner-take-all rally across the USA.

The Gumball Rally

1976

Moon Over Parador poster
5.8

Underappreciated actor Jack Noah is on location in Parador at the time the dictator dies. The dictator's right-hand man makes Jack an offer he cannot refuse... to play the dictator. Jack's acting skills fool the masses but not close friends and employees of the dictator.

Moon Over Parador

1988

The Escape Artist poster
6.2

The young and self-confident Danny bluffs at the local police-station that he will escape from prison within an hour. What follows is a flashback showing his childhood with his uncle and aunt, who are 'vaudeville'-artists themselves.

The Escape Artist

1982

Tempest poster
5.9

A sobering mid-life crisis fuels dissatisfaction in Philip Dimitrius, to the extent where the successful architect trades his marriage and career in for a spiritual exile on a remote Greek island where he hopes to conjure meaning into his life - trying the patience of his new girlfriend and angst-ridden teenage daughter.

Tempest

1982

Life of Sin poster
6.0

The film dramatizes the life of Isabel "la Negra" Luberza Oppenheimer. Pablo, a Caribbean peasant, and Isabel, a politician's mistress, open a brothel that becomes internationally famous. Though they gain wealth and power, the one thing that Isabel seeks continues to elude her.

Life of Sin

1979

Romero poster
7.0

Romero is a compelling and deeply moving look at the life of Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, who made the ultimate sacrifice in a passionate stand against social injustice and oppression in his county. This film chronicles the transformation of Romero from an apolitical, complacent priest to a committed leader of the Salvadoran people.

Romero

1989