From Paco Martínez Soria in the Heart of the City: all the lives of an unknown actress

BarcelonaWho was Josefina Güell? Perhaps it's a good idea for her to introduce herself: "Hello, my name is Josefina Güell Saumell. I was born in Barcelona on April 9, 1925. My father was a cabinetmaker and did quite well for himself, but in 1936, when the Civil War broke out, he had to leave everything to go to the front. Enric and I. The poor woman had a very hard time, and because of that, she sent us to boarding school in Tiana. We had a good time there; we had a teacher who recited poems to us at night." She herself wrote it down, a restless woman, a versatile and enterprising actress; her memories were clear, her memory unerringly dictating the birth of her precocious artistic vocation. This year she would have turned one hundred. She came very close. She died in Barcelona on January 17 of last year, a few months before her 99th birthday. Her daughter Silvia remembers that she remained clear-headed until the end, as well as full of vitality, eager to go to the theater, and possessing a consuming passion for it. a benign illness that plagued her throughout her long life. Last May 26th, the Teatre Romea hosted the well-deserved tribute that the Catalan theater community paid her. Honors were also bestowed upon another beloved and historic actress, Mercè Bruquetas, also a centenarian this year, 2025, but who passed away years ago, in 2007.

I contacted Silvia because I have the feeling that her mother's centenary hasn't received the attention it deserves. I want her to tell me who she was and what she was like. She deserves it. She worked in film, theater, and television. She went to work abroad. She founded her own theater company. She worked, on equal footing, with some of the greatest figures in the art of acting: Adolfo Marsillach, Joan Capri, and Alady, for example. Acting was in her blood. I want to show Silvia an unusual find I've made. A great friend, a secondhand shopkeeper, an alchemist of all things. The springs of collecting, and knowing my treasure trove of stories lost in time, tell me that a box full of photos of a Catalan actress has been delivered. He suspects I'll like them. And yes, I love them. There are dozens of photographs of Josefina Güell: portraits, scenes from films, plays, meetings with colleagues, and family photos. Where did this come from? I'll soon find out. Silvia is stunned when I show it to her. A damn suitcase lost in her mother's last move, when she was no longer there. And lo and behold, what seemed lost is no longer so. A happy reunion.

–You'll reach one hundred, you know?

–And where will I celebrate?

–At the Romea, of course!

–But who will come, if all my friends are gone?

Josefina and Silvia fantasized about the quite plausible possibility of celebrating her 100th birthday while she was still alive. The actress didn't live to see it, but on the day of the tribute, there were many friends. Under the direction of Enric Llort, Àngels Gonyalons, the director and composer Raúl Patiño, and the singers Celeste Elias and Gracia Fernández all participated. It was a success. "Mom had a great love for culture in general and was very optimistic; she was always convinced that everything would be alright." She kept up with the theater listings, and Silvia remembers very well the last production they went to see together. It was Instructions for becoming a fascistWith a wonderful Mercè Arànega in Villarroel in the summer of 2023.

Silvia and I looked at the photos and she told me things about my mother, details of her life, decisive moments, and fundamental knowledge. "These photos are from Venezuela." It's the time, in the early sixties, when Josefina left for Caracas, where her brother worked as a photographer for the capital's radio station. There wasn't enough work in Barcelona, and there she was able to enjoy an interesting contract to star in a few soap operas. She spent two or three years developing a profession she had carried within her since childhood, ever since her grandmother, a great theater enthusiast, instilled the same passion in her. Like so many people of that era, it was amateur theater that shaped her. This is how she herself remembered this initial stage of the birth of her vocation: "I went to a school called Santa Florentina. There, I was part of the school's drama group, and we performed Els Pastorets, Cinderella, and other children's plays. I was so happy every time they told us to go rehearse."

"Later, at 16, I joined the Foment Excursionista (Mountaineering Club), where we put on a play every month. At 20, I got married and became a mother. I dedicated two years to raising my daughter."

Until one day, almost by chance and going against her parents' wishes—they didn't approve of her passion for acting—Josefina learned that the director and producer Ignasi F. Iquino, a true institution of Catalan cinema in the 1940s and 50s, was working on a film set. She showed up and was able to work as an extra. From there, the guidance of Paco Martínez Soria and Pepita Serrador helped solidify her budding theater career. Then came film. Producer and director Josep Maria Argemí believed in her and offered her a contract. Three essential films followed. Cristina (1959) –working in tandem with Enric Guitart–, Gaudí (1960) and, above all, The glass prison (1956), his most celebrated and remembered role, a total lead alongside Adolfo Marsillach, which almost earned him the Madrid Critics' Prize. He would have won it if it hadn't been for the almost unbeatable Sara Montiel ofThe last couplet"I was the happiest woman in the world; I could finally say I was working professionally as an actress," the actress recalled.

Josefina Güell's return from Venezuela led her to what were perhaps the most intense and fulfilling years of her career. The years of her own theater company. The years of productions in both Catalan and Spanish. A lot of comedy and vaudeville, a lot of popular theater, which filled theaters and provided many enjoyable moments. Titles such as A house of tangles, My boy, Your husband has bread in his eye, Wedding night surprise, The rival, Trap for a woman, The mousetrap And many more. These were the glorious years on the stage of the Teatre Barcelona, ​​on the Rambla de Catalunya at the corner of Plaça Catalunya. The unforgettable years of the musical. The coming floodwhich he performed for eight years!

His last plays were in the eighties, side by side with the great Paco Morán: The Ballad of the Three Innocents and No tag and no collarAnd what about film? Well, it played an interesting role in all three parts of Victory! by Antoni Ribas, also The spider web, The crime at the Oriente cinema and one last fun role in Chuecatown (2007). Oh! And roles in TV3 series such as Water women and The heart of the city

But, Silvia, how did your mother manage to reach, so to speak, one hundred years old? "I don't know! Just think, she smoked until she was sixty, you know!" A colossal mix of willpower, energy, and zest for life. Happy 100th birthday, Josefina Güell!