Paquito
Rico was born Francisca Rico Martínez was born on October 13, 1929 in Sevilla,
Andalusia, Spain. After participating in
a radio contest, she debuted on stage being still very young in the Montemar
Spanish ballet with Carmen Sevilla and Ana Esmeralda. She then started working
in the company of Pepe Pinto. She was discovered by Florian Rey in 1948 and
under his direction she appeared in her first film “Brindis a Manolete”, which immediately
gave her great popularity. She follows with comedies, farces and dramas, as
well as numerous folk films.
In
subsequent years she reaches favorite star status in the Spanish cinema, also
continuing her career as a folk singer. She fulfills complete success in 1958
when playing the role of Queen María de las Mercedes de Orleans y Borbón (first
wife of Alfonso XII who died prematurely) in the melodrama directed by
Argentine Luis César Amadori ¿Dónde vas, Alfonso XII?.
In
1961 Paquito appeared in her only Euro-western; “Savage Guns” as Franchea.
Two
years later Paquita Rico appears with her friends (and artistic rivals) Lola
Flores and Carmen Sevilla in the film “El balcón de la luna”, an atypical
production bringing together three film stars usually designed for individual
brilliance.
From
that moment Paquita Rico had sparse film appearances with only six more titles
until her retirement from show business. In the late 1980s she worked as
Tertullian in the radio program “Directamente Encarna” for Cadena COPE .
Rico
came out of retirement and took part in an episode of TV’s ‘Hostal Royal
Manzanares’ in 1997.
Today
we celebrate Paquito Rico’s 85th birthday.
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