Who Are Those Guys? ~ Javier de Rivera

 

Javier de Rivera Corsini was born on July 29, 1901, in Las Palmas, Grand Canary Islands, Spain. Javier was a Spanish actor and film director. He appeared in around 200 films, alternating roles as protagonists, supporting actors and extras.

At the age of twenty, after finishing his degree as a commercial surveyor, he moved to Madrid to develop his true passion: interpreting. He began as an extra for a series of films by José Buchs: “Victim of Hate” (1921), “The Useless Miss” (1921), “The Paloma Festival” (1921), “Jailers” (1922) and “The Moorish Queen” (1922).

Gradually, he began to get roles of greater importance and in 1925 he obtained leading roles in films such as “El señor feudal”, “Ruta gloriosa” by Fernando Delgado, “La niena del cura” by Luis R. Alonso and “Madrid en el año 2000” by Manolo Noriega, the latter one of the few science fiction genre films in Spanish cinema.

He was famous by 1926, but with the arrival of the Franco regime, his acting career was paralyzed, so in the moment he took advantage of it to try his luck as a director, directing “The Tempest” (1944) and “Yebala” (1948), both with little box office success. From then on, he began to work as a dubbing director at the Cinearte Studios in Madrid.

In the 1960s he revived his career as an actor, although in secondary roles and even as an extra. As a curious note, it should be noted that he shared the cast with his countrymen Fabián Conde in “El ángel” (1969) by Vicente Escrivá and with Charles Quiney in “Plomo sobre Dallas” (1970), in “Los rebels de Arizona” (1970), both by José María Zabalza and in “Ivanna” (1970) and “La última aventura del Zorro” (1970), both by José Luis Merino.

On January 29, 1977, he received the A Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Entertainment Union​

He died on March 31, 1993, in Madrid at the age of 91 in precarious conditions and practically forgotten.

Javier de Rivera appeared in a dozen Spaghetti westerns from “In a Colt's Shadow” in 1965 as Williams and was billed as Xavier de Rivera. His final appearance in a Spaghetti western was as a cameo role as a poker player in 1974’s “Patience Has a Limit, We Don’t”.

de RIVERA, Javier (aka Javier de Ribera, Xavier de Rivera, Javier de la Rivera, Javier Rivera) (Javier de Rivera Corsini) [7/29/1901, Las Palmas, Grand Canary Islands, Spain – 3/31/1993, Spain] – director, film actor.

In a Colt's Shadow – 1965 (Williams) [as Xavier de Rivera]

Johnny West - 1965

Django Kill – 1966 (Oak henchman)

The Fury of Johnny Kid - 1966 [as Javier Rivera]

Rattler Kid – 1967 (prisoner)

Tierra Brava – 1968 (farmer)

Zorro the Conqueror – 1968 (village leader) [as Javier Rivera]

Rebels of Arizona – 1969 (railroad formeman) [as Javier Rivera]

$20,000 for Every Corpse – 1969 (railroad superintendent) [as Javier Rivera]

Another Dollar for the McGregors – 1970 (poker player)

Bullets Over Dallas – 1970 (carpenter) [as Javier Rivera]    

Patience Has a Limit, We Don’t – 1974 (poker player)