Andrew Marcec » Paul Naschy Remembered (1934-2009)

Paul Naschy Remembered (1934-2009)

Dec 05, 2009 | No Comments | @andrewmarcec

Paul Naschy, also known as “The Spanish Lon Chaney” and “The Boris Karloff of Spain”, was quite possibly my favorite horror filmmaker to come out of Spain. He regaled his fans with tales of terror, many of which revolved around the “Walpurgis Nacht“, or Night of the Werewolf, and his most frequent character Waldemar Daninsky.

He was born in 1934, and grew up in a post civil war Spain where his father worked as an industrialist. As a child, his mother would take him to the cinema to see films like “Doctor Satan”, “Drums of Fu Manchu”, and “Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman” even though at the time horror films weren’t screened much and were always intended for older audiences. Paul was so fascinated by the films and their characters that he would spend a lot of time drawing them, it was also through these films that his interest in the film making process was sparked.

As he grew, so did his love for film. His favorite genres shifted from horror to that of Westerns and historical adventure films, especially films starring Marlon Brando. However, his family wished that he would focus on a practical career for his future, so when he entered university his primary focus of study was around architecture, where his talent for drawing earned him high marks at the School of Architecture in Barcelona. His passion for the entertainment industry could not be quelled, so he set out to try and find work doing what he loved.

His drawing skills earned him quite a reputation around town, and he ended up working as an album artist at several record labels where he drew cover art for albums by artists like Elvis Presley. He then adopted a pseudonym, Jack Mills, and branched out into the novel writing business. His work was specifically centered around the western genre, and his first major character was Black Snake. Finally, in 1960, Paul got his first taste of the film industry with the film “King of Kings” where he played an extra.

It wouldn’t be until eight long years later that he would come to star in the films that we know him best for. ”Mark of the Wolfman” was both written and directed by Naschy and distributed nationwide under several different titles. Though this was the “official” first film in his twelve film series starring the Wolfman, none of the films starring the Wolfman have a specific chronological order, or even interrelate to one another in any way. Not to be pigeonholed into one set character Paul spanned the entire horror genre through his career playing characters like a hunchback, Dracula, a mummy, and even a priest in “Exorcismo”.

When the Spanish film industry’s interest in horror and the supernatural started fading, Paul added the title of producer to his already long list of credits, in hopes that he could keep the genre alive. This allowed Paul to reach out to several Japanese contacts he had, and helmed some of the first Spanish-Japanese horror films like “The Beast and the Magic Sword”.

He penned his autobiography “Memoirs of a Wolfman” in 1997. In 2000 Fangoria inducted him into its hall of fame, and in 2001 Spain honored him with the Golden Metal of Fine Arts, their most prestigious award.

He lost his battle with pancreatic cancer on Dec 1, 2009 in Madrid, but even though he is gone the legacy that he (with a little help from Waldemar Daninsky) left behind will be one that will continue to entertain horror fans for generations to come.