Fernando Casado D'Arambillet, known as Fernando Rey, (September 20 1917 - March 9 1994) was born in A Coruña, then known as La Coruña, the son of Colonel Casado Veiga.

He studied architecture, but then the Spanish Civil War began, interrupting his university days.

In 1936, he began his career in movies as an extra, being sometimes even credited. It was then that he chose his stage name, Fernando Rey. He kept his first name, but he took his mother's second surname, Rey, a short surname with a clear meaning ("Rey" is Spanish for "King").

In 1944 his first speaking role was the Duke de Alba in José López Rubio 's Eugenia de Montijo.

This was the start of a prolific career in movies, radio, theater and television. Rey was also a great dubbing actor in Spanish television. His voice was considered intense and personal, and he became the narrator of important Spanish movies like Luis García Berlanga 's Bienvenido Mr. Marshall (1953), Ladislao Vadja 's Marcelino Pan y Vino (1955), and even Orson Welles' Don Quixote (1992). In fact, he acted in four different versions of Don Quixote in different roles, including Welles'.

His work with Luis Buñuel during the 1960s and 1970s made him internationally famous; he was the first "international Spanish actor".

He played the French villain Alain Charnier in William Friedkin's The French Connection (1971). Initially, Friedkin intended to cast Francisco Rabal as Charnier, but could not remember his name: he only knew it was a Spanish actor. Rey was hired before Friedkin could see him. Rey did not speak French, but Friedkin discovered that Rabal spoke neither French nor English, so he opted to keep Rey.

During the 1980s and 1990s, Rey was awarded at San Sebastián and Cannes, and got the gold medal of the Spanish Art and Movie Sciences Academy . He became the president of that Academy from 1992 till his death two years later.

He died in Madrid, of cancer.