27 August 2012

Paca Gabaldón (aka Marie France)

Spanish actress Paca Gabaldón (1949) appeared in dozens of European films of the 1960’s, 1970’s and 1980’s under the stage names Marie France and Mary Francis and later under her own name.

Joachim Fuchsberger, Marie France in Der Letzte Mohikaner
German postcard, no. 44 of 64. Photo: Constantin. Still from Der Letzte Mohikaner/The Last Tomahawk (1965, Harald Reinl) with Joachim Fuchsberger.

Eurowestern
Paca Gabaldón was born as María Francisca Gabaldón Serer in 1949 in Barcelona, Spain. In her youth, she lived for many years in several countries, e.g. in Turkey, Italy, Argentina, Chile and Peru. She attended acting, speaking and singing classes and appeared in Peru in her first film, Ganarás el pan/Earn your bread (1964, Armando Robles Godoy). That same year she appeared under the name Marie France in the Italian-Spanish-German coproduction Der Letzte Mohikaner/The Last Tomahawk(1965, Harald Reinl). This Eurowestern is one of the many adaptations of the famous novel by James Fenimore Cooper. It was filmed with an international cast including Joachim Fuchsberger in Almeria in the south of Spain. From 1967 on, Paca Gabaldón appeared under the name Mary Francis in several Spanish comedies by Pedro Lazaga, such as Novios 68/Boyfriends 68 (1967, Pedro Lazaga), No le busques tres pies.../Does not look like three feet ... (1968, Pedro Lazaga), Las Secretarias/The Secretaries (1968, Pedro Lazaga) with Theresa Gimpera, and No desearás la mujer de tu prójimo/Not covet thy neighbor's wife (1968, Pedro Lazaga) with Sonia Bruno. She also worked for the Spanish television as an actress in TV films like Maruxa (1968, Juan de Orduña) and she hosted several shows.


German trailer of Der Letzte Mohikaner/The Last Tomahawk (1965). Source: Hightower1979 (YouTube).

Modern, Seductive Women
During the 1970’s, Paca Gabaldón appeared both in starring and in supporting roles and played modern, seductive women. She appeared as Mary Francis in the Spanish-Italian adventure film Los corsarios/The Corsairs (1971, Ferdinando Baldi) starring Dean Reed, the Spanish thriller La semana del asesino/Week of the Killer (1972, Eloy de la Iglesia), the cult horror film Drácula contra Frankenstein/Dracula Against Frankenstein (1972, Jesus Franco) with Dennis Price, and the Spanish-Mexican production Don Quijote cabalga de nuevo/Don Quixote Rides Again (1973, Roberto Gavaldón) starring Cantinflas. As Marie France she played a small role in the action film Metralleta 'Stein'/Blind Vendetta (1975, José Antonio de la Loma) starring Francisco Rabal and John Saxon, but in following productions like La violación/The violation (1977, Germán Lorente) she was again credited as Mary Francis. From the end of the 1970’s she started to use her own name on TV and in films.


The start of La comunidad/Common Wealth (2000). Source: Noflashplease (YouTube).

Black Comedy
In the following decades, Paca Gabaldón continued to appear in both Spanish and international productions. She played a small role in the Spanish-Austrian coproductions Patrizia/Patricia (1980, Hubert Frank) starring Anne Parillaud and in the French-Spanish crime film Fanny Pelopaja/Fanny Straw-Top (1984, Vicente Aranda) with Bruno Cremer. She appeared in bigger parts in the Spanish films Barcelona sur/Barcelona south (1981, Jordi Cadena), La plaça del diamant/The Pigeon (1982, Francesc Betriu) and the comedy El último penalty/The Last Penalty (1984, Martín Garrido). Later she focused on theater work and for several years she only performed on stage. Nowadays she mixes roles in stage plays with appearances in films and on television. Among her more recent films are the black comedy La comunidad/Common Wealth (2000, Álex de la Iglesia) with Carmen Maura, the horror drama Tuno negro/Black Serenade (2001, Pedro L. Barbero, Vicente J. Martín) with Jorge Sanz, the drama Iris (2004, Rosa Vergés) with Silke and Ana Torrent, and Carmo/Carmo, Hit the Road (2008, Murilo Pasta) with Fele Martínez. Her most recent credit is a lead role in the mystery drama Deseos/Desires (2012, José Pavón). She plays a female film director who gathers for her new film five people in her house in order to give them the opportunity to compete for their lifetime desires. She records their joys and misfortunes, until the fulfillment of the ultimate desire.


Spanish trailer for La comunidad/Common Wealth (2000). Source: Venevisioninti (YouTube).

Sources: Tom B. (Westerns… All’Italiana!), Wikipedia (German and Spanish), and IMDb.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

the actress appearing in "der letzte mohikaner" is Marie France/Paca Gabaldon from spain.

the girl on the german krüger postcard ist not the same person: it´s "Marie France Dousset", in germany known as "Marie France".
she was an actress & singer, appeared in some "schlager-films": "denn die musik und die liebe in tirol" (1963), "die lustigen weiber von tirol" (1964)and some more, also in "Onkel Toms Hütte" (1965).

Paul van Yperen said...

Thanks for your comment. We've changed the information.