It is probably the most accurate portrait of a “gentleman.” Marquis de Castelbell, Grandee of Spain, his father was a personal friend of Alfonso XIII. His mother was the second daughter of the Marquis de Portago. This year has been the 101st anniversary of his birth in Madrid.
His parents went into exile in Biarritz, after the proclamation of the Republic, although they returned after six months. He was educated in France and it was there that the Civil War surprised him. Fought in the
Franquista announcement being just a teenager. By the end. he pursued a diplomatic career and moved to Great Britain. Then he lived in Argentina, where he dedicated himself to horse breeding and in 1951 he returned to France.
His literary passion began at the age of 14. In 1954 he published his first novel, for which he was forbidden to return to Spain, and his work includes some thirty titles, between narrative and plays, as well as numerous articles.
But, in addition, José Luis de Villalonga developed a long acting career. They came to offer him a
Hollywood contract which he rejected. Among the more than 70 titles of his career, “Breakfast with Diamonds” stands out, starring Audrey Hepburn, “Juliet of the Spirits”, a classic by director Federico Fellini or “National Heritage”, by Luis Berlanga. His favorite role was that of himself, an exquisite bon vivant aristocrat.
He had houses in Monte Carlo, Paris, Madrid and Palma de Mallorca. His love life was turbulent. He was married four times, the last to the writer Begoña Aranguren, almost thirty years younger, which ended between harsh accusations two and a half years later. He was 82 and she was 50 when they married. The controversy had repercussions on several covers of the heart. In the two books he dedicated to him, Begoña described him as a misogynist and a narcissist.
In between, the writer had married, in 1945, for the first time, with the British
Priscilla Scott-Ellis, daughter of one of the richest landowners in England, and whom he had met during the Civil War, where she served as a nurse on Franco’s side. Together they settled in Argentina and dedicated themselves to the world of horses and equestrian racing. A year after getting married they had a son, John. Then Carmen arrived. His relationship with them was almost non-existent. Already married, José Luis had an affair with Magda Gabor, sister of actress Zsa Zsa Gabor, but broke it when his wife became pregnant.
After their separation, he returned to Paris in 1951, where he met from royal characters (Soraya, Grace Kelly, King George of Greece, the Counts of Paris or the Dukes of Windsor, passing through the Spanish royal house in exile) to figures of international glamor such as Brigitte Bardot, Orson Welles, Federico Fellini, Audrey Hepburn, Charles Chaplin, Sophia Loren, Onassis or Catherine Deneuve. He focused on literature and did interviews for ‘Vogue’ or ‘Paris-Macht’ with his very famous friends. Among his idylls of the time is actress Madeleine Robinson.
He also had a lightning marriage with Úrsula Dietrich – it lasted three weeks – but before that, a notorious love story with the actress
French Michèlle Girardon, who committed suicide at 37 when he married what he described as the woman of his life, his third wife,
Silianne Stella Morell. She was 27 and he was 53. They were married two days after meeting. They were together for more than 25 years. At the end of her days, when she fell ill, José Luis went to live with her, with her third husband, the painter Jorge Bascones, and with her son Fabrizio, whom Vilallonga loved as his own, in Andratx. He died in Port de Andratx on August 30, 2007, at the age of 87.
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