José Frade
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
José Frade | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1938 (age 87–88) |
| Known for | Film production and scriptwriting |
José Frade (born in Madrid in 1938) is a Spanish film producer, businessman and film and television distributor. He owns his production company, José Frade Producciones Cinematográficas.
Commercial success
His career started as a businessman working for theatre companies in the late 1950s, with his first production being Irma la Douce, which became a success in Barcelona and the rest of Spain despite the initial failure in Madrid.[1]
In 1996, he founded Canal 7 Televisión, whose coverage was limited to the Community of Madrid, where he hired notable television staff to lure viewers to the new channel.[2] By 2002, it had become the most successful local television station in Spain and the one with the highest number of potential viewers,[3] though, by January 2014, the station closed down.[4]
By becoming one of the main Spanish film producers in the 1960s, the first part of his career was centered on the production of spaghetti westerns until, in 1970, he produced a comedy which became an unprecedented success, No desearás al vecino del quinto, directed by Tito Fernández and with Alfredo Landa as its lead actor. Over four million people watched it in its original theatrical run.[5] This gave way to a subgenre known as landismo, which continued with No desearás la mujer del vecino (1971), Préstame quince días (1971), Los días de Cabirio (1971), Cuando el cuerno suena (1975), etc.
In parallel, he makes other genres (suspense, musical, destape), with consolidated directors (José Luis Sáenz de Heredia, José Antonio Nieves Conde, Luis Lucia) as well as new ones (Eloy de la Iglesia). With La chica del Molino Rojo, directed by Eugenio Martín in 1973, the image Marisol had as a prodigy child gave way to an adult, sophisticated Pepa Flores. He also produced several movies that helped leap Manolo Escobar to stardom.
Democratic transition
With the arrival of the Spanish transition to democracy, his career evolves towards films with historical and social content, presented and awarded in international festivals, among the first, Torment[6][7] and Pim, pam, pum... ¡fuego! (Pedro Olea, 1974 and 1975) and, later, titles that represented the opening of society, such as La trastienda (Jorge Grau, 1975), Las largas vacaciones del 36 (Jaime Camino, 1976), La guerra de papá (Antonio Mercero, 1977) or Un hombre llamado Flor de Otoño (Pedro Olea, 1978).
In 1977 he was elected Presidente de la Asociación Independiente de Productores Cinematográficos Españoles (AECINE), becoming the first to be democratically elected outside of the vertical union.
He did not abandon commercial cinema: with Mariano Ozores, he directed Préstame tu mujer (1980), Brujas mágicas (1981), Cristóbal Colón, de oficio... descubridor (1982), Juana la loca... de vez en cuando (1983), etc. and in 1989, he produces Blood and Sand, directed by Javier Elorrieta with US actress Sharon Stone in the leading role.
Television
In 1983, he extends his production line to television, making the series Las pícaras,[8] but criticized the subvention policy for Spanish cinema and its connections to Televisión Española during Pilar Miró's mandate and Felipe González's successive governments.[9][10]
In the 1990s, he became a shareholder at Antena 3 Televisión owning 5% of the network. As of 1997, he was critical of Antonio Asensio's management.[11] He produces Canguros (1994), Hermanos de leche (1994), Tres hijos para mí solo (1995) y Yo, una mujer (1996). He returned to collaborate with TVE with Café con leche (1998), Academia de baile Gloria (2001) and ¿Se puede? (2004).
Finally, in 1996, he launches his own television station, Canal 7 Televisión, where he produced El precio justo (Spanish version of The Price is Right, formerly on TVE), El rastro, Ayuda en marcha, 7 de corazones, Corazón del milenio and El debate, among others. He also launched music shows such as Las chicas y los chicos, Dedicado a ti, Salto a la fama, La copla, Historias del cuplé.[12]
In 1998, he became one of the key funders of La Razón, founded by Luis María Anson, although he quickly left the project. That year, the courts resolved a quarrel against him facing those responsible for the Telecinco series Médico de familia for a supposed crime against intellectual property.[13][14]
In 2010, he produced Don Mendo Rock. ¿La venganza?, directed by José Luis García Sánchez.
In 2014, his film Por un puñado de besos was released, and in 2016, he returned to television with the TVE series La sonata del silencio.[15]
New platforms cause Frade's production company, now led by his son Constantino, to develop titles that have caused interest from several platforms. La Reconquista, based on José Javier Esparza's book, and several original scripts, became a part of José Frade PC's project catalog in pre-production phase. As of November 2025, the project is still in development hell and is pending an official funding decision from RTVE.[16]
References
- ↑ "Yo, productor de "Irma la dulce"". Diario ABC. 8 May 1959. Retrieved 12 June 2012.
- ↑ El productor José Frade pone en marcha el CANAL 7 como televisión local en Madrid con José Miguel Azpiroz como director de programas
- ↑ Canal 7 de Madrid, la emisora local más vista de España
- ↑ La aventura televisiva de Canal 7, que impulsó José frade, se desvanece
- ↑ Browitt, Jeff, King, Stewart (2004). The Space of Culture Critical Readings in Hispanic Studies. University of Delaware Press. p. 12. ISBN 978-0-87413-917-4.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ↑ "Tormento · España 1974". Adaptaciones de la literatura española en el cine español. Referencias y bibliografía. Retrieved 3 December 2023 – via Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes.
- ↑ Faulkner, Sally (2016). "Rehearsing for democracy in dictatorship Spain: middlebrow period drama 1970–77". In Faulkner, Sally (ed.). Middlebrow Cinema. Oxon: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-138-77712-5.
- ↑ "José Frade: La colaboración con TVE es necesaria". Diario ABC. 8 April 1983. Retrieved 12 June 2012.
- ↑ "La izquierda ha secuestrado injusta e insolentemente la bandera de la cultura". Diario ABC. 22 October 1989. Retrieved 12 June 2012.
- ↑ "TVE incumple los contratos de "Episodios Nacionales"". Diario ABC. 19 December 1989. Retrieved 12 June 2012.
- ↑ "TVE paga 1000 millones por 100 películas al productor José Frade". El País. 6 August 1997. Retrieved 12 June 2012.
- ↑ "Canal 7 arranca con programas informativos y concursos". El País. 25 June 1996. Retrieved 12 June 2012.
- ↑ "El productor José Frade pide casi 500 millones al actor Emilio Aragón". El País. 6 October 1997. Retrieved 12 June 2012.
- ↑ "Varapalo de la Audiencia a José Frade por acusar de plagio a Emilio Aragón". El País. 18 April 1998. Retrieved 12 June 2012.
- ↑ The FesTVal kicks off with the series co-produced by TVE and José Frade PC, 'La Sonata del Silencio'
- ↑ José Frade sueña con que un cambio político en España le reabra las puertas de RTVE para contar la Reconquista