The Caballero from Catalonia

Juan Duval (Juan Bellavista Xicart) was born in Barcelona, the heart of Catalonia, in 1897. He first made a career for himself in his native Spain and later in Paris and London he assumed the stage name “Juan Duval” retaining this for his career in Latin America and the Anglo world of the United States. He was a man of multiple talents: a dancer, (Spanish-Gypsy, French-Apache); a choreographer, and a director and producer of musical revues and movies. He was a poet, linguist, a businessman, and a soldier in two World Wars and the Foreign Legion. He was a musician and composer. He ran his own Spanish dance school on Hollywood Boulevard. A friend of bullfighters. A Hollywood character actor and screenwriter. A writer, amateur historian, and playwright. In short, he was a Renaissance man. In America he was a friend of famous ventriloquist Señor Wences; Jose and Amparo Iturbi, concert pianists of worldwide fame; Emilio Osta, child musical prodigy and concert pianist; Victor Granados (son of Enrique); actors John McIntyre, Warner Anderson, and many others who were part of that period of Hollywood. Geo-politically, Juan was born a Catalan and Spaniard, was made a temporary French citizen by the Great War, and became a U.S. citizen by serving in the U.S. Armed Forces at the end of World War I and the beginning of World War II. Juan used his talents as writer and poet in Spain in 1937—in support of the Republican cause, at constant risk of his life. He was a multi-talented artist who was not twisted or conflicted, but a decent human being and an old-fashioned Gentleman.