Faithful friend, authentic and detached. If anyone can attest to these qualities of Raúl Juliá, it is actress and singer Ivonne Coll.
After forging a career in Puerto Rico in café theaters, hotels, and television, the artist wanted to expand her horizons and went to Los Angeles, where she broke into the mecca of cinema with a one-off character in the 1974 film “The Godfather Part II.”. There, she opened her eyes to a world of acting that she wanted to be part of. A great friend, the Puerto Rican musician and actor Tony Martínez, advised her to travel to New York to study in depth everything related to the performing arts.
By then, Raúl Juliá was already well known in the New York theater scene. He belonged to the company of legendary producer and director Joseph Papp, with whom he would star in Shakespeare in the Park.
“By the time he arrived in New York, Raúl was already an established and respected figure on the New York theater scene, and he shared his teachers with me. He put me in touch with his diction teacher, among others. When I would call one of these teachers and say that I was referring to Raúl, they wouldn't ask me anything else; they would just say, 'come.' That helped me for my audition with Joseph Papp, who adored Raúl, and then I went on to be part of the first multi-racial theater company that Papp founded on Broadway. So I say that Raúl's energy led me to achieve that important milestone in my career,” Coll recalls with evident affection and gratitude for Juliá.
“Raúl opened doors for us, he gave permission to all of us Latino actors who were entering the American world of show business. He shone doing Shakespeare on Broadway with his accent, with his Latin cadence, but with perfect diction. He was a great inspiration,” she says.
—What else did you learn from Raúl Juliá?
“He was disciplined. With him, I learned that you have to be ready at all times, that you have to train a lot, and that in this career, you never stop learning. I spent seven years training in the various acting techniques taught in the United States for theater, film, and television. Raúl was perfection on stage. The first time we worked together was in ‘La gran fiesta’. Then I saw him when he starred in 'Man of La Mancha,' which debuted in Los Angeles before being presented on Broadway. I remember hearing him sing with that deep voice, and when in the middle of the English text, he would pronounce Dulcinea's name in Spanish. It was those winks that made him stand out from the rest.”
Coll reaffirmed that unique connection with Raúl Juliá during a posthumous tribute to the actor in Los Angeles.
“In those events people usually talk, share anecdotes and remember moments. Some people sang Broadway songs, but I don't know why I felt I had to sing to Merel (Raúl Juliá's widow) and I started singing 'Bajo un palmar', by Pedro Flores. It was as if Raúl had asked me to sing her a song that would remind her of Puerto Rico, that would make her feel that he was by her side. He dictated it to me. It was something so special,” she recalls.
—If you had Raúl Juliá in front of you one more time, what would you say to him?
“If I saw Raúl again, I would tell him, 'I love you with all my heart.' It is important to tell people that you love them because we live as if we were eternal, as if we were never going to leave this world. It is to bless that life, that being that we have before us. And, of course, I would say, 'Thank you, Raúl.'”.
