But off camera or when the curtain fell, the most important protagonist, partner and accomplice in the life of the Puerto Rican actor was Merel Poloway, a Jewish teacher, dancer and actress, who in 1976 became his wife.

A bashful child, Merel started dancing when she was three years old. Despite her shyness, when her school asked for volunteers for talent shows, Merel confessed that she was the first to raise her hand.

That passion for dance, years later, would connect her with the love of her life. Leaving her native Philadelphia and moving to New York, where she trained with legendary choreographer Martha Graham, Merel dabbled on Broadway and in 1968 met Juliá, when the two coincided in the musical “Illya Darling.”

“When I met him, (Raúl) took off his glasses and I said, 'Oh, wow, much better. Now I can see your eyes,'” Merel reminisces, as she underscores her instant fascination with the actor's iconic big eyes. “I could have married him right then and there,” she says with a laugh.

Merel received El Nuevo Día in the apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, where Juliá settled in the late 1960s and where the two formed a home together with their two sons Raúl Sigmund and Benjamín Rafael. Near the dining room is a work by Rafael Tufiño that the Puerto Rican painter dedicated to the actor. Above the sofa in the living room hangs a pop art painting with a colorful image of Juliá that projects him in all his splendor.

Looking at the striking painting, 30 years after the actor's departure and in what was his home, makes the give you goosebumps and provokes the imagination. How many readings of scripts must have taken place in that room? How many calls from directors, actors and friends? How many debates on Puerto Ricanness in New York? How to rescue those stories engraved on the walls by the echoes of Juliá's deep voice? Merel, jealous custodian of an extraordinary wealth of anecdotes, is our interlocutor.

“I think at first, when he comes to New York, with his accent, it was a little difficult for him, but I wasn't around for that time. When I met Raúl, he had already done 'The Cuban Thing' on Broadway and was on his way. But I think he faced a certain prejudice,” says Merel.

“He was fortunate, though, in that he had mentors like Joseph Papp and Ted Mann of 'Circle in the Square Theater,' who saw his talent and saw that he could play multiple roles, and that his accent was a plus, an asset,” she shares.

“Joseph Papp would tell him, 'Do Shakespeare with your own intonation, with your own flavor, don't try to use a British accent.' So Raúl was fortunate to have the mentors he had,” she adds.

But Merel lets on that her husband, because of his background and upbringing, was cut out for this. “I think his childhood had a lot to do with who he became. He was always very self-confident, always saying where he was from and how he was raised. The way he talked (about his roots) was always in idyllic terms,” comments Merel, who recalls multiple trips to Puerto Rico as a family with Juliá.

“We would go to Puerto Rico every chance he got because he has a big family. He loved his family very much and they loved him. He missed Puerto Rico when he wasn't there,” she explains.

What was Raúl like as a father? According to Merel, he was a sweetheart. “He always wanted to be a wonderful father and he was. He was thrilled when I gave birth to Raúl Sigmund and then when I had Benjamín. He was with me in the delivery room during every contraction,” she says and laughs, remembering that long night in the hospital, in which Juliá was with her all the time until the histrion surrendered to the arms of morpheus. When the contractions return, Merel looks over to the chair and sees her husband asleep in the chair. “I said, 'Raaaaúúúúl,'” she recalls as she intones the scolding voice she used to wake him up. Immediately, Juliá jumps out of the chair and says, 'Ok, Merel, breathe'; as he pretends he was never asleep. “That's how Raúl was,” she says and smiles.

Juliá's youngest son still remembers traveling with his parents and older brother, Raúl Sigmund, to the filming of his father's movies. Benjamín was only seven years old when Juliá passed away.

“We were in Argentina for about two months during one summer, in Australia for two months another summer (during the filming of 'Street Fighter') and my kids loved it,” comments Merel. “They started traveling from the time they were three months old and got used to it. Traveling informed their lives... it taught them to be comfortable around other people.”

During the conversation with Merel, Benjamín accompanies his mother and demonstrates the comfort she speaks of. Although he does not participate in the interview, Benjamín complements his mother's stories, recalls his family's adventures in Australia, talks about his father's friendship with independence leader Rubén Berríos during his high school years and proudly shows scripts, plaques and photos from Juliá's childhood to his rise in theater and film.

Among the hidden treasures and images never before seen by the public, Benjamín shows us the wedding photos of his parents, who were married eight years after they met.

“We were married by an Indian guru, because I am Jewish and Raúl was Catholic. Raúl loved his religion and was religious, and we couldn't find anyone to marry us,” Merel explains. Guru Baba Muktananda united them in marriage in a ceremony that Merel recalls with emotion. “Our parents were happy with the marriage, but not with the ceremony,” confesses the retired actress. In the end, however, everyone celebrated, says Merel, who remembers their nuptials as a magical day, filled with incense, oils and rose petals everywhere, and Baba Muktananda blessing all the guests.

Four years later, Merel, who had made the transition from dancer to actress, opts to give up her career to have her children. Eloquently, Merel sums up their marriage as a great alliance of equals. “He always saw us as partners, as a team. He respected me, and I supported him 100%.”

Questioned about which discipline she understands Juliá loved more, theater or film, Merel reflects. “He enjoyed both, but he always wanted to go back to doing theater throughout his career. I think that was his first love, theater, because that's where he started. He loved doing 'The Threepenny Opera' on Broadway in which he created a magnificent character. He was charming in 'Two Gentlemen of Verona',” Merel explains, showing a photo of Juliá performing in a Shakespeare play during his teenage years at San Ignacio School in Puerto Rico.

In New York, Juliá polished himself in theatrical productions known as “street theater”, as well as in the famed Shakespeare in the Park festival where he performed “Othello” and “The Taming of the Shrew” alongside Meryl Streep in Central Park.

In his wife's opinion, that experience helped Juliá to gain more confidence and a spontaneity that still amazes her. “Raúl has to be one of the most spontaneous, happy and relaxed people I've ever met in my life,” says Merel, who notes that street theater was largely responsible for imprinting those qualities on the actor. “On one occasion he was performing on the street and, all of the sudden, somebody threw out the window a burning mattress, and he and the other actors had to keep performing and deal with it. He was very good at dealing with that.”

As for movies, Merel comments that, although Raúl never expressed which was his favorite film, one of the films he most enjoyed shooting was “The Kiss of the Spider Woman” (1985), alongside William Hurt. “They formed a great friendship.” “He also loved filming ‘Presumed Innocent’ (opposite Harrison Ford) where he got to play the role of a lawyer,” she recalls.

Juliá achieved a successful career through discipline, commitment and passion. However, Merel explains that neither fame nor accolades were the star's focus. “Raúl was never about his career, his religion, his fame. Although he loved all of those things, he was always looking at what his next expression as a human being was going to be,” Merel explains.

And those expressions of Juliá had multiple manifestations: opening doors for colleagues, solving problems for friends and the unfinished task of eradicating hunger in the world. As an activist, Juliá dedicated much of his life to the cause of “The Hunger Project”, whose mission was to end famine by the end of the 20th century.

“At that time (the 1980s and 1990s) there were hundreds of thousands of people slowly dying of hunger and malnutrition,” explains Merel, who stresses that the actor's commitment to the cause was of such magnitude that he fasted on the 14th of every month from 1977 until 1994, the year of his death. “He fasted every month as an expression of his commitment to end hunger on the planet. He would do it even if he had two shows in one day,” she reveals.

After Juliá's passing, Merel explains that many people went out of their way to honor his memory. This resulted in multiple initiatives that raised more than $3 million for “The Hunger Project.”

“I think his career was a vehicle to achieve his purpose in life. And his purpose was always to make a difference in the lives of others. Not only with ‘The Hunger Project’, but also with the ‘Puerto Rican Family Institute’, with youth at risk, with issues that helped the community. If he was able to do it, he did it,” she recalls with evident pride.

“As I always say about Raúl, he was always a big 'yes' to life,” Merel concludes. That philosophy of saying yes and making things possible in favor of others, curiously, bears some relation to the “décima” written by Ana Lydia Vega and interpreted by Juliá in the 1986 Puerto Rican film “La gran fiesta.” “The impossible is not Puerto Rican,” says the actor in the legendary scene from Marcos Zurinaga's acclaimed film, remembered for the iconic cape he wore, which moved to the rhythm of his passionate gesticulation.

Juliá, Puerto Rican at last, always made it possible.