Ricardo Melchor Zamacois y Zabala (6 January 1847,

Bilbao ) , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = 275 px , map_caption = Interactive map outlining Bilbao , pushpin_map = Spain Basque Country#Spain#Europe , pushpin_map_caption ...

- 18 February 1888,

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

)Ricardo Melchor Zamacois y Zabala
Biography @ ''Real Academia de la Historia'' was a Spanish actor and singer. He was half-brother of the historian

Niceto de Zamacois Juan Niceto de Zamacois y Urrutia (20 March 1820 in Bilbao – 29 September 1885 in Mexico City) was a Spanish journalist, playwright, poet, novelist and historian resident in Mexico. He was half-brother of the painter Eduardo Zamacois y Zabala, ...

, brother of the actress

Elisa Zamacois Elisa Pedra Zamacois y Zabala (29 April 1838 in Bilbao – November 1915 in Buenos Aires) was a Spanish singer and actress. She was half-sister of the writer Niceto de Zamacois, and sister of the painter Eduardo Zamacois y Zabala, and the acto ...

and the painter

Eduardo Zamacois y Zabala Eduardo Zamacois y Zabala (2 July 1841 – 12 January 1871) was a Spanish Academic painter who specialized in small-scale canvases. He was the father of the French writer Miguel Zamacoïs, brother of the writer Niceto de Zamacois, the singer ...

, and uncle of the writers Miguel Zamacois and

Eduardo Zamacois Eduardo Zamacois y Quintana (17 February 1873 – 31 December 1971) was a Cuban-Spanish novelist and journalist. A leading figure of the boom of short novel collections in Spain, and a representative of the bohemian literary scene in the coun ...

, and the music composer

Joaquín Zamacois Joaquín Zamacois y Soler (14 December 1894 in Santiago de Chile – 8 September 1976 in Barcelona) was a Chilean-Spanish composer, music teacher and author. He comes from a well-known family of Spanish artists. Biography Joaquín Zamacois y So ...

Biography

Ricardo Melchor Zamacois y Zabala was born on 6 January 1847 in Bilbao, son of Miguel Antonio de Zamacois y Berreteaga (1794-1863), a Professor at the Colegio de Humanidades de Vizcaya, and his second wife, Ruperta María del Pilar de Zabala y Arauco. He had several notable relatives. His family surname was originated in the French Basque city of

Hasparren Hasparren (; eu, Hazparne) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France. A resident of Hasparren is known as a 'Hazpandar'. Geography Location It's a ''commune fait partie'' of the Basque Province of Labo ...

, where it was originally spelled "Samacoys".Novo González, Javier, ''Los Zamacois de Bilbao, una saga de artistas'', Bilbao, BBK, 2010, He studied sculpture and drawing in Paris but, after his father's death, he returned to his family and enrolled at the , where he was awarded a gold medal for his work. Especially gifted for comedy, he began his career at the Café San Isidro in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, where he developed his personal style. By the end of the 1860s, he was performing at the

Teatro de la Zarzuela The Teatro de la Zarzuela is a theatre in Madrid, Spain. The theatre is today mainly devoted to zarzuela (the Spanish traditional musical theatre genre), as well as operetta and recitals. History The theatre was designed by architect Jerónimo ...

, in a company formed by and . Later, he performed at the , where he was one of the inaugural acts in 1875, and the . He was especially well known for his impersonations of notable figures, such as the bullfighter, , and the tenor,

Enrico Tamberlik Enrico Tamberlik (16 March 1820 – 13 March 1889) was an Italian tenor who sang to great acclaim at Europe and America's leading opera venues. He excelled in the heroic roles of the Italian and French repertories and was renowned for his po ...

. He toured the Americas in 1885, in the company of . A year later, he became a Director at the . In 1879, he married the actress, Emilia Ballesteros. In 1887, he discovered that she was having an affair. This ultimately led to a suicide attempt. He never fully recovered and was admitted to a mental hospital in Barcelona, where he died early the following year.

References

1847 births 1888 deaths Spanish male stage actors 19th-century Spanish male singers People from Bilbao Male actors from the Basque Country (autonomous community) Spanish expatriates in France 19th-century Spanish male actors Spanish impressionists (entertainers) {{Spain-singer-stub