Raul Juliá, saint and genius

It has long been my firm conviction that there has been no better actor-character pairing in history (apart from maybe Peter Sellers as Clouseau) than the legendary Raul Juliá playing Gomez Addams. I idolise the original 1991 Addams Family movie as one of the most superb comedy productions since the 60s: all the casting is fantastic, with faultless performances by the actors playing pretty much every member of the notorious Family, and some of the non-Family roles too. But the entire thing is stolen by Juliá. He was born to play Gomez.

So you can imagine how pleased I was, after some hardcore googling following another viewing, to find that not only has Raul produced one of the most sublime performances of any film ever, but is also a philanthropist of the first degree. Juliá campaigned constantly throughout his hopelessly too short life to end world hunger, a goal he charmingly believed would be achieved by the end of this century. He made his point by talking about some of the chilling, but obvious facts that I also think should be used more by activists: the fact that we have every technological and practical means of ending world hunger, for example. We only lack the will to end it. "When hunger ends in the planet, we don't know the joy that we'll experience" was one quote that particularly stuck with me. This man and I are clearly on the same wavelength.

Raul Juliá died tragically of cancer long before his time, in a career curtailment that makes Christopher Reeves' fate look like a happy ending. Long may his memory and ideas live, and many thanks for the inspiration.

For a look at the man and his ideas, watch this: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3244182092757863346

For a bit a fun, watch my favourite Addams Family dance routine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOx99cZT9eY&feature=related