RIP Germán Robles, Mexico's Master of Gothic Terror!
We are very sad today to learn of the passing of Germán Robles, an actor who began a lengthy career in Mexico with 1957's "El Vampiro" as the debonair Count Karol de Lavud. Like Todd Browning did with Bela Lugosi 26 years earlier, director Fernando Méndez took full advantage of Robles's European mystique to bring his Gothic vampire to life in Mexican cinemas. A series of monster and thriller films starring Robles would follow, including "El Castillo de los Monstruos," "La maldición de Nostradamus," "El Baron del Terror," and more in that glory age of 1960s Mexican horror cinema. To hear more about Mexican cinema, you can listen to my conversation with Mexican director Aaron Soto here.
Although not Mexican by birth (Robles emigrated from Spain to escape fascism in Spain), he nonetheless provided a magnetic and memorable face for the pop culture of Mexico. This is a sad day and a real loss to film fans everywhere. What a year to lose both Christopher Lee and Germán Robles. I hope people will seek out these films and make Robles more familiar to US movie aficionado. His name certainly deserves a place next to Lugosi and Lee as a truly great Gothic vampire!
