RAUL JULIA

An appreciation of this versatile Puerto Rican actor, who has appeared in a great variety of plays, films, and television shows; in tragedies, political thillers, romantic comedies—and whatever genre The Addams Family falls into. Stefoff portrays him as an actor who has battled both typecasting and stereotyping throughout his 30-year career, and she points out how frequently his performances have been singled out for critical praise in otherwise unexceptional productions. Her account is evidently based entirely on newspaper and magazine articles, so there is little personal information here, but the author describes and analyzes Julia's major roles in some detail and devotes a chapter to his involvement in causes such as Werner Erhard's Hunger Project. Serviceable, and likely to spark more name recognition than most of the other entries in the publisher's Hispanics of Achievement series. Index; brief chronology; selected filmography; reading list; b&w publicity photos. (Biography. 11-15)