Alejandro Rey: Of Carlos, Casinos and “Cuba”

Alejandro Rey (1930-1987) was likely the first Latin-American screen actor I was ever aware of (at the age of 5 or thereabouts). The handsome Argentine played Carlos on The Flying Nun and is by no means to be confused with Fernando Rey, whose real last name was Arambillet, came from Spain, and is therefore not even a relation.

Rey had been a star in his native country since the early 1950s, moving to Hollywood to appear in such things as The Battle of Bloody Beach (1961) with Audie Murphy and Fun in Acapulco (1963) with Elvis Presley. Though easily appealing enough to be a star, and possessed of a passionate personality that reminds me a bit of Al Pacino, Rey’s thick accent consigned him to playing foreign nationals on American film and TV, usually Mexicans. The Flying Nun (1967-70) proved to be the high point of his career. Carlos was a glamorous and wealthy playboy casino owner who had been raised at the Puerto Rican convent, home to the titular sister-slash-human kite (Sally Field), whose ability to go aloft both causes and solves problems. I always perceived a kind of teasing romantic tension between the two characters, as much as the conservative medium would allow, or maybe that was just my active imagination supplying it. This was no Change of Habit, speaking of Elvis movies.

One tends to identify Rey solely with Carlos, but he actually played supporting roles in several well-known movies, including Irwin Allen’sThe Swarm (1978), Richard Lester’sCuba (1979), William Peter Blatty’s The Ninth Configuration (1980), and Paul Mazurky’sMoscow on the Hudson (1984). He was also in several action movies starring Charles Bronson and others, guest starred on too many hit tv shows to name, and appeared in tv movies like Rita Hayworth: The Love Goddess and Grace Kelly, both in 1983. His final screen appearance was in a 1986 episode of The A-Team. Lung cancer took him not long thereafter at the young age of 56.

Rey did star in one American movie 50 years ago however, and this is what I wanted to call your special attention to today.

The Stepmother (1972) is available to watch on Youtube and there are all kinds of reasons to watch it. Rey really is the star of the movie, in spite of this highly misleading poster. The title and this poster would both a) highly motivate me to see this movie; and B) also motivate me to ask for my money back. This aspect of the story doesn’t take root until well into the film and is just one of many fairly rambling incoherent plot developments. Rey’s character is a highly unsympathetic multiple murderer. Katherine Justice plays the titular MILF. Familiar character actor John Anderson plays the inspector who tries to get to the bottom of things. Best of all, however, is that LARRY LINVILLE is in the cast as Rey’s swinging friend, a very different sort of character from his next role, Frank Burns on M*A*S*H. This by itself is worth the price of admission. I also enjoyed very much HOW this druggy-looking incoherent movie is shot and edited. Writer/director Howard (Hikmet) Avedis also made such similar grindhouse fare as The Teacher (1974), The Specialist (1975), and Scorchy (1976).