Stavans was born Abraham Stavchansky Altschuler in 1933 in
Mexico City to Jewish immigrants from the
Pale of Settlement. After early schooling, he began studying theater in 1949 at the Instituto Andrés Soler of the
National Association of Actors (ANDA). As a student, he studied under the noted theater directors,
José de Jesús Aceves and
Seki Sano. Stavans made his acting debut, at the age of 20, in the Spanish-language stage productions of
"Las cinco preciosidades francesas" and
"Prueba de fuego" by American playwright
Arthur Miller. His professional work as a
theater director began in 1981 with the production of "Frío almacenaje" (
Cold Storage). He compiled more than forty-five stage credits as an actor and theater director during his career. In addition to his work in theater and television, Stavans appeared in several Mexican and international films. His notable roles included
Once Upon a Scoundrel (1973), a
James Bond film,
Licence to Kill (1989);
Original Sin (2001), in which he played opposite
Angelina Jolie and
Antonio Banderas; ''
(2007), and The Story of Pancho Villa''. Stavans also taught theater with his wife, Ofelia, including a course called "Psicoteatro para crecimiento personal." Abraham Stavans died on March 5, 2019, at the age of 86. He was survived by his three children:
Ilan Stavans, an essayist and professor at
Columbia University in the United States, Darien, and Liora Stavchansky. ==Filmography==