Early life and Spanish Civil War Born in
Madrid, Vilallonga – who also went by the surname of
Cabeza de Vaca – was a
Grandee of Spain and part of the nobility, holding the title of
Marquess of Castellbell. He spent the first two years of his life at a clinic in
Munich, to recover from an intestinal condition with which he was born. His grandmother had a powerful influence on his education, which was very broad and advanced for the time. He studied at the
Jesuits of
Barcelona and in other schools from which he was often expelled for misbehavior. Upon the declaration in 1931 of
Spain's Second Republic his family went into exile in
Biarritz, France, but returned six months later. When the
Spanish Civil War erupted in 1936, Vilallonga was studying at École Saint-Elme, a
Dominican school in
Arcachon, but his father ordered him back to Spain to fight on the side of the
Nationalists. His father was an enthusiastic supporter of the rebel side, and at age 16 the younger Vilallonga was a serving member of a Nationalist execution platoon, as a provisional second lieutenant of
Requetés.
Diplomat and author After pursuing a four-year long career in diplomacy, he married his first wife
Esyylt Priscilla "Pip" Scott-Ellis, a daughter of
Thomas Scott-Ellis, 8th Baron Howard de Walden, while he was working as an attaché in
London. They met in January 1944 and they married at Sanlúcar on 20 September 1945. Her family did not approve and none of them could attend the wedding. His father-in-law was so unimpressed by him that he had his will changed in the faint hope of protecting his daughter's inheritance. He then became interested in journalism and literature, his first works being at
Diario de Barcelona. After
World War II, de Vilallonga became increasingly disenchanted with
Francoist Spain, and he left the Spanish diplomatic service to live abroad. In 1954 his first novel,
The Ramblas End in the Sea, was published, causing the Spanish military government censor to issue a ban on his reentry to the country. He then obtained work as a foreign correspondent for the national press agency EFE and for the magazines
Paris Match, Marie Claire and
Vogue. His social connections and ability to relate gossip among Europe's jet set enabled him to regularly sell magazine articles, in addition to authoring four autobiographical tell-all books about his numerous love affairs. He had a brief step through politics, that included toying with the
Socialist Party of Spain.
Actor Vilallonga's acting career came through as a result of his good connections with many prominent figures of the artistic world. He made his film debut in the 1958
Louis Malle film
The Lovers. Throughout the late 1950s and 1960s, Vilallonga appeared in numerous films in both Europe and Hollywood, working with prominent directors like
Federico Fellini,
Agnès Varda,
Fred Zinnemann and
John Schlesinger. Though he refused a Hollywood acting contract, a highlight in his acting career was a role as "José da Silva Pereira," the dashing Brazilian multimillionaire whom
Holly Golightly (played by
Audrey Hepburn) planned to marry in
Blake Edwards' classic movie, ''
Breakfast at Tiffany's'' (1961). He also appeared as the debonair Prince Cesare della Romita, who becomes
Julie Christie's second husband in
Darling (1965). ==Personal life==