José Isbert (real name: José Ysbert Alvarruiz), also known as Pepe Isbert (Madrid, 3 March 1886 – Madrid, 28 November 1966), was a Spanish actor.
In 1903 he worked at the Court of Accounts (Tribunal de Cuentas), but decided to give up working as a civil servant and that same year he made his stage debut at the Teatro Apolo in Madrid in the play El iluso Cañizares, changing the spelling of his real name from Y to I. He moved to the Teatro Lara, where he was very successful.
He was married to Elvira Soriano, father of the actress María Isbert and grandfather of Tony Isbert. In 1912 he appeared on screen for the first time in the short film Asesinato y entierro de Don José Canalejas. He played Pardiñas, the anarchist who killed José Canalejas.
During the silent era he worked in theatre with supporting roles in cinema, but with the advent of sound, he made a big screen comeback in the comedy directed by Florián Rey, La pura verdad in (1931).
In the 30's he acted in half a dozen films including: ¿Cuándo te suicidas? (1931) directed by Manuel Romero, La bien pagada (1935) by Eusebio Fernández Ardavín or El bailarín y el trabajador (1935), directed by Luis Marquina and based on a play by
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