Suave, elegant, and incredibly versatile, Raul Julia (1940-1994) was among the most critically respected stage and screen actors of his generation. Though perhaps best known for his role as Gomez Addams in the Addams Family films of the 1990s, Julia starred in more than 100 productions since 1964, the year he left his native Puerto Rico for the United States. Julia was also a tireless humanitarian who used his celebrity status to draw attention to causes he supported.

Raul Julia was born Raul Rafael Carlos Julia y Arcelay in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on March 9, 1940. The son of upper-middle-class Roman Catholic parents, Julia was the oldest of four children. His father, Raul, was a North American-educated engineer who in 1947 had made a successful (if not exactly lateral) transition to the restaurant business; the elder Julia's eatery, La Cueva del Chicken Inn (The Chicken's Cave Inn), became known not for its...