Actor. He is best remembered for his role as the quirky 'Gomez Addams' in "The Addams Family" (1991) and "Addams Family Values" (1993). Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where he earned a bachelor's degree in drama from the University of Puerto Rico, he began his career in a local nightclub when actor Orson Bean saw him and convinced him to try acting, and moving to the United States for better roles. Julia then moved to Manhattan in 1964, finding work in Off-Broadway shows such as "King Lear" (1973), "Othello" (1979), and "The Three-penny Opera" (1982). He was nominated for a Tony Award for his role as Macheath in "The Three-penny Opera". His Off-Broadway success led him to movies, where he first appeared in "Stiletto" (1969), and other films such as "The Panic in Needle Park" (1971), "The Organization" (1971), "The Eyes of Laura Mars" (1978), "Kiss of the Spider Woman" (1985), "Romero" (1989) and "Presumed Innocent" (1990). A highly versatile actor, although he never achieved superstardom, he gained wide public acclaim for his role of weird, eccentric millionaire Gomez Addams in the two Charles Addams comedy movies, starring opposite actress Anjelica Huston as Morticia, his wife. In 1993, he was diagnosed with cancer, but he continued to act, playing rainforest activist Chico Mendez in the television movie "The Burning Season" (1994), for which he posthumously won a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award. On October 16, 1994, he suffered a stroke in his New York apartment, and went into a coma. He died eight days later in a Manhasset, Long Island, hospital. Following his death, his body was returned to Puerto Rico, where thousands of fans attended his state funeral. For 17 years, he was the spokesman for The Hunger Project, a foundation devoted to the elimination of world hunger. In 1990, he was awarded the Ignatius Medal by his high school, Colegio San Ignacio de Loyola High School in San Juan, for his contribution to social justice and community service.