The cinematographic productions filmed in Castilla y León from this industry’s initial stage up to nowadays, reached their moment of greatest splendour and glamour between 1954 and 1980.

The cultural exchange between these films and our region led to a transformation in certain mentalities thanks to these productions. Simultaneously, local elements were incorporated into the film makers’ results.

These films turned Castilla y León into a one big set; a stage which allowed producers to create any story set in any time or place (France, Russia, Greece, Sicily, the Wild West, Ancient Rome, Colonial China, Barbaric Germany, …) The contrasts in landscapes, the long sunny days, the marked seasons and the existence of historical monuments belonging to very different architectonic styles, made it possible.

It’s necessary to highlight Castilla y León people’s involvement in these productions as extras. Right up to the present day, the locals still have fond memories, which have come to swell the family mythology through generations It is also necessary to stress the presence of big film stars and leading technicians of international renown, who often enjoy long stays or even bought properties in this region, where they had contributed to important productions.

Producers such as Carlo Ponti, Stanley Kramer, Alexander Salkind, Samuel Bronston, Frank McCarthy, Melvin Frank… paid us a visit.

Directors such as George Cukor, Orson Welles, David Lean, Alan J. Pakula, Guy Hamilton, Jean Negulesco, John Boorman, Anthony Mann, Richard Lester, Christian Jaque, Paul Verhoeven,
Ridley Scott, Jackie Chan,… filmed here.

Renowned actors and actresses, Charlton Heston, Sophia Loren, Christopher Lee, Olivia de Havilland, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Audrey Hepburn, Clint Eastwood, Faye Dunaway, Henry Fonda, Joan Fontaine, Cary Grant, Sean Connery, Jeanne Moureau, Glenn Ford, Omar Sharif, Rutger Hauer, Marlon Brando, Sigourney.

Weaver, Michael York, Raquel Welch, Buster Keaton, Mel Ferrer, Alan Ladd,... among many others, worked here. Although the Spanish productions that have used Castilla y León as a set
outnumber extensively foreign ones, some of these productions are great titles of international cinema: Patton, Chimes at Midnight (Falstaff), Battle of the Bulge, The Pride and The Passion, Conan the Barbarian, El Cid, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Robin and Marian, Excalibur, The Black Tulip, Nicholas and Alexandra, Flesh and Blood, Doctor Zhivago, A funny thing
happened on the way to the Forum, Camelot, Gulliver’s Travels, The Return of the Three Musketeers,...

We could add thousands of cinematographic shoots to those of TV series, documentaries and advertisements, turning our region into an immense set open to those wishing to use it.