José Luis de Vilallonga, 9th Marquess of Castellbell

De Vilallonga died at his home on the island of Mallorca on 30 August 2007 from natural causes. He is survived by children John and Carmen from his first marriage and an adopted son Fabricio. King Juan Carlos expressed his sadness at Vilallonga's death.

A spendthrift, he soon disposed of much of his first wife's inheritance and property. He had frequent affairs, including a relationship with the French actress Michèle Girardon and Hungarian actress Magda Gabor, both while still legally married to Essylt-Priscilla Scott-Ellis. Girardon eventually committed suicide in 1975 after de Vilallonga ended their relationship to marry Syliane Stella Morell. Though courts twice found him liable for alimony to his first wife Essylt-Priscilla Scott-Ellis, de Vilallonga never paid the judgment, an act which reduced her to poverty for the remainder of her life. His third wife Begoña Aranguren also became disenchanted with de Vilallonga, and the couple separated in 2002. Aranguren wrote a scathing portrayal of the aging socialite and their marriage in 2004.

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).

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, among others.

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. After recording taped interviews with Spain's King Juan Carlos, he wrote the first ever and only authorised biography of king Juan Carlos I, titled El Rey and published in 1993.

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 allegedly a serving member of a Nationalist execution platoon, as a provisional second lieutenant of Requetés.

José Luis de Vilallonga y Cabeza de Vaca, 9th Marquess of Castellbell, GE (29 January 1920 – 30 August 2007) was a Spanish nobleman, author, socialite and film actor. His peculiar character, described as "a mixture of aristocratic arrogance, self-confidence and unconcern", brought him frequent enmities with other public figures. He was known to be a multifaceted, charming, elegant and playboy-like figure. At his death in 2007, Vilallonga was referred to by several newspapers as "the last dandy".