One of the leading Spanish stage actors of his time, those with whom he worked included María Guerrero, Fernando Díaz de Mendoza, Margarita Xirgu and Rosario Pino,[1] with whom he formed a theatre company.

[2] A central influence on Thuillier during this early period was the great actor Antonio Vico, who taught him at the conservatory for a year.

He appeared in "La Taberna", based on an adaptation by Émile Zola, staged at the Teatro Novedades in Madrid, taking the part of a waiter (with ten words of text).

He had his first lead role in 1892, at Madrid's Comedy Theatre ("Teatro de la Comedia"), appearing opposite María Guerrero in the stage version of Realidad by Benito Pérez Galdós.

High points included "Mariana" by José Echegaray, works by the Quintero brothers, "El tacaño Salomón" and "La de San Quintín" by Benito Pérez Galdós, "El hijo de Polichinela" by Jacinto Benavente and "Cobardías" ("Cowards") by Linares Rivas.

[2][3] The list of top flight dramatists and actors with whom Thuillier worked, both in Spain and on international tours that included North America, is a mark of his own stature in the world of theatre.

A work that they popularised together was the humorous piece "Una noche de primavera sin sueño" ("A night in spring without sleep") by Enrique Jardiel Poncela, a young and till then little noticed Madrid playwright which had its premier at the Lara Theatre on 28 May 1927.

[2] During the final couple of decades of his life Thuillier worked particularly closely in Spain with the theatre company of Fernando Díaz de Mendoza and María Guerrero.

He also built a reputation overseas, however, notably on three lengthy tours of Latin America which he undertook in 1902, 1906 and 1913, accompanied by some of Spain's top actresses, such as Ana Ferri and Margarita Xirgu.

Those performances were made of 27 different productions, featuring works by Echegaray, Galdós, Benavente, Shakespeare, Eusebio Blasco, Rostand and others.

Asked to name his happiest moment he unhesitatingly replied that this had arisen when he saw his mother cry when she attended the first performance of a new piece by Benavente.