[3] Little is known of his early years: during his adolescence he was a member of the society set in Murcia, known to friends as Fernando Fontanar, a reference to one of the several aristocratic titles he would later inherit from his father.

Events took an unexpected turn after 1885 when Antonia Domínguez y Borrell, the newly widowed Duchess of La Torre, decided to build a theatre to provide a creative distraction for the aristocratic set.

The play presented was "El loco de la Guardilla" by Narciso Serra, with music by Manuel Fernández Caballero.

The lead role of Cervantes was taken by a young actor called Fernando Diaz de Mendoza, who received for his performance the first of many standing ovations.

[2] During the 1887 season Diaz de Mendoza achieved popular stardom and enthusiastic plaudits from influential critics such as the writer Emilia Pardo Bazán and the politician Emilio Castelar.

That year he was offered a position by Ramón Guerrero[4] with the Spanish Theatre (Teatro Español) in Madrid, an institution under the control of the municipality.

[6] In October 1894 he starred opposite María Guerrero in the classic El vergonzoso en palacio [es] by the priest-dramatist Tirso de Molina.

His co-star was the daughter of Ramón Guerrero who had given him his contract with the Spanish Theatre: the stage partnership on which the two of them embarked in 1894 became a more substantial matter in 1896 when they married.

[5] On 11 April 1897 their time with the Spanish Theatre came to an end, and four days later they embarked from Barcelona for their first tour in South America, with plans to stage 90 productions in Montevideo and Buenos Aires.

[2] Official recognition came in March 1903 when Díaz de Mendoza, seen by many critics as the greatest actor of the age, was appointed by Royal Command to a professorship at Madrid's Conservatory of Music and Drama, where he was given the Chair in Declamation.

[2] In 1904 the couple moved into a luxurious three storey mansion, designed by María Guerrero, with construction managed by an architect called Pablo Aranda.

An unusual aspect of the new home was that it contained in the basement garage three of the first motor cars in Madrid: a Renault, a Charron 75 and an electric Columbia.

In October 1908 Díaz de Mendoza also found himself required to resign his professorship Conservatory of Music and Drama where, again, the complaint was that he had been insufficiently present.

Following various changes the Guerrero-Díaz de Mendoza company gave their inaugural production at the theatre on 27 November 1909 with an interpretation of María la Brava.