Ref Sanchez

Refugio Sanchez, (1917-1986) better known as Ref Sanchez was an American actor who appeared mostly in television shows in smaller acting parts and was also a well-known fashion photographer in the 1950s through the 1970s. He was born in Arizona in 1917 and died in 1986 from brain cancer. He was born into a Mexican family that had migrated from Mexico in 1916 to escape the Mexican Revolution.

Early life

Ref changed his name from Refugio to Ref to make it easier to work in Hollywood at a later time. He was the son of Cruz Sanchez and Julia Sanchez both from Mexico. As the family migrated from Mexico to Los Angeles they brought with them his older brother Jose Guadalupe. After arriving in Los Angeles the family grew to include his other siblings Josefina, Pablo (Paul) Manuela Helen (Nellie) In his childhood Ref attended local Los Angeles schools and graduated from Lincoln High School. He later attended various trade schools and Los Angeles City College at one time. In the early 1940s Ref served in World War II and was stationed in the Philippines where he began taking photographs of the native people and other outdoor scenes. While serving with the U.S. Army he was stationed in the Pacific Theater which also included Guam.

Photography

Upon his return from duty he began to work in photography for many of the numerous Los Angeles major department stores such as May Company, Robinsons, Bullocks, Imagnin as well as many others. Ref also started his own photograhy studio in Hollywood. Besides fashion shots he also did publicity shots, and other types fashion shots as well.

Television & Film

As his career began to blossom he got his big break in the movie industry when they asked him if he was a member of the guild. At this time Ref was working on studio still shots when this led to a small part which eventually led to appearances in many television shows such as "Bonanza", "Maverick", "Alias Smith and Jones", "Get Smart", "Barreta", and a few other shows. In the late 1960s and early 1970s he appeared alongside Woody Allen in the movie "Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask)". Before that he had also appeared in a movie entitled "Kill Uncle before Uncle Kills Us".

Later Years

By the mid 1970s Ref was semi-retired as a fashion photogragher but his best known work was working with several models named Dee, another named M.J. An urban legend exists about Ref he once stated he photographed Marilyn Monroe but as of yet no photographs have been found but that does not mean he did not photograph her. Ref died in 1986 and left behind a widow named Virginia. It was said at the time of his death that their garage was full of photographs that Ref had worked on for over 40 years. In October 2005 through the efforts of his niece Patricia Keener and Sesar Carreno, an alumnus of CSUN, remants of his photo collection was donated to Cal State Northridge. The Ref Sanchez photo collection is housed at Cal State Northridge Library in the Urban Studies Center. Many of his photos were still housed at the family home in Los Angeles and were salvaged. Many photos and other personal effects were retrieved and donated before the house was razed by a greedy land developer. The house was taken from Ref's descendants and now a new modern house sits on the property as the title is in dispute and in the courts to determine ownership.