José Suárez made his debut in a short role in Altar Mayor (1944), a very conventional film, whose director, Gonzalo Delgrás, had paid attention to him in his work as a train conductor in Asturias. He played increasingly important roles in following Delgrás's movies and by 1948 he was already a lead actor.

He then became very popular in Spain along the late 40s and early 50s, as one of the main heartthrobs of the Spanish cinema, along with his contemporaries Francisco Rabal, Jorge Mistral and Alfredo Mayo. Nevertheless, he performed remarkably in three outstanding dramas, namely Brigada criminal (1950), Condenados (1953) and Así es Madrid (1953), in the screen version of Buero Vallejo`s most famous play, Historia de una escalera (1950), and in the historical superproduction (for Spanish standards) Alba de América (Dawn of America, 1951), playing King Fernando el Católico. He portrayed Zorro in the film La montaña sin ley (Lawless mountain) (1953), making him the first Spanish actor in the role. He also co-starred with the popular Andalusian gipsy singer and dancer Lola Flores in La danza de los deseos (1954), directed by the most prestigious veteran Spanish film-maker, Florián Rey. In 1955 he co-starred Señora Ama with the Mexican and Hollywood star Dolores del Río.
In 1956, his lead role in the internationally acclaimed Calle Mayor (undoubtedly his best role, his best performance and his best film, although he always preferred Condenados) provided him with the opportunity to work in Italy with well-known film directors as Luigi Zampa in The Magistrate, starring with Claudia Cardinale, and Francesco Rosi in La sfida, starring with Rosanna Schiaffino, while he gradually lost his popularity in his home country, despite still appearing in the 60s in some interesting Spanish movies, such as A tiro limpio (1963) or La boda (1964).
Despite appearing too in two successful mainstream Italian films: Scano Boa (1961) and Sette uomini d'oro (1965), eventually he was almost confined to the Spanish-Italian sword and sandal and spaghetti westerns movies, the most interesting of all them being The Price of Power (1969), also known as Il Prezzo del potere or La Muerte de un Presidente. And he even played the lead in El Llanero (1964), one of the first films directed by the (in)famous master of the sexually charged horror films, Jesús Franco.
In the 70's he played too for the National Spanish television in a few series, including a Spanish-Italian coproduction on the life of Cristóbal Colón.
His last film was La trastienda (1975), an artistically dispensable but sociologically significant Spanish picture, coincident with the end of Franco era in Spain.
Suárez was for many years president of the Spanish Actors Union.
He died of natural causes on August 6, 1981, in Moreda, Asturias.
1975 La Trastienda
1974 Los Caballeros del Botón de Ancla
1972 A Reason to Live, a Reason to Die
1972 Marianela
1971 La Montaña rebelde
1971 El Cristo del Océano·
1969 La muerte de un presidente
1969 Il Pistolero dell'Ave Maria
1969 Bootleggers
1969 El Taxi de los conflictos
1968 El Amor de Maria Isabel
1967 Maria Isabel
1967 Mister Dynamit - morgen küßt Euch der Tod
1966 El Primer cuartel
1966 Texas, Adios
1966 Agent X-77 Orders to Kill
1965 Sette uomini d'oro
1964 El llanero
1964 La Boda
1963 Slave Girls of Sheba
1963 A tiro limpio
1961 Scano Boa
1959 Cartagine in fiamme
1959 Il magistrato
1958 La sfida
1958 Gli italiani sono matti
1957 The Battalion in the Shadows
1957 Las aeroguapas
1956 Calle mayor
1955 Señora Ama
1954 Eleven Pairs of Boots
1954 La Danza de los deseos
1954 An Impossible Crime
1953 La montaña sin ley
1953 Condenados
Such is Madrid (1953)
1952 Spanish Serenade
1951 Dawn of America·
1950 Historia de una escalera
1950 Child of the Night
1950 Aquel hombre de Tánger
Criminal Brigade (1950)
1949 La Mujer de nadie
Gold and Ivory (1947)
1947 Trece onzas de oro
1944 Altar mayor