DIED. FERNANDO REY, 76, sleekly handsome, soulful-eyed Spanish character actor best known for his portrayal of the drug baron who outfoxed Gene Hackman in The French Connection; in Madrid. Rey, son of a prominent anti-Franco general, abandoned architectural studies during the Spanish Civil War and began playing bit parts during the 1940s. His international movie career blossomed when surrealist director Luis Bunuel cast him as the lead in Viridiana in 1961. Rey subsequently starred in such Bunuel classics as Tristana (1969) and The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972). His final film, The Other Side of the Tunnel, opened last month in Spain.