# Eddie Miró

Eduardo Miró Castañeda (March 25, 1935 – October 9, 2024), better known as Eddie Miró, was a Puerto Rican television show host. He is best known for being the host of Telemundo Puerto Rico's variety show El Show de las 12 for over forty years. Like Dick Clark in the United States, Miró was known for his longevity in front of the cameras while aging relatively little-to-none physically. During the long television run of El Show de las 12, he came into contact with many famous entertainers, both local and foreign.
In Puerto Rico's competitive television market, Miró outlasted other Puerto Rican television hosts such as Luis Vigoreaux (who was murdered in 1983), his son Luisito and Yoyo Boing, who were all hosts of rival network Televicentro's El Show del Mediodía. On June 13, 2022, Miró was honored with a Gold Circle Emmy Award by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) Suncoast Chapter for his 50 year career on Puerto Rican television.

## Early life and military career

Miró was born on March 25, 1935 and grew up in the Santurce area of San Juan. In 1953, he graduated from Central High School in Santurce and was voted "most likely to succeed in entertainment". Eddie graduated with a bachelor of science in surveying and topography from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez. He was recruited by the United States Army, where he served from 1958 to 1960 as a specialist in the Army Medical Corps. Upon completion of his military commitment, Eddie Miró thought to pursue a career in medicine. He also served with the 1st Air Base Group, a unit of the Puerto Rico State Guard.

## Entertainment career

Miró's career in the entertainment business began as a singer, writer, and comedian. His big break came in 1964 when the actor-turned-producer Paquito Cordero offered him a job as the host of the new upcoming television program El Show de las 12 at Telemundo Channel 2, which first broadcast in January 1965. He was a teen idol across Puerto Rico for in the following years and utilized his comic abilities during the show, mixing them with his work as a show host. His style also gained him acclaim among Puerto Rico's television critics. Miró expanded his career as a show host during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, hosting shows produced by Cordero, such as Noche de Gala, Salsa, Sabado en la Noche, and Adelante Juventud.
In 1989, the show introduced a gossip segment titled "La Condesa del Bochinche" ("The Countess of Gossip"), starring professional ventriloquist Kobbo Santarrosa as the namesake puppet character. The "Condesa" segment was the show's most-watched part of the program. Its growing popularity prompted the character, whose name was later changed to "La Comay", to have its show on Telemundo titled Xclusivo, with Miró as the host. The show was successful throughout the 1990s until Santarrosa jumped ship to WAPA-TV in 1999. Santarrosa intended to bring Eddie Miró with him to co-host the show, now renamed SuperXclusivo but Miro's was very loyal to Telemundo and Paquito Cordero, therefore rejecting the offer.
Miro was one of the very few local figures to have never worked for any other network, except Telemundo, until 2010, when he was hired by Puerto Rico TV to host El Show de Eddie Miró, and later, in 2014, as a comedian for some sketches on WAPA America's El Tiempo Es Oro.

## Personal life

Miró married choreographer Juanita "Ita" Medina on August 28, 1965, at the Los Angeles Church in Carolina, Puerto Rico. Their daughters, Dana Miró Medina, Michelle Miró Medina, and Christie Miró Medina, went on to have careers in the entertainment business as actresses, show hosts and producers. Dana married Luisito Vigoreaux during the 1990s, linking Miró with the family of his old competitor, Luis Vigoreaux.

### Tax issues

In January 2005, shortly after celebrating forty years of El Show de las 12 on the air, Miró was told the show could not continue longer, due in part to the changes in Telemundo Puerto Rico's production department. The usually-cool Miró went on a radio station and angrily declared that he was not rich, calling Telemundo Puerto Rico's producer, Tony Mojena, the station's "golden boy". He and his wife Juanita were later charged with tax evasion by the Puerto Rico Department of Treasury. After a plea bargain, Miró pleaded guilty to a minor tax evasion charge in early 2008, while given the chance to pay his tax debt and associated fines.

### Illness and death

In 2003, Miró was diagnosed with colon cancer. He refused to take time off work, keeping on his daily schedule of hosting El Show de las 12 even as he had cancer. Former First Lady of Puerto Rico Lila Mayoral Wirshing, and retired Piratas de Quebradillas basketball player Raymond Dalmau became spokespersons for the testing and prevention of colon cancer in Puerto Rico once Miró announced his recovery.
In late August 2024, Miró had to be hospitalized due to a fall. Miró died on October 9, 2024, at the age of 89, after suffering from Bethlem myopathy, which kept him hospitalized since August 2024. He was buried at the Morovis National Cemetery in Morovis, Puerto Rico.
On November 17, 2024, Eddie Miró was posthumously inducted to the Puerto Rico Veterans Hall of Fame.