Chespirito

Roberto Mario Gómez Bolaños (21 February 1929 – 28 November 2014), more commonly known by his stage name Chespirito, or "Little Shakespeare", was a Mexican actor, comedian, screenwriter, humorist, director, producer, and author. He is widely regarded as one of the icons of Spanish-speaking humor and entertainment and one of the greatest comedians of all time. He is also one of the most loved and respected comedians in Latin America. He is mostly known by his acting role Chavo from the sitcom El Chavo del Ocho.
He is recognized all over the planet for writing, directing, and starring in the Chespirito (1970–1973, 1980–1995), El Chavo del Ocho (1973–1980), and El Chapulín Colorado (1973–1979) television series. The character of El Chavo is one of the most iconic in the history of Latin American television, and El Chavo del Ocho continues to be immensely popular, with daily worldwide viewership averaging 91 million viewers as of 2014.
He was born in Mexico City on 21 February 1929 to Catholic parents. He was the second child of Francisco Gómez Linares, a painter and illustrator, who died at the age of 41 in 1935. His mother, Elsa Bolaños Aguilar, was a bilingual secretary; she died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 66 in 1968. Elsa was the youngest child of Ramón Bolaños Cacho, a military doctor, and his Zacatecas-born wife, María Aguilar. Via his mother, Bolaños was a first cousin once removed of the President of Mexico from 1964 to 1970, Gustavo Díaz Ordaz. He had an older brother called Francisco (1926–2010), and a younger brother called Horacio Gómez Bolaños, who portrayed the character Godínez in El Chavo del Ocho, and an even older half-brother born of one of his father's liaisons.
Before becoming an actor, Bolaños was an amateur boxer. He studied mechanical engineering at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), but he never came to practice that profession. Before he became famous, he wrote a number of plays, contributed dialogue to Mexican film and television scripts, and secured some character-acting work. "Chespirito" was of short stature; his stage name was the Spanish phonetic pronunciation of William Shakespeare "Chespir" (pronounced "shespir") with diminutive suffix -"ito". Between 1960 and 1965 he dedicated himself to writing scripts for "Comedians and songs" and "El estudio de Pedro Vargas", which were the two programs with the highest audience in Mexico.
Chespirito was discovered as an actor while waiting in line to apply for a job as a writer; soon he began writing and starring in his children's comedy shows. Chespirito's first show was Los Supergenios de la Mesa Cuadrada, a sketch comedy show that premiered in 1968; the show also starred Ramón Valdés, María Antonieta de las Nieves, and Rubén Aguirre. Los Supergenios was later renamed Chespirito y la Mesa Cuadrada and later Chespirito. The characters El Chavo, El Chapulín Colorado, and Dr. Chapatín were introduced on this show (1972, 1970 and 1968 respectively).
His best known roles were in the shows El Chavo del Ocho and El Chapulín Colorado. Both series premiered in 1973 and were based on sketches of the same name from Los Supergenios. The shows were produced by Mexican TV network Televisa and aired in 124 countries. Other shows produced by and starring Chespirito were the short-lived La Chicharra from 1979 and a second version of Chespirito from 1980 to 1995.
In El Chavo, Chespirito played an 8-year-old boy who often took refuge inside a wooden rain barrel in a Mexican neighborhood, and in El Chapulín Colorado he played a good-hearted superhero who gets involved in humorous situations. The Simpsons creator Matt Groening has said that he created the Bumblebee Man character after watching El Chapulín Colorado in a motel on the Mexico–United States border.
El Chavo and El Chapulín Colorado have become cultural icons all over Latin America and have aired in many countries worldwide.
Roberto Gómez Bolaños was also noted as a composer. He started writing music as a hobby, and most of his early musical work was related to his comedy work, featured particularly in occasional Chapulín Colorado or Chavo del Ocho special episodes. Later works include the theme songs for various Mexican movies and telenovelas, such as Alguna Vez Tendremos Alas and La Dueña. He is also the creator of the theater comedy Once y Doce (Eleven and Twelve), the most successful theater comedy in Mexican history; it is still played occasionally.
On 19 November 2004, after 27 years together, he married actress and longtime companion Florinda Meza, who starred as Doña Florinda in El Chavo. After show production was stopped for El Chavo and El Chapulín Colorado, both toured Mexico and the rest of Latin America and the United States with different plays, sometimes playing the characters who made them famous. In 2003, Chespirito and Florinda Meza received the keys to the town of Cicero, Illinois.
During Mexico's presidential campaigns of 2000 and 2006 he openly supported the National Action Party (PAN) by appearing in TV commercials and urging people to vote for the party's candidates, Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderón. For the 2012 race, he made public that he would vote for the Partido Accion Nacional (PAN) candidate, Josefina Vázquez Mota, but did not appear in a commercial. In 2007, he joined a campaign led by Catholics and conservatives against the legalization of abortion in Mexico City.
He shared that while pregnant with him, his mother suffered an accident and the doctor advised her to get an abortion; she refused. He also wrote the books El Diario de El Chavo del Ocho ("Diary From the Kid from Number 8"), ...Y También Poemas ("...And Poems Too"), and Sin Querer Queriendo: Memorias ("Accidentally on Purpose: Memoirs"). In 2009, he was also honored by the Colombian TV-channel RCN in which he received the keys of the municipality of Soacha; more than 20,000 people attended the homage. On 12 November 2009, he was admitted to a Mexico City hospital due to prostate complications, which required a simple surgery to treat. He was released from treatment the following day.
On 29 February 2012, a celebration of Chespirito's life and work was held at the Auditorio Nacional. The special, titled América celebra a Chespirito, was a multinational tribute that gathered a diverse group of actors, singers, and fans from 17 nations. They included Armando Manzanero, Thalía, Ximena Navarrete, Marco Antonio Regil, Juan Gabriel, Diego Verdaguer, Gian Marco, Pandora, Reik, and OV7. Chespirito's ill health was apparent: he was in a wheelchair, required oxygen tanks, and could not stay the entire program. Nonetheless, he expressed great emotion and gratitude for the tribute. The special was broadcast across the participating nations on 11 March.
Over Twitter, Chespirito denounced the actions of the Yo Soy 132 movement after the takeover of Televisa Chapultepec following the 2012 election. In 2012, Chespirito was honored by his friends and former cast members, putting an end to many rumors that the comedian was dying. Even so, former colleagues such as Édgar Vivar expressed their concern publicly for Chespirito's poor health.
At 2:30 PM (19:30 GMT) on Friday, 28 November 2014, Chespirito died from heart failure as a complication of Parkinson's disease at the age of 85, in his home in Cancún, Quintana Roo, Mexico. Many Mexican celebrities and Chespirito's former co-stars took to Twitter to express their feelings and send their condolences to Chespirito's widow and family. Such celebrities and former co-stars included George Lopez, Eugenio Derbez, Carlos Villagrán, Édgar Vivar, Rubén Aguirre, and María Antonieta de las Nieves. Chespirito is widely regarded as one of the most renowned Spanish-language comedians of the 20th century.
On 1 December 2014, he was buried at the Panteón Francés in Mexico City, following a private funeral on Saturday and a public one held on Sunday at Estadio Azteca, attended by about 40,000 fans. His widow does not permit fans to visit his tomb. A private security guard is there along with a security camera at all times.
Chespirito has been described as one of the most recognized Mexican comedians of the 20th century as well as being well known and honored in all of Latin America. He has been honored for his creative writing, characters, comedic pick-up lines, and for his clean humor style. His TV shows have been made into cartoons since 2006 (El Chavo Animado, with some other Chespirito characters appearing in the show). The animated show has been translated into English, Portuguese, and French. An animated TV show based on another famous Chespirito character, El Chapulín Colorado, was announced in 2015. It aired the first episode online on 13 April.
In 2000, Televisa gave him a tribute entitled "No contaban con mi astucia," commemorating the thirty-year anniversary of the humorous program El Chavo del Ocho. In 2004, the Art Chroniclers Association (ACROARTE) of the Dominican Republic and the National Dominican Brewery awarded him the Soberano Award in recognition of his career in Latin American television and his many facets as a writer, screenwriter, actor, comedian and producer. In 2012, there was a tribute called América celebra a Chespirito also made by Televisa, with the popular singer Thalía performing a song written by Gian Marco Zignago. The Google Doodle of 21 February 2020, honored Chespirito.
In 2000 and 2006, Roberto Gómez Bolaños participated in television advertisements supporting the electoral campaigns of the National Action Party. In 2006, he also wrote a letter to then-candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador, asking him not to divide Mexicans.
In April 2007, he joined the claim of Catholic and conservative groups that were fighting to maintain abortion as a crime in the Federal District, against the position of the Legislative Assembly, whose representatives were inclined to decriminalize it during the first twelve weeks of gestation. Gómez Bolaños participated in television propaganda against the new law. He is known for comments on Pablo Picasso's Guernica painting, such as those made at the beginning of May 2007, in Colombia, where he declared that the work "is a caricature."
When asked who had been the best president of Mexico, Chespirito replied: "Gustavo Díaz Ordaz in some things and not because he was my uncle, whom nobody wanted. Before 1968, he was the best president, and if we look at the numbers of the inflation that Mexico experienced is justified. Then, Salinas, although he had not won, but he was extremely intelligent. And the same thing happens with Fox, his figures are better after Díaz Ordaz pa'cá. Now, the most accurate answer I can give is: none."
Fernando Rodríguez Mondragón, son of Colombian drug lord Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela, head of the extinct Cali Cartel in Colombia and author of the book El hijo del ajedrecista, pointed out that Roberto Gómez Bolaños performed at a party for one of the sons of the heads of the aforementioned cartel. Given this information, Gómez Bolaños' immediate response was that he had never been linked to drug trafficking in any of its forms, but María Antonieta de las Nieves assured that El show de Chespirito was presented at the celebration of a first communion for the family of the drug dealer.
According to El Financiero, Roberto Gómez Bolaños was severely criticized for traveling to South American nations that were under the yoke of dictators such as Jorge Rafael Videla in Argentina, and Augusto Pinochet in Chile. Eduardo Bautista wrote that "According to the comedian himself, the cast of El Chavo visited all the countries of the continent, [...] The case most criticized by the Mexican media was, perhaps; that of 1978, when Chespirito traveled to Santiago, the Chilean capital, during Pinochet's regime," appearing at the Chilean National Stadium, where he had a record audience of 80,000. On the other hand, at the Quinta Vergara stage during the Viña del Mar Festival, "thousands of fans also attended, who even had to be accommodated in the surrounding mountainous areas, as the place had exceeded its quota."
Gómez Bolaños received negative criticism from the Mexican press for having appeared at the National Stadium, a place that had been used as a concentration camp. Bolaños did not respond to these accusations until 2005 in the book Sin querer queriendo, he clarified that "none of the actors was aware that the stadium had been a concentration camp" and that, had they known it, "we would have worked there anyway". He goes on to say that, according to that logic, "no actor should present themselves in the Zócalo where the memory of all those who were murdered during the Ten Tragic Days was muddied". The comedian also expressed his happiness for having performed at the National Stadium: "How can we forget the long standing ovation that they gave us while we did an Olympic lap twice, even though we ended up puffing with exhaustion? It was worth it, wasn't it?".
In July 2013, Maria Antonieta announced that she finally won a lawsuit against Chespirito, backed by Televisa which began in 2001 for the misuse of her character La Chilindrina. "You have the scoop of knowing that I have already won the lawsuit against Televisa and Chespirito. Chilindrina is already mine and no one can take her away from me," De Las Nieves said at a press conference in Lima, the capital of Peru. According to the American-Mexican media Univision, on 26 July 2013, Gomez Bolaños told them that "the day El Chavo ended, everyone did whatever they wanted with their character, that's how I wanted to do it. I said I was going to continue, he said yes, but later he regretted it and said no." Unlike Carlos Villagran who left the show in 1978, Maria Antonieta stayed on the show until the late-1990s.
On 31 July 2020, all TV channels and streaming services that broadcast any of Chespirito's series announced that they were no longer broadcasting it from the next day on. Currently, the reason they gave was because the contract expired that day, and Televisa (owner of the series) didn't update it due to revenue disputes with Grupo Chespirito (owner of all episode scripts and almost all characters).
Currently, the only exception to this rule is El Chavo: The Animated Series broadcasting in Brazil, being still broadcast on SBT via the Sábado Animado block and still available locally on Amazon Prime Video.
On 7 September 2024, it was announced by Florinda Meza on Twitter/X that El Chavo and El Chapulín Colorado would be returning to television after a four year absence. Both shows would be returning to UniMas and Univision, and streaming on Vix beginning 21 September 2024. The show would return to Las Estrellas in Mexico a month later.
TVyNovelas Awards
ACE Awards
On 20 November 2013, Chespirito received the Ondas Iberoamericano Award for the most outstanding career on television.