|
|
Chespirito (born February 21, 1929 ) is the professional name of Mexican writer, actor, comedian, and songwriter Roberto Gómez Bolaños.
Gómez Bolaños was born in Mexico City. Before becoming an actor, he was an amateur boxer. He began studying Engineering at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, and, according to one of his professors, Esteban Salinas Elorriaga, now professor emeritus, Chespirito was great in math. He wrote a number of plays, and contributed dialogue for scripts of films and television shows in Mexico, as well as some character acting work before he became famous. His stage name of Chespirito was precisely given by a producer during Gomez Bolaños' first years as a writer and was concocted from the dimutive form the Mexican pronunciation of the name of William Shakespeare or Shakespiercito, meaning "Little Shakepeare" or "Little Boy Shakespeare".
Chespirito was discovered as an actor one day as he was making a line to apply for a job as a writer at Televisa. The network quickly signed him and soon he began writing and starring in his children comedy shows. He continuously starred in shows on Mexican television from 1970 to 1995 and became well known throughout Latin America.
His best known roles were in the shows El Chavo Del Ocho and El Chapulín Colorado, as El Chavo and El Chapulín. Other shows produced and starred by him were the short-lived La chicharra and, during his last years on air, Chespirito featuring a bunch of new characters as Los caquitos, Los chifladitos and others.
In El Chavo Del Ocho, Chespirito played a kid who lived inside a beer barrel in a Mexican neighborhood, and in El Chapulín Colorado he played a good hearted super hero who always got involved in funny situations. The Simpsons creator Matt Groening has declared that he created the Bumblebee Man character after watching El Chapulín Colorado on a motel at the mexican border.
These two shows became hits all over Latin America, the United States and Spain, and the stars of the show found international fame.
He also started in such Mexican movies as El Chanfle, and El Chanfle 2.
He married actress Florinda Meza, who starred as Doña Florinda in El Chavo and who occasionally participated in El Chapulín.
After show production was stopped both for El Chavo and El Chapulín, both started to tour Mexico and the rest of Latin America and the United States with different plays, sometimes playing the characters that made them famous.
On November 26, 2003, Chespirito and Florinda Meza received the keys to the city of Cicero, Illinois.es:Chespirito pt:Chespirito