Roberto Gómez Bolaños (Mexico City, February 21, 1929-Cancún, Mexico, November 28, 2014), better known as Chespirito, was an actor, comedian, playwright, writer, scriptwriter, composer, director and producer of Mexican television . Creator and performer of El Chavo del Ocho and El Chapulín Colorado, among other characters.
He began his career as an advertising creative, which connected him to radio and television, in which he was, during the 1950s, a very active screenwriter. He also made several screenplays for the duo Viruta and Capulina and briefly began as an actor with them in Two Bold Servants, in 1960. However, he continued to devote most of his time to writing, contributing with dialogues for movie scripts and Mexican television programs.
His professional name, Chespirito, is due to the film director Agustín P. Delgado, derived from the diminutive of the Spanish pronunciation of the surname of William Shakespeare (phonetically Chekspir), due to the stature of Gómez Bolaños and his talent to write stories that It resembled Shakespeare's.
Between 1960 and 1965, he wrote screenplays for the two most watched programs on Mexican television: Comics and songs as well as El estudio de Pedro Vargas, from the Telesistema Mexicano chain.
In 1968, the Independent Television of Mexico began broadcasting and Chespirito was called as a writer with the offer to use at his whim a half hour per week in his charge. Thus, the supergenios of the square table and his career as an actor were born.
In 1970, they extended their hours to one hour and in their own program. The same was called Chespirito and the character of Chapulín Colorado was born. A year later, El Chavo appeared. Both characters worked so well that the program was divided in two, dedicating half an hour to each one. In mid-1979 he started a short program called La chicharra, a series based on journalists, without much success.
Despite being well known for his roles as Chavo and Chapulín Colorado, he was also the creator of several other characters, such as Chómpiras, Doctor Chapatín, Vicente Chambón and Chaparrón Bonaparte. In an interview with Teresa Rodríguez, he commented that he decided to add words with ch because it was used in "many rude things in Mexico" .9
Despite their recurring scripts, these programs became hits throughout Hispanic America, the United States and Spain, largely thanks to the sympathy of the cadre of actors in their programs, integrated at different times by Carlos Villagrán, Ramón Valdés , Florinda Meza, Rubén Aguirre, Édgar Vivar, Angelines Fernández, Raúl Padilla, Horacio Gómez Bolaños and María Antonieta de las Nieves, who also found international fame.
In 1980, his sketches were reunited in a weekly hour in the program called under his pseudonym, and remained on the air until 1995.
He also starred in Mexican films, written and performed by himself as El Chanfle and El Chanfle 2, Don mouse and don ratero, Charrito and Música de viento.
Apart from his usual television characters, since 1992, he represented theater 11 and 12 in theater for several years, with which he achieved more than 28,000 performances. He also ventured into the telenovela genre in 1991 directing and producing Milagro y magia in conjunction with Florinda Meza and brings the lyrics to the musical themes of La dueña in 1995 and sometime we will have wings in 1997.
In 2000, Televisa gave him a tribute entitled "They did not count on my cunning!", Commemorating the 30th anniversary of the El Chavo del Ocho program.
In 2004, the Association of Art Chroniclers (ACROARTE) of the Dominican Republic and the Cervecería Nacional Dominicana awarded him the International Sovereign as recognition of his career in Latin American television and his multiple facets as a writer, screenwriter, actor, comedian and producer.
In 2012, a tribute called América celebrates Chespirito made by Televisa itself. In one of the presentations, the most emotional was the interpretation of Thalía, Gracias, composed by Gian Marco where he came directly.
On November 20, 2013, Chespirito received the Iberian-American Ondas Award for the most outstanding career on television.
Chespirito died at age 85 on November 28, 2014 in Cancun, Mexico at 2:30 pm (GMT-6) due to respiratory complications