Actors, politicians and personalities of public life in Mexico fired this Saturday the Mexican actor and driver Xavier López Rodríguez, remembered for his character "Chabelo".
The López Miranda family reported that the "friend of all children" died on Saturday, March 25 at the age of 88, due to "abdominal complications."
"This is a very sad morning, Xavier López 'Chabelo', father, brother and husband has left us suddenly, due to abdominal complications," the actor's relatives reported.
After learning this news, the Mexican president himself, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, sent a hug to the family and friends of the emblematic actor and also a singer who gave life to "Chabelo", a boy with a high-pitched voice and shorts who was part of the life of Mexicans since he first performed it in the 1950s.
"I hug family and friends for the death of Xavier López 'Chabelo'," said the Mexican president on his official Twitter account.
He even recalled that José Ramón López Beltrán, the eldest of his four children, got up early to see the emblematic program "En Familia con Chabelo" that began its first broadcast in November 1967.
"How can I forget that my oldest son woke up early to see him more than 40 years ago," López Obrador shared.
Actors remember him
At the time, the National Association of Actors (Anda) also expressed its condolences to family, friends and colleagues, while recalling that "Chabelo" entertained and entertained generations of Mexican "boys and adults" with his Sunday program.
“The National Association of Actors deeply regrets the death of our colleague Javier López “Chabelo”. Endearing character who for several years, every Sunday, amused young and old. Our condolences to his family, friends and colleagues," La Anda said on Twitter.
For his part, the president of Grupo Televisa, Emilio Azcárraga, lamented the departure of "a great of the screens" and extended a hug to the López Miranda family.
“A great one of the Spanish-speaking screens left. RIP (rest in peace) my dear Xavier, a loving hug to his family, ”he said.
He was not born in Mexico
Although Chabelo grew up and lived most of his life in Mexico, he was born on February 17, 1935 in Chicago, United States, where his parents met and lived.
In fact, he always retained American citizenship and was even recruited at the age of 18 by the Army of that country during the Korean War (1950-1953).
He served for a few months at a military base in San Diego, although he never saw combat action because the conflict ended in those days.
After returning to Mexico from his conscription, he entered the university to study medicine, but by chance and necessity he began working as a general assistant in the fledgling Mexican television.
On one occasion the announcer and presenter Ramiro Gamboa, “Tío Gamboín”, knowing his ability to imitate voices, asked him to read a joke from a book.
It was about a father and his son, whose name was Chabelo, and when he read it he made the voice of a child who would accompany him from then on, despite his imposing 1.92 meter height.
By chance
Gamboa invited him to tell jokes by his side on the radio and that is how Chabelo was born during the broadcast of the children's program “Carrusel musical”.
With the character, López's career in show business also began, which led him to abandon his medical studies.
For several years, Gamboa and López formed a duo in which the former played the latter's father in television and film productions.
Chabelo worked in numerous film productions alongside renowned directors such as Ismael Rodríguez and Arturo Ripstein, as well as comedians such as Germán Valdés “Tin Tán”, Manuel “Loco” Valdés, Gaspar Henaine “Capulina” and Mario Moreno “Cantinflas. ”.
In November 1967, his Sunday game show “En familia con Chabelo” went on the air, family-oriented, in which he worked as a writer, producer and conductor.
In 2012, he was awarded two Guinness Record certificates for his 44 years as the host of “En familia con Chabelo” and for his work as an actor for 57 years playing the character “Chabelo, the friend of all children”.
