It almost seemed that Chabelo was immortal. The popularity of the Mexican actor was huge, especially in South American countries. Although the family show went off the air eight years ago, Chabelo continued to be a star on the Internet.
Chabelo was born in 1935 to Mexican parents in Chicago, USA. Not long after that, the family moved back to Mexico. “I consider myself 100 percent Mexican,” the actor said in an earlier interview.
However, the dual citizenship caused the then 18-year-old to be drafted into the US Army to fight in the Korean War. However, the conflict was ended before Chabelo could leave. He later studied medicine and worked as a doctor in a private clinic.
It was during his medical studies that he started working part-time in Mexican television, where he would occasionally jump in front of the camera. It was at that time that he was asked to read a joke on TV about a boy named Chabelo. And then a phenomenon was born.
In the 1950s, the character of Chabel even became the face of the Pepsi brand, Lopéz appeared in commercials and started his own radio show. In 1968, the already mentioned TV show was created, which was broadcast every Sunday morning. The show featured families with children, competing, participating in games and challenges. Virtually no child in Mexico wanted to miss this show.
“I remember watching TV with my sister. We kept her quiet so as not to wake up the parents. I’ve always been very envious of children who could go on set,” she quoted BBC Roberto Carrera Maldonado, who grew up in Mexico in the eighties of the last century.
The TV show was ended on the Televisia station only in 2015, but for a few more years, every Sunday, the television broadcast jokes that mourned the end of the Chabel era.
The man whose laugh became a worldwide hit has died
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