He Mexican actor and conductor Xavier López Rodríguezwho died this Saturday at the age of 88, will be remembered as his character ‘Chabelo’a high-voiced boy in shorts who has been a part of Mexican life since he first played him in the 1950s.
“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.
In addition, the López Miranda family asked Mexicans and followers of the iconic character Chabelo pray for his restas well as allowing them to mourn their departure in peace.
“With a torn soul and knowing that many and many people have wanted it for many years and that they will feel their departure, we ask them to pray for their rest and give us the opportunity to spend in peace the mourning that overwhelms our entire family & rdquor ;, they pointed out.
Although Chabelo grew up and lived most of his life in Mexico, López was born on February 17, 1935 in Chicago, United States, where his parents met and lived.
In fact, always retained US citizenship and he 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 draft, He entered university to study medicinebut 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 impost voicesasked him to read a joke from a book.
It was about a father and a son named Chabelo, and when he read it he made the voice of a child who would accompany him from now on, despite his imposing 1.92 meter height.
Gamboa invited him to tell jokes by his side on the air and thus Chabelo was born during the broadcast of the children’s program Carrusel musical.
with the character López’s career in show business also beganwhich led him to abandon his medical studies.
For several years Gamboa and López formed a duo in which the former played the father of the latter in television and film productions.
After living for a time in New York, where I work in theater and cinemaHe returned to Mexico and worked as a writer with the program “La media hora de Chabelo” that lasted more than seven years and from which other comedy programs were derived.
He 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’ airedof a family nature, in which he worked as a writer, producer and conductor.
In 2012 he was awarded two Guinness Record certificates for his 44 years as presenter of ‘En familia con Chabelo’ and for his work as an actor for 57 years playing to the character of ‘Chabelo, the friend of all children’.
However, on November 27, 2015, he announced the end of “En Familia”, after 48 years of continuous broadcasts on the Televisa network.
“Everything in life has a cycle, a beginning and an end”Chabelo said in a video released on social networks after weeks of rumors about the fate of his program.
But he continued to work as the same boy in shorts until December of that year on the television show “Parodiando,” despite his wrinkled face and his high-pitched infant’s voice marked by a harsh tone.
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But in 2018, many people heard his natural voice for the first time in the thriller film ‘The Mongolian Conspiracy’, in which he played a military man.
In 2019, he denied rumors about alleged health problems through the networks. “I am very well. Those who gossip, very badly. With all my love I send you a trumpet”he said in October, with his characteristic good humor.
