RIP Chabelo

 

Chabelo, the 88-year-old "boy" who was part of Mexican life, dies 

The San Diego Union-Tribune

March 25, 2023

 

Mexican actor and host Xavier Lopez Rodriguez, who died Saturday at the age of 88, will be remembered as his character "Chabelo," a boy with a high-pitched voice and 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, cause of abdominal complications," reported relatives of the actor.

In addition, the López Miranda family asked Mexicans and followers of the iconic character Chabelo to pray for his rest, as well as allow them to mourn his departure in peace.

"With a broken soul and knowing that many people have loved him for many years and will feel his departure, we ask you to pray for his rest and give us the opportunity to spend in peace the mourning that overwhelms our entire family," they said.

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, he always retained American citizenship and was even drafted at age 18 by the U.S. Army 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 college to study medicine, but by chance and necessity 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 impose voices, asked him to read a joke from a book.

It was a father and a son who was called Chabelo, and when he read it he made the voice of a child that would accompany him from now on, despite his imposing 1.92 meters in height.

Gamboa invited him to tell jokes next to him on air and Chabelo was born during the broadcast of the children's program Carrusel musical.

With the character also began Lopez's career in show business, which led him to leave his medical studies.

For several years Gamboa and López formed a duo in which he acted as his father in television and film productions.

After settling for a time in New York, where he worked in theater and cinema, he 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 he aired his Sunday game show "En familia con Chabelo", a family show, in which he worked as a writer, producer and host.

In 2012 he was awarded two Guinness World Record certificates for his 44 years as host of "In Family with Chabelo" and for his work as an actor for 57 years playing 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 posted on social media 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 high-pitched infant voice marked by a harsh tone.

But in 2018 many people first heard his natural voice in the intrigue film "The Mongol Plot", in which he played the role of a military man.

In 2019 he denied through the networks the rumors about alleged health problems. "I'm doing very well. Those who gossip, very badly. With all affection I send you a trumpet," he said in October, with his characteristic good humor.

Chabelo (Francisco Xavier López Rodríguez)

Born: 2/17/1935, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.

Died: 3/25/2023, Mexico City, Federal District, Mexico

 

Chabelo’s westerns – actor:

The Tow Rivals – 1966

Bang nang al hoyo - 1971