El Chavo (TV series) cast and characters

This is a list of the main characters in the TV series El Chavo created by Roberto Gomez Bolanos. [cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0229889/|title=El Chavo del Ocho (1973) Série de TV (1973-1992)|publisher=Imdb.com|accessdate=2008-09-03]

Characters and cast

Main

*El Chavo del ocho (Roberto Gómez Bolaños), an eight-year-old orphan, is the main character of the series. "Chavo" is a Mexican Spanish slang for "kid"; Chavo's real name is not known, but in some episodes he calls himself "Chente", short for "Vicente", after a friend who died in the orphan home in which he was abandoned. Generally Chavo is enthusiastic, creative and good-natured, but on the other hand he is also rather naïve and very gullible. He is not particularly bright (which Roberto Gómez Bolaños insinuated on the launch of the animated series may be consequence of poor nutrition) and is remarkably clumsy, often hitting Quico, Don Ramón and Señor Barriga with balls, shoes, hammers, bricks, chairs and other objects. Chavo arrived at the neighborhood at the age of four and apparently lives in apartment #8 with an elderly woman (who is never seen, but mentioned in the novel "El diario de El Chavo del 8"). After her death, Chavo spends most of his time inside an abandoned barrel that he calls his "secret hideout". He has a craving for ham tortas, a popular kind of sandwich in Mexico.

*Quico (Carlos Villagrán), is a spoiled, overprotected 9-year-old boy, son of Doña Florinda and a late naval captain (also named Federico) who reportedly died when his vessel was swallowed by a whale. Arrogant, manipulatory and envious, Quico always wants to draw everyone's attention to himself, either by screaming loudly or by showing off his newest toy. Partially due to his mother's influence (and former wealth and status as the wife of a naval officer), he believes that he and his mother are superior to everyone else in the neighborhood. However, he still finds time to play with the, as he and his mother call them, "chusma" ("riffraff"), namely Chavo, Chilindrina and Don Ramón. Quico is also noticeable for his black sailor "dress blue" top (probably a memento from his father), his rainbow patterned beanie cap, his enormous cheeks, and his minuscule intelligence, often responding to the Spanish words for idiot, stupid, dummy, etc.. In 1978, Quico went off to live with his godmother, reportedly unable to stand the riffraff anymore. Villagran's character, Kiko, starred in a rather short-lived spin-off series, "Ay, Que Kiko!" in the late 1980s which attempted to revive the series using a "Hip-hop" twist and gave Villagran's character a slight wardrobe make-over.

*Don Ramón (Ramón Valdés): is an unemployed widower. His greatest aspiration seems to be living an uncomplicated life, but in the "vecindad" this seems impossible. He is constantly hounded for the rent which he has neglected to pay for fourteen months (a figure that seems to be static since Señor Barriga forgives several months off of his rent in several episodes). His daughter (Chilindrina) is a perennial headache and his neighbor Doña Florinda's response to any imposition on her lifestyle is a loud slap on his face. Although rather high-strung and quick-tempered, Don Ramón manages to keep a fairly upbeat attitude and to (just barely) make a living doing odd jobs. He's also a fan of all sports and pretends to be knowledgeable in them (having demonstrated boxing, bowling, American football and even bullfighting [with a dummy bull] to the kids), but due to the kids' own shortcomings, he always comes up short. Chavo often mispronounces his name as "Ron Damón", which he is implying that he is a drunkard ("ron" means "rum" in Spanish). One quote popularized by himself is "There is no terrible work, the terrible is to have to work". He is a fan of Club Necaxa, which in the day was generally know as a perennial mid-table also-ran, per Don Ramón's quote "Yo le voy al Necaxa", meaning that he neither wished glory nor suffering.

*Doña Florinda (Florinda Meza), mother of Quico and love interest of Profesor Jirafales. She is a widow; her late husband, after which Quico was named, was a naval officer who died at sea and is often said by Quico that he "descansa en pez" (a pun on "rest in peace", literally meaning "rests in fish", indicating that he was swallowed by a shark). Her full name is Florinda Corcuera y Villalpando, viuda de (widow of) La Regueira. Doña Florinda has deluded herself into believing she's socially, morally and economically superior to her neighbors (and it is suggested that at one time she was well-off). She is so fiercely protective of Quico that whenever he is upset, she'll beat up Don Ramón without seeking explanation. She likes the cleanliness and order and also likes to cook and for that reason she become famous among her neighbours and one time she accepted a partnership selling churros (a tipe of pastry in Mexico) with Don Ramón, she watches in TV: "La cocina de Chepina Peralta" (Chepina Peralta's kitchen) She is easily recognized by the fact that she always keeps her hair in curlers (except in some early episodes), even at work or on vacation in Acapulco. In later episodes, she opens a restaurant called "Restaurante Doña Florinda". Derisively, the kids call her "Vieja Chancluda" ("vieja" being "old lady", and "chancluda" as someone who uses "chanclas", sandals).

*Profesor Jirafales (Rubén Aguirre), the school teacher. Highly educated but naïve, although single he carries on a ludicrously innocent relationship with Doña Florinda and patiently teaches way above the heads of his 8-year-old students. He is a teacher with lots of patience and professionally ethical. When angered, he shouts "Ta-ta-ta-taaaaa-TAH!!!". His last name is a reference to his height ("jirafa" is Spanish for giraffe; the closest English equivalent would be Giraffald). The children (and sometimes adults, most notably Don Ramón) refer to him as "Maestro Longaniza" (being "maestro" an alternative for "profesor", both meaning "teacher", and "longaniza" a long kind of sausage).

*Doña Clotilde ("La Bruja del 71") (Angelines Fernández), a retired woman who chases after Don Ramón. Because she is old and somewhat eccentric, the kids think she is a witch, and refer to her as "The Old Witch of the (Apartment) 71". Some adults also refer her like that, often by mistake, due to the kids frequently calling her "witch". She refers herself as "señorita" (miss) because she has never been married, which also she gets upset when anyone call her "señora"(Mrs.), meaning that she is a married woman. She is a single woman, thirsty for love, and frequently seeks it with Don Ramón, who is a widower. Because she never wants people to know her accurate age, she is always saying the number of candles (40 candles) she had to use in her "last" birthday's cake. (She never says more than 49) Even with that people never believe that, mostly because she also acts like a senior woman. She has always been in love with Don Ramón, her neighbor. But he is not interested in her, so Doña Clotilde wants him and does everything she can to conquer him like bringing him food from the store, buying him medicine when he can't sleep, baking cakes for him, or lending him luggage. In fact, all the times that Don Ramón is "interested" in her is when she faints in the middle of the yard and was going to bring him something from the store or just when being polite with her is his only choice. She is always dressed with a blue or pink hat (50's style) with "leaves", blue gown, and black shoes. In the beginning of the series she had also a black sweater.

*Señor Barriga (Edgar Vivar), the "vecindad"'s landlord. Rarely succeeds in collecting rent from Don Ramón and is greeted upon his every arrival by being (accidentally) kicked, tripped, beaten, or hit by a flying object thrown by El Chavo. His last name is a reference to his obesity ("barriga" is Spanish and Portuguese for "belly", but the surname actually exists). In the episode where Doña Florinda first sets up a restaurant, his full name is revealed to be "Zenón Barriga y Pesado" (literally "Zenón Belly and Heavy", Pesado is an real surname too), being "Zenón" a pun on "Cenón" ("dining man" or "big dinner"). He is also well known because of his patience with Don Ramón and his unpunctual rent payments and all the kids'(mostly Chavo's) misbehavior like punching him or nicknaming him (always making fun of his body).

*La Chilindrina (María Antonieta de las Nieves), daughter of Don Ramón. "Precocious" is probably the best way to describe Don Ramón's intelligent and mischievous daughter, who likes to take advantage of her slow-witted friends to play pranks on them and take their toys or snacks. She wears thick-framed glasses, after a few years her wardrobe consisted of a short green-pattern dress and a red sweater that was always twisted on the back. She has freckles and two ponytails that are always uneven, one significantly higher than the other one, just like her socks. "Chilindrina" is the name of a typical Mexican bun, with chocolate sparkles on top, reminiscent of the character's freckles. In early episodes, La Chilindrina has longer ponytails which are cut by El Chavo.

upporting

*Popis (Florinda Meza). Doña Florinda's niece and Quico's cousin. Cutesy and dumb, Popis was usually only present in schoolroom scenes until after Quico left the series, when she filled in for his character in remakes of old episodes. She frequently would say "Acúsalo con tu mamá" ("Tell on him with your mom") sometimes at inappropriate moments, such as when Profesor Jirafales told Quico he gave the wrong answer. Whenever she says or does something wrong, she blames it to her doll, Serafina, which she loved as a daughter.

*Ñoño (Edgar Vivar) (pronounced NYO-NYO, as in "yo-yo"). Señor Barriga's son, he is as fat as his father, and thus is always the butt of the classroom fat jokes. Ñoño was another classmate, but often appeared around the neighborhood if any scenes needed an extra kid. He is well-studied and good-hearted, but like most of the other kids, naïve to say the very least, so he is often taken advantage of. He also substituted for Quico in the later years.

*Godínez (Horacio Gómez Bolaños). An overall and baseball cap-wearing kid who usually keeps to himself and tries to dodge questions in the classroom so he can focus on drawing and playing musical instruments. Godínez is his surname; his given name is unknown. He seems to be a capable student but is totally uninterested. Godínez appears only rarely but is very funny. Horácio Bolaños directed the show for a period. He is brother to Roberto, creator and writer of the series.

*Jaimito, el cartero (Raúl Padilla). A sociable, but forgetful and negligent postal worker who appears in a few of the last episodes and takes over for Don Ramón and Quico in the Chavo segments on the hourlong "Chespirito". Whenever he enters the "vecindad", he is seen carrying an old bicycle, which he cannot ride because he couldn't learn. Jaimito also is rather lazy and tends to avoid carrying out tasks with the excuse of "avoiding fatigue". He hails from Tangamandapio which, although being a real location in Mexico, is thought by fans of being just a coincidental joke (Jaimito once said that "Tangamandapio is bigger than New York; it's so big, it doesn't appear in any maps").

*Doña Nieves (María Antonieta de las Nieves). Chilindrina's great-grandmother, who has character traits of both Don Ramón and Chilindrina. In some late "Chavo" episodes and early "Chespirito" episodes, she also takes over for her grandson Don Ramón. María Antonieta de las Nieves had been playing a nameless character similar to Doña Nieves for years in a variety of sketches, but she did not work particularly well in the Don Ramón role; for one thing, it was awkward that Doña Nieves and Chilindrina could not appear in scenes together except via special effects. By the late 1980s, her character had virtually disappeared from "El Chavo".

Other Characters

*Doña Eduviges (Janet Arceo). For two episodes, Doña Eduviges lives in the upstairs apartment of the "vecindad" and interacts with the other characters. Except for dressing differently and living in a different apartment, she acts exactly the same as Doña Clotilde, right down to her heavy-handed flirting with Don Ramón. But obviously she was crazy, because one time she said that she dyed her hair white just because it was fashionable. The kids even call her "La Loca de la Escalera" ("The crazy lady upstairs"). In the very next episode, Doña Clotilde is back and Doña Eduviges is never mentioned again. Jaimito the mailman is assumed to have moved into her apartment or one next to it, since he usually came from the same direction.

*Patty and Gloria. At various times in the show's history, Patty (who is Chavo's age) and her aunt Gloria (who is Don Ramón's) move into the upstairs apartment. The men and boys of the "vecindad" immediately fall in love with them. The 1978 Patty (Ana Lilian de la Macorra) became a regular character, appearing in many episodes of the half-hour version's last season.

*Malicha (Maria Luisa Alcalá), Don Ramón's god-daughter. During María Antonieta de las Nieves' absence, Malicha briefly replaced her. Much like Doña Eduviges, she disappeared after a small number of episodes and was barely missed.

*Don Román (Germán Robles). In one early episode, Don Román takes Don Ramón's place; he is said to be Don Ramón's cousin.

*Señor Hurtado (José Antonio Mena, Ricardo de Pascual and Benny Ibarra). A suspicious man (actually a thief) who moves to the "vecindad" for a few episodes. His felonies are charged to Chavo by mistake, but he ultimately returns the stolen goods, restoring Chavo's innocence towards his neighbors. Hurtado, however, never does claim the robberies himself. His name is reference to the Spanish word "hurtado", implying he's, in fact, a thief ("hurtar" is Spanish for "to steal").

*Iara (Angélica María), She is one of the personages most strange, and frightful of the seriado one. It appeared in only one lesson of teacher Girafales. When the teacher asked to which a name of the aboriginal tribe it answered tamoios, and all had looked at scared. It asked for to go to the bathroom and the series did not come back more. It appears dressed of blue and alone she said seven words.

*Higino (Pablo Rodríguez) Another strange personage, who also appears only in the school. It seats of the right side of Godínez, and of time in when he makes small appearances. It does not say nothing, as well as all the other mysterious personages of the school and it was never called in the list of names as well as Iara.

References

External Links

* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0229889/fullcredits El Chavo complet cast and crew] at Imdb.com