Roberto Gómez Bolaños, Comedian (1929-2014)

Estimated by Forbes magazine to have produced billions for Mexico's main television station Televisa, Roberto Gómez Bolaños aka Chespirito (a parody of his namesake Shakespeare) was one of Latin America's most loved comedians. His iconic characters such as Chavo del Ocho and Chapulín Colorado became huge hits across the continent.

by Luis Alberto Perez Sanchez

He was the creator of famous television characters as El Chavo del Ocho (his most recognised character where he plays a homeless kid that lives in a barrel in the middle of an apartment complex), and the naive superhero el Chapulin Colorado 'The Crimson Grasshopper.

The cause of his decease has not been made public yet, but his health was very fragile since last April. He touched the hearts of million across Latin America with his two most famous characters, inspired in Laurel and Hardy, who displayed a notoriously clean comedy style in contrast to the majority of such acts in Mexico's 1970 to 1990's.

Gómez Bolaños was born on the 21st February, 1929 in a middle class neighbourhood in Mexico City and started his career as a script writer in the 1950's. But it was not until 1970 that he was offered a Monday night slot, which most of the country watched for nearly 25 years. Although, this show finished 1990's reruns are regularly shown all over Latin America and many generations are familiar with his characters.

The nickname "Chespirito" came from the Spanish phonetic pronunciation of Shakespeare - "Chespir" - combined with "ito," a diminutive commonly used in Mexico that sounded perfect for the actor because of his short stature. He said in 2011: "Nicknames are the most essential in life, more valuable than names" and his is a revered one across many countries.

In a 2005 interview with the Mexican newspaper La Jornada, Gómez Bolaños said he always wrote with working class people in mind. 'There are writers who pour out words; concepts that sound really important but that basically say nothing'.

'I always tried to be as concise as possible, all to try and reach everyone, but especially the simple people, those who needed to be reached more than anyone else'. He was also a rather polemic figure amongst some politicians and intellectual critics for his conservative views and support of the right wing Mexican political parties.

He is survived by his second wife, actress Florida Meza, as well as six children from his first marriage and 12 grandchildren.