Madrid/Santa Cruz de Tenerife, June 15 (EFE).- The 80-year-old ventriloquist and humorist María del Carmen Martínez, known as “Mari Carmen and her dolls”, has been found dead at her home in Puerto de la Cruz ( Tenerife), as published by Semana magazine and official sources on the island have confirmed to EFE.
Apparently, the causes of death are due to “an accidental fall down the stairs” of her home, according to the magazine from sources close to the artist.
Mari Carmen became famous for her television shows in which she spoke with her puppet dolls Doña Rogelia, Daisy, Nícol and Rodolfo. She was born in Cuenca on May 4, 1943.
The ventriloquist had a house for a long time in Puerto de la Cruz, a town in the north of Tenerife where she spent long periods of time, as confirmed to EFE by sources from its City Council.
Mari Carmen has been linked to this Tenerife town for about ten years.
The National Police has taken charge of investigating the circumstances in which his death occurred.
After studying high school in her hometown, which she combined with piano and ballet studies, she began her studies in Philosophy and Letters in Madrid, which she abandoned to dedicate herself to dolls.
In 1965 the Pavillon nightclub in Madrid gave him the opportunity to perform with two of his dolls, “Daysy” and “Nikol”. Already before, when he was 16 or 17 years old, he debuted with his character “Nikol” together with Xavier Cugat.
After a few years working in Spain, in 1969 he moved to Venezuela, where he took part in Renny Ottolina’s television show. He continued his tour of South America and intervened for eight months in Mexico where he created his third doll, “Rodolfo”.
In the seventies she created her character “Doña Rogelia”. After her success in “Musical Seven Thirty”, in 1974 she recorded a pilot program for television.
Two years later, Televisión Española offered him the special program “La hora de Mari Carmen… y sus muñecos”, which was recorded in color with a view to exporting it to Latin American countries. The program was made by Valerio Lazarov.
During the eighties he worked in different nightclubs, including “Windsor”, “Cleofás” and “El Casino de Madrid”.
He also appeared in different television programs. At Christmas 1984 she made her debut in the circus, and in 1985 she received the “Castellana-Manchega of the year” award.
After working in different Spanish rooms and theaters, he reappeared again on television screens with his own programs.
On October 19, 1991, “Humor cinco estrellas” began to be broadcast on the private channel Tele 5. Every Saturday Mari Carmen and Doña Rogelia introduced the comedies and interviews.
In April 1992 he went to TVE where he presented the magazine “¡Ay, vida mía!” for several months, in which his dolls were in charge of interviewing the guest character.
He did this same space again in a second stage from June 9, 1993 (15 spaces) and again for a third in January 1994.
A joke of his, in October 1993, about Jordi Pujol and “the transfer of 15 percent”, during the recording of a special space on TVE, motivated criticism from the public who attended the gala.
In addition to this work on TVE, he collaborated on the radio program run by Luis del Olmo, where he uses his character “Doña Rogelia”.
In December 1994, he received the Gold Medal from the College of Commercial Agents of Cuencas.
On June 19, 1980, she married Manuel Almanzor, the son of the manager of the boxer Urtain, in a civil and a month later ecclesiastical marriage. On January 26, 1981, her son Miguel Manuel was born.
The marriage lasted a year. In August 1988 she reconciled with her ex-husband, from whom she was already legally divorced. This second stage lasted until September 1992, but months later a new reconciliation arrived.EFE
EFE
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