Pompín Iglesias (1926-2007) was a Mexican comedian of Colombian origin, famous for series such as My secretary Y Happy saturdays. He has been considered one of the greatest comedians and received the award for best actor in comedies by TVyNovelas in 1985.
Pompín Iglesias was one of the most relevant figures in Mexican entertainment, recording countless films and series that catapulted him to fame since the 1950s..
His last participation was in the play In the dark it makes me laugh, where he played the role of detective. In an interview that the comedian gave Notimex before passing away, he pointed out that his greatest wish was to return to television with a comedy program.
The most famous phrase of Pompín and with which he became known, he pronounced it in the series My secretary and it was: What a beautiful family! What a beautiful family!
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Alfonso Iglesias Soto, better known as Pompín Iglesias, was born in 1926 in Colombia, in the city of Bogotá. However, he would soon go to live in Mexico where he remained for the rest of his life..
He had two children: Alfonso Iglesias, known as Pompín III; and Manuel Iglesias, who died in December 2005. He shared his love life with Isabel Martínez “La Tarabilla”, with whom he had a relationship of more than 30 years..
He became known in theatrical comedy, which would be his specialization and area of greatest domain in the world of acting.
For Pompín Iglesias, comedy was always the genre where he felt most comfortable and where he knew he could exploit and put his full potential to the test. His comedies were full of entanglement and absurd situations that drew millions of laughs from the public.
In his later jobs as a comedian, he was no longer offered many lines in the scripts, as the demand to memorize so much information was difficult. However, those who worked with him assure that, when he went on stage, he became someone else, and his spark, his gestures and his grace were not lost despite his advanced age. I still managed to make both young and old laugh.
Isabel Martínez, better known as “La Tarabilla”, was Pompín's partner for more than 32 years. They met on the set of the play The Comic Tenorio. Lupita Pallás, who worked with him on this play and who was the mother of another great Mexican comedian, Jorge Ortiz de Pinedo, was the one who introduced Pompín and Isabel.
Despite their long coexistence, Pompín and Isabel never married as they did not see the need to legally unite their lives. Within a year of working on the play, they became boyfriends.
The first conditions in Pompín's health were due to respiratory causes, due to the constant and sudden changes in temperature that his body did not support well. He was hospitalized for more than eight days for pneumonia.
In addition, Isabel says that Pompín smoked most of his life, which could also have complicated his constant respiratory diseases.
Pompín Iglesias died in the city of Cuernavaca, Morelos state at the age of 82, due to cardiac arrest. After the funeral, his coffin was transferred to the Dolores Pantheon, owned by the National Association of Actors (ANDA) and there he was buried..
The people who loved him in life, went to say their last goodbye to Pompín to the sound of The Swallows Y Mexico Beautiful and beloved, two hymns of Mexican culture. The assistants chanted his famous phrase: What a beautiful family! His remains were deposited with those of his parents and one of his sons who died a year ago.
Pompín could not fulfill his dream of returning to the small screen, due to his health problems and because they no longer called him from the production companies to work. His last appearances were in theater and his last performance was in In the dark it makes me laugh, in which he played the role of a detective.
- Zero in conduct (1999)
- The hospital of laughter (1986)
- Happy saturdays
- My secretary (1978)
- Madness love (1953)
- We arrived, we scrubbed them up and we left (1985)
- Some decent rascals (1980)
- Patrol boat 777 (next to Cantinflas) (1978)
- Autopsy of a ghost (1968)
- My hero (1965)
- Dengue love (1965)
- The Black Phantom Gang (1964)
- What a father so father (1961)
- A threesome of three (1960)
- The super skinny (1959)
- A bum without a job (1958)
- As long as the body holds (1958)
- From New York to Huapanguillo (1943)
- In the dark it makes me laugh (2006)
Pompín y Nacho was a series of comic-style comics launched by Editora La Prensa, which told the story of two Mexican comedians: Pompín Iglesias and Nacho Contla, already famous and recognized in those years, 1969-1970. This was a series of 10 comic strips of 32 pages in full color.
The comics were based on all kinds of adventures, always putting the protagonists in funny and comical situations; but above all, it emphasized the real personality of each of the comedians. For this reason, Pompín always threw very characteristic phrases that made all Mexicans enjoy.
It was one of the most famous comedies in which Pompín Iglesias acted. In it he played Don Caritino Estudillo y Picoy, the head of the secretaries of the accounting department of an advertising agency. Thanks to this series, it gained worldwide fame and recognition, since it was broadcast in several Spanish-speaking countries..
Pompín immortalized the phrase what a beautiful family !, since in the series he pronounced it several times and then it would form a fundamental part of the character.
Likewise, she was in charge of naming Maribel Fernández, the actress who played Dulce as “La Pelangocha”, being known worldwide by this nickname given by Pompín. The series ran for 10 years.
Autopsy of a ghost is a comedy directed by Ismael Rodríguez in 1968. 400 years ago a man committed suicide and was condemned not to rest in peace, so his ghost roams the earthly world.
In order to get out of the abandoned house in which he is trapped, he is given four days to conquer the true love of a woman and have her sacrifice herself for him.
Pompín Iglesias is the nephew of Vitola, one of the possible suitors who, under the influence of the devil, instructs him to rob the bank where he works to undergo surgery.
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