Germán Valdés

Germán Valdés
Born Germán Genaro Cipriano Gómez Valdés Castillo
September 19, 1915
Mexico City, Federal District
Died

June 29, 1973(1973-06-29) (aged 57)

Mexico City, Mexico
Other names Tin-Tan
Occupation actor
Years active 1944–1973
Website
http://www.supermexicanos.com/tintan/

Germán Genaro Cipriano Gomez Valdés Castillo (September 19, 1915 – June 29, 1973), better known as Tin-Tan, was an actor, singer and comedian who was born in Mexico City but was raised and began his career in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua. He often displayed the pachuco dress and employed pachuco slang in many of his movies, some with his brothers Manuel "El Loco" Valdés and Ramón Valdés. He made the language of the Mexican American pachucos famous in Mexico. A "caló" based in Spanglish, it was a mixture of Spanish and English in speech based on that of Mexican immigrants.

Contents

Life

He usually acted with his "Carnal" (brother, from "hermano carnal", flesh brother, meaning two sons of the same mother), Marcelo Chávez, who also accompanied Tin-Tan with a guitar. He was a prominent figure during his golden years of movie making, from 1949. His 1948 movie, Calabacitas tiernas, a comedy, was chosen as one of the best in Mexican cinema .

He has the record of having kissed the most actresses in his career , some of them the beauties of their day. Some of his co-stars were Marga López, Rosita Quintana, Silvia Pinal, Amalia Aguilar, Meche Barba, Ana Bertha Lepe, Maria Antonieta Pons, Tongolele and many more. He also collaborated closely with actress and comedian Fannie Kauffman, who was also known as Vitola, during their careers.[1][2]

He was also one of several people who were originally intended to be on the front cover of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band but were ultimately excluded. He requested that Ringo swap him for a Mexican Tree, and he did.

He was the voice of Baloo the bear and Thomas O'Malley the cat in the Spanish translation of the Disney films The Jungle Book and The Aristocats; both roles were originally voiced by Phil Harris.

Tin-Tan was the subject of the 2005 documentary, Ni Muy Muy… Ni Tan Tan… Simplemente Tin Tán, by Manuel Márquez and Carlos Valdés, son of the comedian.

Quotes

An illustration of codeswitching word play: Hey Vato, how do you say "window" in English? (window appears verbatim in the original quote in Spanish).

Films

References

  1. ^ "Vitola fallece a los 84 años". El Universal. 2009-02-23. http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/578896.html. Retrieved 2011-03-26. 
  2. ^ "´La Vitola´ se retiró a tiempo". El Universal. 2007-01-23. http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/espectaculos/74134.html. Retrieved 2011-03-26. 

External links