Jorge Raúl Porcel de Peralta (; 7 September 1936 – 16 May 2006), known as Jorge Porcel, was an Argentine comedy actor and television host.
He was nicknamed ''El Gordo de América'' (''America's Fat Guy''). Porcel is considered, along with
Alberto Olmedo
Alberto Olmedo (24 August 1933 – 5 March 1988) was an Argentine comedian and actor, popularly regarded as one of the most important comedians in the history of his country, for his outstanding work in television, cinema and theater.
Olmedo ...
, one of Argentina's greatest comic actors of the twentieth century.
Film career
Porcel worked in 49 movies, starting with 1962's ''Disloque en Mar del Plata'', and ending with ''
Carlito's Way
''Carlito's Way'' is a 1993 American crime drama film directed by Brian De Palma, based on the novels '' Carlito's Way'' (1975) and '' After Hours'' (1979) by Judge Edwin Torres. The film adaptation was scripted by David Koepp. It stars Al Pa ...
'' (1993). Many of these 49 movies were collaborations with Olmedo. Among the movies they did together was 1986's ''Rambito y Rambón: Primera Misión''. (''Little Rambo and Big Rambo: First Mission'')
Many of Porcel and Olmedo's movies in the 1970s and 1980s were adult-oriented comedies. Conservative Argentine authorities
rated these movies as PM-18 (age 18 and above), except for some movies planned for family audiences, which had "tamer" content. These movies are considered to be the pinnacle of Argentina's sexy comedy movie genre. Most of these movies were directed by
Gerardo Sofovich or his brother
Hugo
Hugo or HUGO may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Hugo'' (film), a 2011 film directed by Martin Scorsese
* Hugo Award, a science fiction and fantasy award named after Hugo Gernsback
* Hugo (franchise), a children's media franchise based on ...
. Porcel virtually stopped appearing in these movies after the accidental death of Olmedo, which left him clinically depressed.
Films
Television career
Porcel had many TV hit shows as well, including ''Operación Ja Ja'' (both the 1960s original and the 1980s remake) and ''
Polémica en el bar'' (Debate at the Café), where he had celebrated moments of comedy with fellow comedian
Juan Carlos Altavista. Most of these TV efforts were linked to the Sofovich brothers. He also did ''Las Gatitas Y Ratones de Porcel'' (Little Cats & Mice of Porcel).
After he retired from filming movies in Argentina, he moved to
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...
, where he starred in a risqué late-night variety show named ''A la cama con Porcel'' (''To Bed with Porcel'') on the Telemundo network, and was given a cameo in
Hollywood production
Carlito's Way
''Carlito's Way'' is a 1993 American crime drama film directed by Brian De Palma, based on the novels '' Carlito's Way'' (1975) and '' After Hours'' (1979) by Judge Edwin Torres. The film adaptation was scripted by David Koepp. It stars Al Pa ...
. ''A La Pasta con Porcel'' is a restaurant in
Miami Beach opened by Porcel and named after his popular television show.
Porcel's health deteriorated with time, due to his struggles with
obesity
Obesity is a medical condition, sometimes considered a disease, in which excess body fat has accumulated to such an extent that it may negatively affect health. People are classified as obese when their body mass index (BMI)—a person's ...
and
diabetes
Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ...
, to the point of ending up using a
wheelchair
A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, used when walking is difficult or impossible due to illness, injury, problems related to old age, or disability. These can include spinal cord injuries ( paraplegia, hemiplegia, and quadriplegia), cerebr ...
in his later years. He toured during 1999 through
Latin America
Latin America or
* french: Amérique Latine, link=no
* ht, Amerik Latin, link=no
* pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
to promote his autobiography ''Laughs, Applause and Tears''. By this time, he had also become a
born again Christian.
Porcel died in a
hospital in
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...
after a
gallbladder
In vertebrates, the gallbladder, also known as the cholecyst, is a small hollow organ where bile is stored and concentrated before it is released into the small intestine. In humans, the pear-shaped gallbladder lies beneath the liver, although ...
surgery at the age of 69. His body was flown to
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
and buried at the
Chacarita Cemetery.
Music
In 1980 he recorded a bolero record called ''Pure heart'' (Spanish: Puro Corazón (1980)) . Jorge Porcel loved music and in his shows he used to sing boleros, as in
Las gatitas y ratones de Porcel (Porcel's kittens and mice) (where he was frequently accompanied by piano player Mike Rivas) and at ''¿Lo viste a Porcel? (Have you seen Porcel).'' With his character Don Mateo he took part in a record from the show
Operacióm Ja-Já (Operation Ha ha) singing along with
Rolo Puente
Rolando Pardo Dominguez (13 August 1939 – 5 May 2011), known professionally as Rolo Puente, was an Argentine comedian and actor.
He was born in Buenos Aires. In April 2011, Puente was admitted to Guemes Sanatorium in Buenos Aires for treatm ...
,
Leo Dan
Leopoldo Dante Tévez (born March 22, 1942), known as Leo Dan, is an Argentine composer and singer born in Villa Atamisqui, Santiago del Estero Province. He recorded more than 20 albums during his long career during the late 20th century betwe ...
's hit «Libre, solterito y sin nadie» (Free, single and with nobody).
Comics
In 1970's decade, for several years, Cielosur Editora published several magazines dedicated to TV characters, as
Piluso, Minguito and El Gordo Porcel. ''Las aventuras del Gordo Porcel'' (The adventures of Porcel the Fat Man) was the title of the one dedicated to Jorge. The usual play -with drawings by Francisco Mazza- consisted of el Gordo getting in trouble and several confusions, during the time in between the feasts of food prepared by his mother, who he lived with. Other frequent characters are his girlfriend and his dog Banana, who had his own comic.
See also
*
Argentine humour
Argentine humour is exemplified by a number of humorous television programmes, film productions, comic strips and other types of media. Everyday humour includes jokes related to recurrent themes, such as xenophobic jokes at the expense of Galician ...
*
List of television presenters/Argentina
References
External links
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Porcel, Jorge
1936 births
Male actors from Buenos Aires
Argentine male film actors
Argentine male television actors
Argentine comedians
Argentine evangelicals
2006 deaths
Burials at La Chacarita Cemetery
20th-century comedians