Ricardo González Gutiérrez Biography, Wiki
Ricardo González Gutiérrez known as Cepillín was a Mexican clown as well as a singer, TV host, and actor has died. Cepillin, an iconic Mexican clown who found fame on television and by singing children’s songs.
According to ABC 7, Cepillin was a dentist by trade. He was well known throughout Mexico due to his children’s songs, including “La Feria de Cepillín,” “Tomás” and “En el bosque de la China.”
He appeared on television and had a children’s show called El Show de Cepillin.
Born in Monterrey, Mexico, he started entertaining children in his dental work. “In order to keep children from crying or getting scared, he painted his face like a clown,” reported WKRN-TV, which added that his stage name means “tiny toothbrush.” He eventually released 25 albums of children’s songs and received Grammy nominations, according to the television station.
News3 reported that Cepillin was credited with helping give actress Salma Hayek her big break.
Age
Ricardo González Gutiérrez has died at the age of 75-years-old.
Family & Siblings
The clown’s son, Ricardo González Jr., thought his father might recover from cancer. Cepillin also took the news he had cancer “calmly,” according to the El Paso Times.
“You know my dad. He said, ‘I have to die of something.’ He turned to see us and said, ‘I have cancer,’” he said to the newspaper.
According to the Spanish-language publication Milenio, Cepillin was first hospitalized with back pain, at which time the cancer was discovered. His son confirmed his death to that publication, saying that his dad was “intubated after presenting cardiac complications and with pneumonia after being operated on the spine,” the site reported.
According to Milenio, he was initially hospitalized after a fall, and underwent spinal surgery, initially recovering from it. He took a turn for the worse over the weekend.
Career
Ricardo was a dentist who started to paint his face so that kids would not be afraid of him as he worked on their teeth. He became famous when a local TV channel interviewed him. The name Cepillín means “Little Brush” in Spanish (while “cepillo” means literally “brush”, the origin of the nickname implies it is, in fact, referring to a toothbrush).
With Televisa, he had a show called El Show de Cepillín starting in 1977. This was an educational, comedy, and interview show with guests such as Lou Ferrigno. The show was a success in Mexico as well as Chile and Puerto Rico. He arguably became the most famous clown in Mexico and all Latin America. His show was aired in more than 18 countries.
Cepillín recorded 27 long play albums of children’s songs, 11 of which went gold. In all, they sold more than 25 million copies worldwide. The most popular songs were La feria de Cepillín, Tomás, En el bosque de la China and La Gallina Cocoua. Cepillín also helped younger artists to acquire fame such as singer Yuri, who took a role in his movie Milagro en el Circo, and Salma Hayek, to whom he gave the opportunity in the masterpiece Aladdin as Jasmine.
Cepillín had another show in 1987 called Una sonrisa con Cepillín on Channel 5 of Televisa.
In 1990 he returned to Monterrey for Súper sábados con Cepillín which featured his sons Ricardo González Jr and Roberto González. In 2006 he and his sons recorded Cepillín live for Multimedios Television. From 1982 to 2006 he toured Mexico and the United States with a circus that bore his name.
Health & Cause of Death
González Gutiérrez had a smoking problem and was hospitalized with heart attacks on three occasions.
Ricardo González Gutiérrez was admitted to a hospital in Naucalpan, State of Mexico, on February 28, 2021, because of intense back pain. He underwent a nine-hour surgery and seemed to be recovering, and received a visit from ″Rey Grupero″. However, he had chest pains and was admitted to intensive care and put on a ventilator on March 7. On March 8, 2021, Cepillín died at the age of 75 after battling spinal cancer. His son, Ricardo González Jr., said that his father had a respiratory arrest from which the doctors managed to “get him out”; however, he reported that “he was already very deteriorated” and he had a failed kidney.
What was his cause of death? According to the El Paso Times, Cepillin died on Monday, March 8, 2021, of respiratory failure due to spinal cancer. He was in the intensive care unit at the hospital for several days when he passed away.
The Houston Chronicle reported that Cepillin died at Hospital Corporativo Satelite in Mexico.
According to the newspaper, Cepillin was “a famous Mexican TV clown known for singing popular children’s songs.” Cepillin, reported Milenio, “entertained the childhood of thousands in Latin America.” WREG-TV called him “one of Latin-America’s most famous clowns.”
Tributes
People offered tributes to Cepillin on social media, with many echoing a similar theme. “Rip Cepillín. You made my childhood better with your songs,” wrote one man.
Tributes flowed in. “I’m so sad about this. Like many, every birthday my parents would wake me up with his version of ‘Las Mañanitas’ and he helped me get rid of my fear of clowns. What a kind soul RIP Cepillín,” a woman wrote on Twitter.
GoFundme Account
A GoFundme account was started to raise money to help with Cepillin’s medical costs. It’s raised more than $12,000.
