ACTOR
Charo
- Known for
- Chico and the Man (1974)
16 archived facts 3 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
Charo is an actor best known for Chico and the Man.
All facts (16)
- #001
Charo speaks Spanish (her native language) fluently, along with English, French, Italian and Japanese.
- #002
Her trademark "cuchi, cuchi" comes from the nickname she gave her dog: Cuchillo (Spanish for "knife"). "Cuchillo moved when he was happy. I copied him and I'd say 'como Cuchi, como Cuchi.' When I moved and said cuchi-cuchi, everyone thought it was so cute and they gave me cookies and candy. Now whenever I say cuchi-cuchi, people give me money."
- #003
At the age of 14, she won a scholarship to study classical guitar with Andrés Segovia.
- #004
She won Guitar Player magazine's Readers' Poll award for Best Flamenco Guitarist two years in a row.
- #005
Her father was a lawyer who was exiled to Casablanca during Franco's dictatorship and only returned when Franco died.
- #006
After discovering Charo, then 16, along with her mother and sister, Cugat brought them to America on a student visa, but because she was a minor she had to return to Spain and wait two years before coming back.
- #007
She attended the Sacred Heart Catholic convent school, where she began playing guitar at the age of 9.
- #008
Charo long claimed that her stated birth date was wrong due to a "clerical error." Official documents in Spain and the United States state that she was born on March 13, 1941, but Charo maintains she is actually younger. In 1977 she went to court and successfully persuaded Los Angeles judge Roger Foley to rule that her correct birth date was January 15, 1951. That would have made her 15 when she married, and the legitimacy of this date is widely questioned.
- #009
She married Xavier Cugat at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada.
- #010
She became a United States citizen in 1977.
- #011
She was considered for the role of Eva Perón in the film Evita (1996), which went to Madonna.
- #012
She returned to Las Vegas, Nevada, to star in her own song-and-dance show.
- #013
Regarding the disputes over her birth date, The Merv Griffin Show Season 3 Episode 242, broadcast on August 11, 1966, stated that Charo was 21 years old (giving a birth year of 1945).
- #014
Her son Shel Rasten studied philosophy at the University of Southern California (USC).
- #015
Her mother was a housewife and stage mother.
- #016
In the Spanish-dubbed version of The Flintstones (the original 1960-1966 TV series), Betty used Charo's "cuchi-cuchi" catchphrase as a pet name for Barney, and Barney used the variation "cucha-cucha" for Betty.
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
Sources for the entries on this page
- IMDb IMDb kaydı
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