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This section is a compilation of all shows with identifiable Mexican characters
(their heritage was mentioned in the script). Check out
Hispanic/Latinos
for other shows not found in this section. In general, if an Hispanic character
(who is not specifically identified as Mexican) lives in a southwestern city, he
is classified as Mexican.
THE A-TEAM/NBC/1983-87
**(Eddie Velez) Frankie "Dishpan" Santana, a Mexican-American Hollywood special
effects man raised in the barrio of East Los Angeles who joined the
soldier-of-fortune adventurers known as the A-Team during the premiere episode
of the 1986 fall season.
ACAPULCO H.E.A.T./SYN/1993-94 & 96
*(Randy Vasquez) Marcos Guetierrez, Mexican member of a multi-national group of
special agents working for H.E.A.T.--Hemisphere Emergency Action Team. Beefy
sex-symbol Fabio appeared as Claudio, the owner of a hotel located in Puerto
Vallarta, Mexico used by the H.E.A.T. agents.
THE ADVENTURES OF KIT CARSON/SYN/1951-55
*(Don Diamond/costar) El Toro, Mexican sidekick of famous frontiersman/scout Kit
Carson who roamed the Old West of the 1800's. Don Diamond was born in Brooklyn.
a.k.a. PABLO/ABC/1984
*(Paul Rodriguez) Paul (Pablo) Rivera, a young Mexican comedian who lived in Los
Angeles with his outspoken family including Joe Santos and Katy Jurado played
Pablo's parents, Domingo and Rosa Maria; Martha Velez, as his sister Lucia
Rivera Del Gato; Arnaldo Santana, as her husband Hector Del Gato; Bert Rosario
as brother Manuel Rivera; Maria Richwine as Manuel's wife, Carmen; Alma Cuervo
as unmarried sister, Sylvia Rivera; Hector Elizondo as Jose Sanchez/Shapiro;
Edie Marie Rubio as Linda Rivera; Antonio Torres as Nicholas Rivera; Claudia
Gonzales as Anna Maria Del Gato; Martha Gonzales as Susana Del Gato; Mario Lopez
as Tomas Del Gato; Beto Lovato as Mario Del Gato; and Michelle Smith as Elena
Del Gato.
AMERICAN FAMILY/PBS/2002-2004
*(Edward James Olmos) Jess Gonzalez, a gruff Mexican-American barber with a
heart of gold who has lived in East Los Angeles in California all of his life.
Jess is Mexican but think of himself as a “Spaniard.” The Gonzalez family
consist of Sonia Braga as Berta, Jess's loving wife (who dies in the first
episode but returns in flashbacks); Kurt Caceres as Conrado Gonzalez, the oldest
child, who was the first to go to college - he became a doctor; A.J. Lamas as
Cisco Gonzalez, the youngest child and aspiring filmmaker; Constance Marie as
Nina Gonzalez, a recent law school graduate working for Legal Services on behalf
of immigration rights who moved into her parents' three month after Berta's
death to take on her mother's role; Esai Morales as Esteban Gonzalez, Jess’s
“ne’er do well” son and ex-gang member who is out on parole and trying to put
his life back together; Austin Noah Marques as Pablito Gonzalez, Esteban's
six-year-old son; Seidy Lopez as Laura (Pablito's mother) a drug addict who is
forbidden to see her son; Rachel Ticotin as Vangie Gonzalez Taylor, Jess's
daughter, a fashion designer who lives on the West Side with her husband and two
children (Nina feels she "Sold out" by leaving the community and Vangie thinks
Nina a "fool" for staying in the barrio); Hohn Brennan as Larry Taylor, an Anglo
real estate developer who is married to Vangi -.they have two kids, Tiffany and
Scott; and Raquel Welch as Aunt Dora, the once aspiring actress and now drama
queen of the family. Other friends of the family included Shawn Elliot as
Fernando a debonair Cuban bandleader now back in town who once left Dora
pregnant but returned to Cuba; Kate del Castillo as Ofelia, a ballerina from
Mexico who must choose between her love for Estaban and her career in the Arts;
Valeria as Izabel, a gifted singer from Mexico City, who bonds with Cisco's
family; Jackie Guerra as Gordie, Jackie's activist partner at her law firm; and
Diana Bracho as Juana, an immigrant seamstress who works at Vangie’s clothing
company and becomes a love interest of Jess Gonzalez.
ANDY'S GANG/NBC/1955-60
**(Storybook Character) Mexican Bandit, General Frijoles was the subject of
fables read on this popular children's program by host Andy Devine, successor to
the original show host, Smilin' Ed McConnell.
BAKERSFIELD, P.D./FOX/1993-94
*(Tony Plana) Luke Ramirez, an Hispanic police detective working in the mostly
white desert community of Bakersfield, California.
BALL FOUR/CBS/1976
**(Jaime Tirelli) Orlando Lopez, Hispanic utility man for the Washington
Americans, a professional baseball team.
BAY CITY BLUES/NBC/1983
**(Marco Rodriquez) Bird, the colorful mascot of the Bluebirds, a minor-league
baseball team in the working-class town of Bay City, California. It was Bird's
job to don a huge blue feathered costume and parade around the ball stands as
the "Blue Bird of Happiness."
BAYWATCH/NBC/SYN/1989-2001
**(Jose Solano) Manny Guiterrez, Latino lifeguard working for Baywatch, a beach
patrol assigned to the Santa Monica beaches in California.
BEVERLY HILLS 90210/FOX/1990-2000
**(Mark Damon Espinoza) Jesse Vasquez, Mexican-American law student who meets
and marries Jewish-American Andrea Zuckerman. They have a child named Hannah in
the spring of 1994.
THE BILL DANA SHOW/NBC/1963-65
*(Bill Dana) Jose Jimenez, a kindhearted Mexican immigrant who worked as a
bellhop at Park Central Hotel in New York City. His catchphrase was "My
name...Jose Jimenez". Bill Dana who created the funny talking Hispanic character
was actually a Hungarian Jew born 1924 in Quincy, Massachusetts. The Jose
Jimenez character originally appeared in a number of comedy skits on THE STEVE
ALLEN SHOW in the 1950s.
BIRDLAND/ABC/1994
**(Oscar Mechosa) Hector, a gay Hispanic man who was the head orderly in the
psychiatric section of the Riverside Hospital in Oakland, California. Mechosa
played a similar character on the medical sitcom STAT.
THE BROTHERS GARCIA/NIK/2000-02
*(Alvin Alvarez) Larry Garcia, an imaginative 11-year-old loner who lives with
his Mexican-American family in San Antonio, Texas. His close-knit family members
consists of Carlos La Camara (a Cuban-American) as Ray Garcia , the hard-working
patriarch who lays down the law in the Garcia household; Ana Maris as Sonia
Garcia, the loving, pragmatic, but gossipy housewife who runs her own hair salon
right out of the house; Vaneza Leza Pitynski as Lorena Garcia, Larry's pesky,
tattletale twin sister Lorena who is addicted to telenovelas and makes every
situation into a plot from Spanish television; Bobby Gonzalez as George Garcia,
an overweight 12-year-old who had a big brain [he likes to calculate water
displacement ratios for local pools just for fun!]; and Jeffrey Licon as Carlos
Garcia, an athletic 13-year-old with a penchant for daydreaming. TRIVIA NOTE:
Colombian born Comic John Leguizamo narrates the program as grown up Larry (ala
an Hispanic Wonder Years). The series was the first Latino cast / crew show.
CADE'S COUNTY/CBS/1971-72
**(Victor Campos) Rudy Davillo, a Mexican-American police officer, one of two
deputy sheriffs assisting a modern-day Marshal in the sprawling California
County of Madrid.
CHEVROLET SHOWROOM/ABC/1953-54
*(Cesar Romero) Cesar Romero, Hispanic actor and entertainer hosted this
half-hour program featuring a variety of guest stars.
CHICO AND THE MAN/NBC/1974-78
*(Freddie Prinze/costar) Chico Rodriguez, a young wisecracking Chicano who
worked with a cranky old garage mechanic in the barrio of East Los Angeles.
Isaac Ruiz appeared as Chico's friend, Ramon aka "Mando". When Freddie Prinze
took his life in 1977 (he shot himself in the head), Gabriel Melgar was
introduced as Raul Garcia, a 12-year-old runaway from Mexico who had stowed away
in a car crossing from Tijuana to the U.S.A. The vivacious Charo played his Aunt
Charo, a talented entertainer who had arrived from Spain to work in Southern
California. NOTE: Freddie Prinze was actually part Hungarian and part Puerto
Rican. He called himself a "Hungarican."
CHIPS/NBC/1977-83
*(Erik Estrada/costar) Frank "Ponch" Poncherello, an Hispanic state highway
patrol motorcycle police officer teamed with a Caucasian partner who cruised the
freeways in and around the Los Angeles area. Erik Estrada was born in Spanish
Harlem.
THE CISCO KID/SYN/1950-56
*(Duncan Renaldo/costar) Cisco Kid, a Mexican "Robin Hood of the Old West" who
roamed the dusty trails of the Southwest accompanied by his jovial sidekick,
Pancho played by Leo Carrillo. The characters were adapted from the short story
"The Caballero's Way" written by O. Henry. Duncan Renaldo was actually a
Romanian. He had served 8 months in prison as an illegal alien before being
pardoned by President (FDR) Roosevelt. Renaldo's sidekick Leo Carillo was
actually of Mexican descent. He was known for his character's broken English
phrases like "Ceesco? Let's went! The Shereef ees coming". Carillo, who was a
popular fixture at the Hollywood Christmas Parade, died in 1961 at the age of
81. TRIVIA NOTE: Gilbert Roland who played the Cisco Kid in 11 B-movies once
said "My Cisco Kid might have been a bandit, but he fought for the poor and was
a civilized man in the true sense of the word" Roland was born Luis Antonio
Damaso de Alonso on December 11, 1905 in Juarez, Mexico. He died of cancer on
May 15th 1994 in Los Angeles. He was 88.
CONDO/ABC/1983
*(Luis Avalos/costar) Jesse Rodriquez, a successful Latino landscaping
businessman who lived in a condo right next store to a WASP insurance salesman.
His family members included Yvonne Wilder as his wife, Maria; Julie Carmen as
their daughter, Linda; and James Victor as Jose Montoya, a friend of the family.
The next store neighbors white son later married Linda Rodriguez, which created
more tension between the culturally divergent families.
THE COWBOYS/ABC/1974
*(A. Martinez) Cimmaron, Mexican-American teenage orphan who lived in the 1870s
on the New Mexico ranch of a widow who helped care for a group of parentless
boys with the help of her black ranch foreman, Jebediah Nightlinger. A. Martinez
reprised his role from the western film The Cowboys (1972) starring John Wayne
and Roscoe Lee Browne.
THE D.A./NBC/1971-72
**(Ned Romero) Bob Ramirez, Hispanic investigator for Paul Ryan, deputy district
attorney in Los Angeles.
DALLAS/CBS/1978-91
**(Paco Vela) Raul, a Chicano manservant/butler who worked at the Southfork
estate owned by the Ewing family, wealthy oil millionaires who lived outside of
Dallas, Texas. Also featured was Roseanna Christiansen as Theresa, the family
maid. She typically had lines like "Mrs. Ewing, someone's on the phone."
Alejandro Rey appeared as Luis Rueda during the 1986 season.
DAN AUGUST/ABC/CBS/1970-71
**(Ned Romero) Sgt. Joe Rivera, Hispanic police detective working in California
with Det. Lt. Dan August of the Santa Luisa Police Department.
DAVID CASSIDY-MAN UNDERCOVER/NBC/1978-79
**(Michael A. Salcido) Paul Sanchez, an Hispanic Los Angeles policeman who
occasionally assisted in undercover activities.
DAVIS RULES!/ABC/CBS/1991-92
**(Rigoberto Jimenez) Rigo Cordona, a chubby Hispanic adolescent who hung out at
the house of his friend who was the son of an elementary school principal.
DICK TRACY/SYN/1961
**(Voice of Mel Blanc/Paul Frees) Go Go Gomez, a slow-talking, Mexican detective
who assisted Dick Tracy in capturing such criminals as the Mole, Itchy, Prune
Face and Mumbles. This character was a complete stereotype that wore sombrero,
sandals and spoke with a slow-witted Mexican accent.
DOCTORS HOSPITAL/NBC/1975-76
*(Victor Campos/costar) Dr. Felipe Ortega, chief resident at the fictional
Lowell Memorial Hospital in Los Angeles. Albert Paulsen played the hospital's
director, Janos Varga.
THE DORIS DAY SHOW/CBS/1968-73
*(Naomi Stevens) Juanita, Hispanic housekeeper who worked for a widow and her
two sons on a ranch located in Northern California near San Francisco.
DOWN AND OUT IN BEVERLY HILLS/FOX/1987
**(April Ortiz) Carmen, the Hispanic maid who worked for Dave Whiteman (Hector
Elizondo), a clothes hanger businessman living Beverly Hills with his family and
a live-in homeless man. In the film version that inspired the TV spin-off
Elizabeth Pena played the role of the Carmen, the spirited maid who was humping
her employer while his wife was sleeping upstairs. The idea for both film and TV
series was based on the French play "Boudu Sauve des Eaux" by Rene Fauchois and
the classic film Boudu Saved from Drowning (1932).
DYNASTY II: THE COLBYS/ABC/1985-87
**(Ricardo Montalban) Zachary Powers, a scheming Hispanic tycoon who interacted
with patriarch, Jason Colby, a wealthy white California businessman.
EMERGENCY/NBC/1972-77
**(Marco Lopez) Fireman Lopez, Hispanic firefighter stationed at Squad 51 of the
Los Angeles County Fire Department Paramedics Rescue Service during the 1973-77
seasons.
EMPIRE/NBC/1962-63
**(Charles Bronson) Paul Moreno, a rugged Hispanic ranch hand working at the
Garret ranch, a modern-day half-million acre spread in Sante Fe, New Mexico.
FALCON CREST/CBS/1981-90
**(Rick Ramus) Gus Nunoz, Hispanic grape picker working at the Falcon Crest
vineyards and winery of Angela Channing in the fictional Tuscany Valley. Mario
Marcelino appeared as Gus's son, Mario. Other cast included Kristian Alfonso as
Pilar Ortega; Castulo Guerra as Cesar Ortega; Dan Ferro as Tommy Ortega; Danny
Nucci as Gabriel Ortega; Jay Varela as Miguel Aviles; Nick Najera as Paco;
Israel Juarbe as Raoul; and Ronald G. Joseph as Sheriff Sanchez.
FAME/NBC/SYN/1982-87
**(Erica Gimpel/costar) Coco Hernandez, talented Hispanic singer/dancer who
attended the famous High School for the Performing Arts in New York City. during
the 1882-83 season. Also featured was Jesse Borrego as Jesse Valesquez, a
talented Mexican-American dance student featured during the 1984-87 seasons
FANTASY ISLAND/ABC/1978-84
*(Ricardo Montalban) Mr. Roarke, an elegant yet mysterious guardian of Fantasy
Island, a tropic paradise where dreams became reality. Roarke was assisted by a
dwarf manservant named Tattoo played by Herve Villechaize. TRIVIA NOTE: In the
1970s and 1980s Mexican born Ricardo Montalban became famous for mouthing the
catchphrase "rich Corinthian leather" in a series of successful Chrysler
Corporation commercials.
FATHER KNOWS BEST/CBS/NBC/1954-62
**(Natividad Vacio) Frank "Fronk" Smith, a newly naturalized American citizen
from Mexico who occasionally was seen tending to the gardening and landscape
needs of the Anderson family who lived in the town of Springfield.
FIRST TIME OUT/WB/1996
*(Jackie Guerra) A single Latina trying to survive in Los Angeles.
FREEBIE AND THE BEAN/CBS/1980-81
*(Hector Elizondo/costar) Det. Sgt. Dan Delgado, a.k.a. the "Bean," an Hispanic
plainclothes police officer who worked special assignments for the San Francisco
Police Department with his partner, Sgt. Tim "Freebie" Walker.
FRESHMAN DORM/CBS/1992
*(Arlene Taylor/costar) Kamala Consuelo Ricardo, a lower-class Hispanic teenage
girl from Los Angles attending the fictional Western Pacific University in
Southern California on a financial scholarship. Ashamed of her background,
Kamala manufactures an alternate identity of K. C. Richards so she can get in to
the Kappa sorority.
A-F
/ G-M /
N-Z
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