Mari Carmen (and her dolls) dies after suffering a fall at home at the age of 80

The entertainment world has suffered a terrible loss this Thursday. Big Carmen, one of the most popular and beloved ventriloquists in Spain, has died at the age of 80 in Tenerife. Her body has been found lifeless in the vicinity of her home and everything points to an accidental fall down the stairs, according to Week.

María del Carmen Martínez-Villaseñor Barrasa, better known as ‘Mari Carmen and her dolls’, was born in Cuenca. She began her career in the puppet theater at the age of 16 and soon achieved great popularity thanks to Doña Rogeliahe nicol duckthe joven Daisy and the lion rodolfo.

His first television appearance was in 1967, on the program Saturday nightpresented by Franz Johan and Gustavo Re. In 1971 he made his first steps in the cinema, in the film The graduate, by Mariano Ozores, where he worked alongside Lina Morgan and Florinda Chico. In 1973 she regularly collaborated with Luis del Olmo in the program seven thirty musical, of Spanish Television. She lived her best time at the hands of José Luis Moreno, with whom she coincided in programs such as Ladies and Gentlemen! (1974-1975), Applause (1979-1980) o Saturday night (1987-1988).

His son Miguel, devastated

After a fling with Jose Luis Moreno (“we kissed each other”) and a brief courtship with Jimmy Jiménez-ArnauMari Carmen she married the lawyer Manuel Almanzor in 1980. As a result of that union, their only son was born, Miguelto whom the comedian was very close: “I do not love my son, I love him, he is my other self. He has given me many joys, but until he reaches what I have given him… We have a relationship wonderful and horrifying. From not speaking to each other to talking until five in the morning and having to hang up to go to sleep. We both need to communicate, we are two soul mates. If he weren’t my son, he would be my only friend,” he said in 2021 to The reason.

Miguel did not follow in his mother’s artistic footsteps but he did take charge of all her businesses: “He lives in Madrid working a lot. He takes care of all my properties. You have improved them a lot. Now he is reforming a villa in Pozuelo and he is leaving it wonderful. We have that property there, and we are neighbors of Aznar, who is a friend of ours,” he said.

At the age of 75, Mari Carmen moved to Tenerife, which she called “paradise lost” and which she traveled almost daily with her Mercedes, one of her passions: “I never stop driving. I put on Sinatra and Barbara Streisand at full blast and I have a pipe with my roof open”. She never retired and stayed active by touring, lecturing, and speaking. “Right now I am writing my fourth book. They are not exactly my memories. In this novel there will be two parts. Firstly, I talk about Mari Carmen and I tell my whole life and childhood, and then I tell a lot about my dolls. I make a reflection that I love it and it is the following: ‘From the gardens of the retreat (where I started) to the retreat of my garden’, which is where I live now”.