The colossal love story of Mayra Gómez Kemp and the Argentine actor with whom she shared half a century

Early in the morning of this Sunday, October 13, we received a call that sent to the editorial office of Informalia a scoop that we would not have wanted to give. Minutes later, another source confirmed the sad news that moments later was endorsed by the family of the beloved woman. Mayra Gómez Kempdied at a very young age, 76 years old. The mortal remains of the presenter, actress and singer rested in Anatomical Forense.

We immediately and above all remembered her smile, her good humor and disposition, her quietness and her ability to empathize with the public, one of the many virtues that made this Spaniard born in Havana almost part of the family, at least for the people. generations that we enjoyed his sympathy and his good work in that One, two, three which he led with his very personal style and mastery, under the orders of another great, Chicho Ibáñez Serradorwho had the wisdom to choose her to replace Kiko Ledgard at the head of the legendary TVE contest.

Mayra Gómez Kemp He was discharged from the hospital just a few days ago after suffering a domestic accident at his home in Madrid where he lived, in Martín de los Heros, very close to the Princesa cinemas. Mayra herself explained to us after the scare that she had spent many hours on the ground, in anguish, and that she was not able to ask for help. It was, as we progressed in her day, her neighbor who raised the alarm and thanks to her she was able to be taken to the emergency room.

“I slipped and I couldn’t get up, like the Mecano song. The firefighters came to rescue me and what I did notice was how tall and handsome they were,” he said with that Cuban accent as delicious and soft as that accent. Cuban who never completely lost despite the years. To highlight the title of the autobiography he signed, and of which we also took note this Sunday when with great displeasure we gave the fatal news of his death. Optimistic, positive and grateful like few others, she said she felt privileged, aware of all her triumphs, not only the professional ones that most of us know, but also personal ones. Mayra was a migrant in the first part of her exciting existence; But over the years she settled in Spain, succeeded and enjoyed a sentimental and family stability of which she was always aware.

“I only regret not having been able to finish my studies”

“I only regret not having been able to finish my studies but between work and traveling with my husband it has not been possible,” she told us just a few years ago. She was very happy with her husband, Alberto Berco. The Argentine actor and Mayra met in Spain when they coincided working on the same play: “I acted and he acted as narrator,” she said. But Alberto left her a widow. He titled his memoir with the famous phrase he read in the One, two, three to give clues (sometimes false) to the auction contestants, when choosing an option and getting the car or the apartment and above all to avoid the dreaded Ruperta pumpkin.

Up to here I can read The title of the biography that Mayra wrote and that she presented along with two other greats, Manuel Campo Vidal y Teresa Campos. “It’s not always right, but I found the man of my life, my travel companion, the person who, together with my parents, gave me happiness and made me grow.” It was in 2015 and at that time neither we nor she knew that in January 2021 he was taking more than half of Mayra’s life with him, after almost half a century of love.

At that time, María Teresa Campos’ boyfriend and another of those who succeeded with Mayra in the One, two, three, Arrocet Mustache, He accompanied Terelu’s mother, to whom he still did his “piticlín, piticlín.” when he left The wheel of fortune on Antena 3, one summer, to pass the baton to a young man from Bilbao named Ramón García, he told us in an interview that “that Basque” was going to go “very far.” He had a good eye not only for finding the love of his life.

A companion like few others, generous, always with a smile on and off the set, she was above all a complete, inexhaustible fighter. We were meters away from her when she collected one of her four Gold TPs and also in 2013, when she deservedly received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Spanish Television. We can read up to here. RIP Mayra.