The ventriloquist and comedian María del Carmen Martínez, 80 years old, known as "Mari Carmen and her dolls", has been found dead at her home in Puerto de la Cruz (Tenerife), according to the magazine Semana and confirmed to EFE by official sources on the island.
Apparently, the causes of death are due to "an accidental fall down the stairs" of her home, according to the magazine from sources close to the artist.
Mari Carmen became famous for her television shows in which she spoke with her puppet dolls Doña Rogelia, Daisy, Nicol and Rodolfo. She was born in Cuenca on May 4, 1943.
The ventriloquist had a house in Puerto de la Cruz for some time, a town in the north of Tenerife where she spent long periods, as confirmed to EFE by sources from her City Council.
Mari Carmen has been linked to this Tenerife town for about ten years.
The National Police has taken charge of investigating the circumstances in which her death occurred.
After studying high school in her hometown, which she combined with piano and ballet studies, she began studying Philosophy and Arts in Madrid, which she abandoned to dedicate herself to dolls.
In 1965, the Pavillón party hall in Madrid gave her the opportunity to perform with two of her dolls, "Daysy" and "Nikol". Previously, when she was 16 or 17 years old, she debuted with her character "Nikol" alongside Xavier Cugat.
After a few years working in Spain, in 1969 she moved to Venezuela, where she participated in Renny Ottolina's television show. She continued her tour of South America and participated for eight months in Mexico where she created her third doll, "Rodolfo".
In the seventies she created her character "Doña Rogelia". After her success in "Las siete y media musical", in 1974 she recorded a pilot program for television.
Two years later, Televisión Española offered her the special program "La hora de Mari Carmen ... y sus muñecos", which was recorded in color with a view to exporting to Latin American countries. The program was directed by Valerio Lazarov.
During the eighties she worked in different party halls, including "Windsor", "Cleofás" and "El Casino de Madrid".
She also participated in different television programs. In Christmas 1984 she debuted in the circus, and in 1985 she received the award "Castellana-Manchega of the year".
After working in different Spanish halls and theaters, she reappeared on television screens with her own programs.
On October 19, 1991, "Humor cinco estrellas" began to be broadcast on the private channel Tele 5. Every Saturday Mari Carmen and Doña Rogelia introduced comedies and interviews.
In April 1992 she moved to TVE where she presented the magazine "¡Ay, vida mía!" for several months, in which her dolls were in charge of interviewing the guest character.
She returned to perform this same space in a second stage from June 9, 1993 (15 spaces) and again for a third in January 1994.
A joke of hers, in October 1993, about Jordi Pujol and "the transfer of 15 percent", during the recording of a special TVE space, motivated criticism from the public who attended the gala.
In addition to this work on TVE, she collaborated in Luis del Olmo's radio space, where she uses her character "doña Rogelia".
In December 1994 she received the Gold Medal from the College of Commercial Agents of Cuencas.
On June 19, 1980 she married civilly and a month later ecclesiastically with Manuel Almanzor, son of the representative of the boxer Urtain. On January 26, 1981 her son Miguel Manuel was born.
The marriage lasted a year. In August 1988 she reconciled with her ex-husband, from whom she was already legally divorced. This second stage lasted until September 1992, but months later a new reconciliation arrived.