Iris Chacón

Infobox actor
name = Iris Chacón


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caption = Iris Chacón
birthdate = birth date and age|1950|3|7
location = Puerto Rico
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birthname = Iris Chacón
othername =
homepage =
occupation = Singer and Dancer
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Iris Chacón (born March 7, 1950 in Puerto Rico) is a dancer, singer, and entertainer. Her curvaceous figure (38C-26-42), combined with her alluring looks, scanty costumes, and uninhibited display of raw sexuality (with an emphasis on displaying her g-stringed backside - which she loved to exhibit to her adoring crowds and TV cameras) made her a sensation in Puerto Rico and other Latin American countries, as well as in mainland US cities such as New York, Miami, and Los Angeles.

Career

Known by various names such as "La Bomba de Puerto Rico" (The Puerto Rican Bombshell), and "La Vedette de America" (The Showgirl of America), Chacón's voice and acting were considered only average by some people, But it was her outrageous and shocking Las Vegas type shows on TV and in live performances that propelled her to enduring fame and controversy. During her heyday in the 1970s and early 1980s, she toured most of Latin America, the USA, Europe and Japan. She also starred in two movies and many soap operas, such as "Yo Se Que Mentia". This novela was a hit.

Chacón was regarded as a good comedienne; she created a character, "Bibi", a living Raggedy Ann-type doll who would innocently use double entendres in her monologues. She also starred as the "heroine" of a humorous novela parody, "Carlota Pelota", in which she portrayed an innocent Cinderella-like character known for having a large deformity near her Adam's apple, caused by a ball of "pega'o" (hardened boiled rice) that was lodged in her throat while eating dinner once.

Her variety show, "El Show De Iris Chacón", aired for more than 15 years on WAPA-TV from 1972–1985. At the same time, it was also broadcast by some Spanish language television stations throughout the United States and Latin America. The show allowed her to display her talents as a variety show host, comedic actress and interviewer as well as a dancer. It also contributed to controversy regarding her figure and skimpy costumes. In fact, it was her dancing in revealing costumes that made her so controversial for the time period. However, Chacón claims that, besides two wardrobe malfunctions she had (one televised while she was playing the local leg of Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon, another one during a live show in Puerto Rico) she never took any clothes off even though it was rumored that Playboy offered her $1,000,000.

She appeared live in such famous places as Madison Square Garden and Radio City Music Hall in New York during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Once a year she performed at the "El Caribe" room of the Caribe Hilton Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, which drove large attendances due to her raw sex appeal.

In 1982, a television commercial she did for Amalie Oil Company, Inc.'s automobile engine coolant products became one of the most famous TV commercials in Puerto Rico's history. The sound of the word "coolant" resembles that of the Spanish word "culo" ("ass"), which is not in common formal use in Puerto Rico since it is considered a vulgarity there (although it is in common use in Spain). The commercial made constant references to Chacón's "coolant", complete with her leaning against the door of an automobile, strategically placed as to flaunt her derriere while picking up a bottle of Amalie Coolant. The controversy surrounding the commercial landed her in a front page article in the Wall Street Journal in June of 1983 entitled "A Onetime Choirgirl Rules as Sex Goddess On Puerto Rican TV". In that article, while Chacón promised to conquer America, like Carmen Miranda, others thought that her skimpy g-string costumes and full figure would not go over among an American audience. The article also quoted Luis Aponte Martinez, the Roman Catholic Cardinal of Puerto Rico, who spoke negatively of Chacón's influence on the people, due to her sexy and wild performances.

After her heyday, she moved to Miami and later to Orlando, where she lived more modestly, and found a job acting on "Gullah Gullah Island," a popular children's show that aired on the Nickelodeon cable network.

She has been married to musician Junno Faria for more than 25 years, and they have a daughter, Katiria Faria Chacón. Sometime in the mid-1980s, Iris declared herself "a born again Christian." However, this did not stop her from performing. While she claimed that her fans did not like the fact that she had begun to wear "more clothes" it appeared that by the end ot the decade, Iris had made her peace between being "born again" and still being a vedette.

From 1984 through the early 1990s, Iris Chacón appeared on such American TV shows as "America Onstage", "The Merv Griffin Show", "Geraldo Rivera", "Joan Rivers", and "David Letterman." It was on her first appearance on Letterman that she was described as the Dolly Parton and Loni Anderson of Puerto Rico. Letterman even joked about proposing to her. Merv Griffin said of her that "she was the answer to 'where's the beef?'", a reference to the Wendy's commercial of that time period. However, by 1984 Iris Chacón reached her peak, and not being able to reach an "Anglo" market, finished her show in Puerto Rico by mid-1985 at the age of 35. Her show remained in re-runs until the end of the 1980s.

On June 25, 2008, Chacon's mother passed away from a heart attack. The artist subsecuently expressed that she was sad but relieved that her mother didn't suffer. [cite web| url=http://www.primerahora.com/noticia/otros_asi/espectaculos_asi/iris_chacon_sufre_la_perdida_de_su_madre/205041| title=Iris Chacón sufre la pérdida de su madre| url=http://www.primerahora.com/noticia/otros_asi/espectaculos_asi/iris_chacon_sufre_la_perdida_de_su_madre/205041| author=Rosalina Marrero-Rodríguez| publisher=Primera Hora| language=Spanish| date=2008-06-27| accessdate=2008-06-27]

References