Giuseppe Michael Agrelot Vilá (April 21, 1927 – January 28, 2004), also known as José Miguel Agrelot or Don Cholito, was a Puerto Rican comedian, radio and television host.

Biography

Agrelot was born in Santurce, Puerto Rico. He was the third of four children of Felipe Antonio Agrelot Fittipaldi and Ana Luisa Vilá Cruz. His paternal grandparents were born in Lauria, Italy and immigrated to Puerto Rico in 1892, two years before his father's birth. His sister, Ana Luisa, a teacher, later became a part-time comedic actress as well. He started working on radio stations when he was 14. At that time, he was employed by radio entrepreneur Tomás Muñiz, then the general manager of WIAC-AM and the father of later producer and actor Tommy Muñiz. During this period Agrelot developed his first comedic character, Torito Fuertes, a mischievous eight-year-old for a family comedy show sponsored by Borden, Inc. and its evaporated milk (the name Torito Fuertes was a pun on "strong calf", a desirable consequence of drinking good milk). The character later took a life of his own on a radio show first named El Profesor Colgate (sponsored by Colgate-Palmolive's flagship toothpaste) and later called El Colegio de la Alegría (The School of Joy). This program featured Tommy Muñiz as the schoolteacher of a rather dysfunctional classroom. Apart from appearances in numerous commercials, Agrelot's credits in Puerto Rican television included:

Exhibition boxing record

Comedic characters

Agrelot created the following characters: Agrelot would also parody famous characters from film and cinema in his comedy program, "Ja Ja, Ji Ji, Jo Jo Con Agrelot". His most famous parody was that of Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone in The Godfather movie trilogy. Agrelot appeared as Padre Ambrosio, a priest, in Jacobo Morales's Dios Los Cria II. He also played a serious dramatic role in a television miniseries, Nadie lo va a saber, in 1991.