The way El Chavo of the 8th penetrated the Latin American audience allowed many of the actors who were part of the cast to live off the characters that so reached the hearts of the people.
It was the case of Rubén Aguirre, the interpreter of professor Jirafales, who as they did Carlos Villagrán (Quico) and Maria Antonieta of Snows (the Chilindrina), also could found a circus with his famous personage like to main attraction, of which it could live during years, even after the emission of the last episode of the Chavo of the 8, in 1980.
For years the episodes of the productions created by Roberto Gómez Bolaños ‘Chespirito’ continued to be repeated on television in different countries, so the characters did not lose validity. There was always an audience that remembered Professor Jirafales’ eternal loves with Dona Florinda.
Although there were famous disputes of Chespirito like proprietor of the rights of use of the personages of the famous neighborhood, Aguirre – that had title of Agronomist Engineer could characterize the remembered professor in Argentina, country where this restriction did not exist , within the ‘circus of Professor Jirafales’.
However, in 2007, a car accident marked the decline of his company. The accident affected the actor and his wife. She lost a leg and he suffered a serious spinal injury. The care of both of them, especially his wife, who needed several surgeries, was undermining the family budget. So much so that in 2015 it became known that the actor, who had also been diagnosed with diabetes, owned a fortune of less than $ 10,000.
In addition to his health problems, he had a kidney stone problem. In an attempt to raise funds to pay for his treatments, he sued the National Association of Actors of Mexico because, he said, they had promised to pay for his medical expenses, but they had not.
Aguirre died of complications from pneumonia on June 17, 2016, in Puerto Vallarta, at the age of 82.