# Charo's legal birthdate is 1951 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 29, 2018, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charos-legal-birthdate-is-1951/811412 "2018-03-29T14:04:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2018, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charos-legal-birthdate-is-1951/811412/1 "2018-03-29T14:04:25Z")
I saw her on a rerun of the “Danny Kaye” show from 1965 last night. If that were true, she would have been 14, but she’s easily 20(ish). As much TV as I watched when I was younger, I had no idea she had been appearing on TV since the mid 1960s. The first time I saw her on TV that I remembered her was on “Hollywood Squares” in 1973. [Charo’s wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charo). They’ve just noted that her year of birth is the subject of controversy. IMDB shows it as 1951–and once a vital date is added to IMDB, it’s pretty hard to undo it without convincing, corroborating info. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2018, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charos-legal-birthdate-is-1951/811412/2 "2018-03-29T14:22:22Z")
Did you intend to post this in General Questions? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2018, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charos-legal-birthdate-is-1951/811412/3 "2018-03-29T14:36:39Z")
According to Wikipedia she was on a 1966 episode of Merv Griffin where she was said to be 21, so around 1945. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2018, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charos-legal-birthdate-is-1951/811412/4 "2018-03-29T14:40:30Z")
And [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLq3Hh9Hs8E) she is on MG in 1966. Only the song, not the interview, but she’s not 15 in that clip. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2018, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charos-legal-birthdate-is-1951/811412/5 "2018-03-29T14:53:18Z")
Testify! ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2018, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charos-legal-birthdate-is-1951/811412/6 "2018-03-29T14:57:00Z")
Eh. . . Sorry. Thought I was in Café Society. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2018, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charos-legal-birthdate-is-1951/811412/7 "2018-03-29T14:59:25Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > Eh. . . Sorry. Thought I was in Café Society. Now you are!🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2018, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charos-legal-birthdate-is-1951/811412/8 "2018-03-29T15:04:34Z")
Yeah, the wiki says she married Xavier Cugat in 1966. That’d be a 15 to 66. Even were she 21 that’d raise some eyebrows. Also, for all her persona…watching her on some YouTube clips just now man, that woman [could play some guitar.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMcdFV1kNv4) Also, is she a damn elf? That guitar looks three sizes too big. It looks bigger on her than Joan Jett’s looks on her and Joan’s always looks like it got inflated somehow. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2018, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charos-legal-birthdate-is-1951/811412/9 "2018-03-29T15:10:56Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > Also, is she a damn elf? That guitar looks three sizes too big. It looks bigger on her than Joan Jett’s looks on her and Joan’s always looks like it got inflated somehow. I saw somewhere she’s 5-4. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2018, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charos-legal-birthdate-is-1951/811412/10 "2018-03-29T16:40:29Z")
On the Danny Kaye program, she was in a scene with Clint Eastwood, Fess Parker, and Buddy Ebsen, all well over 6 feet–and at least with them, she was tiiiiii-neee! ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2018, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charos-legal-birthdate-is-1951/811412/11 "2018-03-29T19:03:47Z")
She was in two Spanish movies in 1963-_Nuevas amistades_ and _Ensayo general para la muerte_. ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2018, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charos-legal-birthdate-is-1951/811412/12 "2018-03-29T19:16:51Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > Yeah, the wiki says she married Xavier Cugat in 1966. That’d be a 15 to 66. Even were she 21 that’d raise some eyebrows. Considering his previous wife was 20 when they got married, I think it was a thing for him. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2018, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charos-legal-birthdate-is-1951/811412/13 "2018-03-29T19:25:14Z")
She is not untalented, but once she had gained a single degree of fame she almost immediately became a caricature of herself. Granted, that seems to have been her choice, and she’s done quite well putting on what is essentially a drag show of herself. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2018, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charos-legal-birthdate-is-1951/811412/14 "2018-03-29T20:02:31Z")
According to Wikipedia, earlier in life she claimed a birthdate in 19 **4** 1 … and then changed that several times over the years, culminating in her latest assertion of 1951. Based on her reported life history 1941 seems more likely. Then again, I do note she would not have been the first entertainer to start at a very early age; hoofer Ann Miller was tapping away in the movies at the age of 14, NOT billed as a child. Here she is in “New Faces of 1937:” [http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/1199634/New-Faces-Of-1937-Movie-Clip-Our-New-Dancing-Discovery-Ann-Miller-.html](http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/1199634/New-Faces-Of-1937-Movie-Clip-Our-New-Dancing-Discovery-Ann-Miller-.html) I’m sure there’s others, but she came to mind right away. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2018, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charos-legal-birthdate-is-1951/811412/15 "2018-03-29T21:04:53Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > Yeah, the wiki says she married Xavier Cugat in 1966. That’d be a 15 to 66. Even were she 21 that’d raise some eyebrows. > > Also, for all her persona…watching her on some YouTube clips just now man, that woman [could play some guitar.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMcdFV1kNv4) > > Also, is she a damn elf? That guitar looks three sizes too big. It looks bigger on her than Joan Jett’s looks on her and Joan’s always looks like it got inflated somehow. She’s doing it with lots of jewelry and manicured nails. Can’t see for sure if they are shorter on her fretting hand. She had to be born in 41. She’s showing her age these days. I can’t play at all if my nails aren’t cut very short She didn’t do well on Dancing with the Stars. Quite surprising because she’s a trained latin dancer. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2018, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charos-legal-birthdate-is-1951/811412/16 "2018-03-29T21:26:07Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > I’m sure there’s others, but she came to mind right away. Traci Lords, notoriously, was 15 when she started doing porn. Mila Kunis was 14 when she auditioned for _That 70’s Show_. Melody Patterson was 16 when she was in\* F Troop.\* But yeah, Charo lied about her age. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2018, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charos-legal-birthdate-is-1951/811412/17 "2018-03-29T23:43:31Z")
Charo is a total badass flamenco guitar player; ffs she trained under Andrès Segovia: that’s like being able to use a lightsaber and being trained by Yoda. I don’t really care how old she is because she’s beautiful, she’s funny as fuck and she totally fucking rocks. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2018, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charos-legal-birthdate-is-1951/811412/18 "2018-03-30T03:03:28Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > She didn’t do well on Dancing with the Stars. Quite surprising because she’s a trained latin dancer. Well, it looks like [she was on DWTS last year](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dancing_with_the_Stars_(U.S._season_24)). If she was, indeed, born in 1941, she would have been 76 during that show. So, there’s that. And, I see nothing in [her Wikipedia article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charo) to suggest that she had any particular dance training, or was known as a dancer when she was a younger entertainer. She’s a guitarist, a singer, an actress after a fashion, and a media celebrity, but I don’t know that she was ever known for being a dancer – being known for shaking her body and saying “cuchi cuchi” is _not_ the same as being a dancer. 😃