Actor Manolo Villaverde, who starred as Pepe Peña in the first bilingual sitcom on American television, ¿Qué Pasa, U.S.A.? and featured on Nickelodeon's Gullah Gullah Island and Taina, sadly passed away on Saturday, January 10, according to the show’s executive producer, Pepe Bahamonde. He was 91.
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| Cuban actor and painter Manolo Villaverde, 83, photographed with one of his paintings outside his home in Coral Gables, Florida, on Saturday, July 27, 2019. SAM NAVARRO Special for the Miami Herald |
“I knew from the moment that I started doing the casting for the show that there were certain people that I wanted in certain characters, and Manolo was one of them,” Bahamonde told the Miami Herald.
Villaverde played a father, Pepe Peña, in the popular show that was on air from the late 70s to early 80s. It won six regional Emmys and was being broadcast on 121 different stations across America by the time its four-year, 39-episode run was up.
The sitcom was created through a federal grant with the concept of helping young Cuban Americans deal with cross-cultural conflicts, Bahamonde said, adding that Villaverde was a Cuban exile.
It centered around the Peña family, who had three generations – grandparents, parents and children – all living under one roof in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood, he said.
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| The cast of '¿Qué pasa USA?' (from left.): Ana Margo Luis Oquendo, Ana Margarita Martínez Casado, Manolo Villaverde, Velia Martínez and 'Rocky' Echevarría, later known as Steven Bauer. Miami |
“Manolo was such a fine character,” he said. “There was no ego. Manolo was the joker of the group. Whenever we had a break, he would be the one telling the funny stories and the jokes.”
While the show was a local phenomenon, it found a broader appeal by its second season, according to Bahamonde. It played on stations across the country, and the sitcom ultimately attracted more viewers from other backgrounds than its original Cuban viewership.
Many people took to fan pages and social media accounts Saturday and Sunday to praise his groundbreaking role in ¿Qué Pasa, U.S.A.?
Radio host Enrique Santos said in a Facebook post that the sitcom marked generations. It helped many newly arrived families adapt to America and helped Americans understand Cubans, Santos said.
“Manolo Villaverde, our Pepe Peña, was the head of that family and the reflection of so many fathers and grandparents,” Santos said. “Manolo, thank you for teaching us how to laugh in both languages. Rest in peace.”
Beyond the show,Villaverde was a lifelong artist, and featured in many plays and series.
On Nickelodeon, he portrayed "Abuelo" on preschool series Gullah Gullah Island, along as Gregorio "Abuelo" Sanchez on musical sitcom Taina.
However, it seemed Villaverde was most proud of his work on ¿Qué Pasa, U.S.A.?, Bahamonde said.
People would shout “Pepe Peña” at him on the streets and recognize him when he traveled, and he enjoyed that, Bahamonde said.
Villaverde moved to Daytona Beach about two years ago, he said. When he retired from television and theater, he started painting.
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| The Cast of La Verbena De La Paloma in 2004. Left to Right: Gonzalo Madurga as Don Hilarion, and Manolo Villaverde as Don Sebastian. Gaston De Cardenas El Nuevo Herald |
His death comes as a “terrible surprise,” Bahamonde said. They had maintained a friendship throughout the years and chatted recently in the New Year.
The way people are reacting to Villaverde’s death helps to convey how much he was loved, he said. There is a “void that Manolo leaves behind for the people that knew him.”
“He was not just a good actor,” Bahamonde said. “He was a good person.”
R.I.P. Manolo Villaverde, 11 August 1934 – 10 January 2026
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