Difference between revisions of "Eddie Murillo"

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Circus Producer, Talent Agent

By Dominique Jando

Eduardo ("Eddie") Murillo (1940-2005) had a long and successful career as a circus producer and talent agent, both in Europe and in America, that made him a true celebrity in circuses all over the world, and he was a popular presence in international circus events during the last third of the twentieth century. His aptitude for solving problems, big and small, was greatly appreciated by circus producers as well as by the many artists he helped.

Eduardo Murillo was born in Mexico City on October 22, 1940, to Eduardo Murillo, Sr. and María Ángeles Calderón. He had two younger siblings, Salvador and María Luisa. The family performed internationally with a trampoline act; they arrived in Italy in 1956, where they had a contract with Cesare and Oscar Togni, followed by another one at Circo Palmiri; they eventually settled in that country, from where they worked successfully all over Europe.

However, Eddie had an outgoing personality, and he quickly demonstrated an uncanny ability to make contacts and be helpful in many ways. In 1963, Enis Togni hired him to work as talent scout for the family's Circo Americano. Murillo soon became Enis Togni's principal collaborator, helping him in a succession of important projects over the years. In 1966, he married Loredena Martini, who came from an old Italian circus family and with whom he had two children, Vinicio (b.1967) and Veronica (b.1978).

Festival Man

In 1977, Eddie was hired by the International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo to be its talent agent (a job that requires a keen knowledge of the international circus scene) and its Artistic Director. He served in these capacities for the following eleven years. This brought him to create with Antonio Giarola a series of successful festivals in Verona, Italy: Bimbo Bo and Giovanni Stelle del Circo for young performers, and the festival Stelle del Circo in 1992, fondly remembered as "the Verona festival", which unfortunately lasted only three years and had to be abandoned for lack of financial support.

Eddie Murillo eventually created his own talent agency (World Talent), but continued to be involved in major circus events: In 1996, he helped creating the International Circus Festival of Budapest in Hungary, then served as artistic consultant for the Wuqiao Circus Festival in China, and for Moscow's first World Festival of Circus Arts (still in 1996), for which he managed to have the Tognis' huge American Circus big topThe circus tent. America: The main tent of a traveling circus, where the show is performed, as opposed to the other tops. (French, Russian: Chapiteau) erected on the Red Square!

In 1998, Murillo settled in Las Vagas, in the United States, where he continued to work internationally as a talent agent and circus consultant. Sadly, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2004, and passed away in Las Vegas the following year, on March 1, 2005. He was only sixty-five years old, and his passing came as a shock to the circus world: It seemed that everybody had a personal relationship with the well-loved and ubiquitous Eddie Murillo!