Erik Estrada
I always thought he was a bit toothy with clothes that were too tight, but today’s blog is about Erik Estrada. I used to call him Erik Tostada. His real name is Henry Enrique Estrada and he was born on March 16, 1949. My sister Karla was way into Erik in the 80’s. I still liked Leif Garrett and was starting to get interested in John Schneider (Dukes of Hazzard). I remember my sister Karla being devastated when Erik was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident on August 5, 1979. Our family was traveling to North Dakota that summer and we didn’t tell her about the accident because we thought she would get all upset and stuff. She read about it in a magazine at the good ole Rexall drug store in Turtle Lake, North Dakota. She was a tad bit upset. Oopsie.
Acting
Erik Estrada had a few bit parts on commercials and movies before hitting it big playing Francis “Ponch” Poncherello on the TV show CHiPs in 1977. CHiPs was about the California Highway Patrol and ran from 1977 to 1983. I watched the show from time to time. There were other officers that I thought were cuter than Erik (Larry Wilcox, Brodie Greer, Tom Reilly, Bruce Penhall, and Bruce Jenner), but Erik was the heartthrob to emerge from this show. He became a full-fledged teen idol and started appearing on the covers of Tiger Beat, Teen Beat, 16, and all the other teen magazines.
Estrada was a successful Spanish soap star in the 90’s. He was also on the soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful in 2002. He has done a lot of infomercials as well as cheesy commercials. His career continued to soar on upwards when he appeared in season two of The Surreal Life. (That was sarcasm.) I actually kind of liked him on there. He seemed like a normal person. I thought he was a cool dude.
Trivia
- Estrada dated Marie Osmond for a brief moment.
- He has been married three times.
- He has three children from his last two marriages. (The first marriage was very brief.)
- Was a reserve police officer in Indiana in 2007.
- Erik Estrada was a deputy sheriff in Virginia in 2009.
- He has been a reserve police officer in Idaho since 2016.
- Estrada left CHiPs in 1981 over a salary dispute. Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner replaced him.
- When he got the role in his Spanish soap opera (telenovela), he had to study Berlitz Spanish lessons for eight hours a day for a month.
- He ranked 15th in TV Guide’s 2008 TV’s 25 Sexiest Men of All Time.
- He ranked number one in TV Guide’s 2009 TV’s 25 Sexiest Men in Uniform. I don’t know if they got that one right. What about Randy Mantooth?
- George Lopez has a beef with Estrada because Erik allegedly wouldn’t sign an autograph when Lopez was a kid. Grow up, dude. Quit being a baby.
I’m not really sure what Erik Estrada is doing nowadays but I know he’s involved in a lot of charitable work. I guess he turned out to be an okay guy after all……but I still liked the blonde boys better. FYI, I have a lot of Erik Estrada available in my eBay store.