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NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas

American Dreaming with José Díaz-Balart: Don Francisco

NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas

NBC News

Government, News, Policy, Politics, Information, War, Political, Congress, Campaign, President, World

3.92.1K Ratings

🗓️ 20 February 2021

⏱️ 20 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Mario Kreutzberger, known as “Don Francisco,” has graced televisions and filled the hearts of families for more than 50 years after starting his career in Chile. Don Francisco sits down with José Díaz-Balart and tells him how he made his American Dream a reality.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

What does the American dream mean to you?

0:02.5

I found my profession, my real profession here,

0:05.7

when I saw the first time a television scene.

0:08.5

If I say to you Mario Kreutzberger, it may not ring a bell,

0:34.8

but if I say hello to Don Francisco, millions of people around the world know him and love him.

0:46.0

He actually holds the title for the world's longest running TV variety show.

0:52.0

Mario Kreutzberger, Don Francisco, it's so nice to see you.

0:55.6

Jose, thank you very much for having me.

0:58.4

In my broken English, I will try to answer the best that I can, the first of my efforts.

1:06.2

When we hear the name Don Francisco, for many of us, it's a person that we grew up with,

1:14.5

a person that was almost part of our family.

1:18.8

And Mario, I want to ask you about before Don Francisco, before you created Don Francisco,

1:25.6

Mario Kreutzberger grew up in Chile, the son of German Jews, that your father actually escaped

1:34.3

from a concentration camp. That's right. You know, I'm part of the National Chilean

1:40.7

Anthem, I'm a Chilean, because part of the lyric they say,

1:44.9

Acelium against oppression. And that was the case of my parents. They fled from Germany to Chile.

1:52.2

My mother was one year before. My father went to the concentration camp. And after that, he escaped

1:59.2

to England, where he was in a working camp. And he arrived in November 9, 39.

2:05.2

My father was caught after the crystal. And he arrived in Chile in November 39.

2:12.8

And I think I was made very fast because I was born in December 40, that means about 13 months after

2:21.4

my father arrived. And you grew up in Chile, your first language was German.

2:28.5

Yes, because I spoke with my grandmother, German. She couldn't speak Spanish. And I started

...

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