Akademik

(1916 or -'17? - )

   short, stolid ranchera singer - immediately identifiable by the white streak in his black hair, and his ability to change to a falsetto in the middle of a chorus - who had musical spots in films as early as 1947, and was elevated to second lead and leading-man status in the late 1950s and early 1960s, particularly in rancheras, Westerns and comedies like Viva Chihuahua! (where Aceves Mejía was born) and Camino de la horca (both 1961). Largely absent from the screen after the '60s, but he continues to work as a singer.