María Salud Ramírez Caballero, the woman believed to have been the inspiration behind the character Mama Coco in the 2017 Disney and Pixar film Coco , passed away on Sunday. She was 109.
Her death was confirmed via Twitter by Roberto Monroy, Secretary of Tourism for the Mexican state of Michoacan. Caballero died in her hometown of Santa Fe de la Laguna.
According to the New York Times , Coco director and co-writer Lee Unkrich and his team spent two years visiting the Mexican states of Oaxaca and Guanajuato to draw inspiration for the Rivera family. Caballero’s family maintains that María was photographed by a member of the production crew, leading them to think Mama Coco’s appearance was based off her likeness.
Neither Disney or Pixar have ever confirmed these assumptions.
Unkrich admitted on Twitter Monday that the town of Santa Cecelia in Coco became “a visual inspiration” after visiting Santa Fe de la Laguna, but pushed back on the connection between Mama Coco and Caballero, maintaining no one on his team met her.
Unkrich later co-signed a message suggesting the universal portrayal of Mama Coco, and posted another tweet where he essentially took the high road in the discourse regarding the character.