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- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Paulo César Peréio was born on 19 October 1940 in Alegrete, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. He was an actor and writer, known for As Aventuras Amorosas de Um Padeiro (1975), Harmada (2003) and Summer Showers (1978). He was married to Cissa Guimarães, Suzana César de Andrade and Neila Tavares. He died on 12 May 2024 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.- Lois Hamilton (Areno) personified a new wave of actresses who built careers on both beauty and brains. Lois attend Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennslyvannia, and the University of Florence in Florence, Italy, where she received degrees in Psychology and Fine Arts. As a top Ford model in the late 1970s, Lois graced the covers and pages of countless magazines, such as "Cosmopolitan", "Fortune", "Mademoiselle", "Italian Vogue", "Prevue", "Neue Revue Illustrierte", "Newsweek", "Paris Match", "Hello", "Redbook", "Ladies' Home Journal", "Glamour", "Time", and many others. Some of her ad campaigns included Chanel, Clarol, Halston, Pucci and Hermes, and she appeared in over 150 commercials worldwide. She was one of the pioneers who made the successful transition from model to actress. When she came to Los Angeles her career immediately took off and she found herself splashed all over the television and movie screens. Within a year she landed more TV stints than any other actress at ICM. She worked with such luminaries as Ivan Reitman, Neil Simon, Sydney Pollack, Robert Redford, Ned Beatty, Burt Reynolds, John Candy, John Larroquette, Dom DeLuise, Roger Moore, Bill Murray, Jane Fonda, Dean Martin, Carl Reiner, David Carradine, Sammy Davis Jr., Steve Guttenberg, Howard W. Koch, Albert S. Ruddy, Hal Needham, and Thomas R. Bond II to name a few. She was one of the privileged few to be photographed by George Hurrell Sr. before his death. When she wasn't involved in a feature film or television project, she took to the skies--she was a licensed private pilot. She logged over 600 hours and was an accomplished aerobatic pilot flying her 1936 German biplane. In addition, Lois was also a titled Italian baroness with a family that lays claim to the most noble of ancestries dating back to 11th-century Naples. Not one to be typecast as just another pretty face, and in keeping with her artistic talents, she was also an accomplished sculptress, painter and writer. She exhibited her bronze sculptures and oil paintings in many one-woman shows in Los Angeles. An author as well, she penned her first novel, "Move Over Tarzan," a woman's guide on how to be as assertive as the most aggressive, successful man using a woman's femininity. Lois Hamilton was definitely a woman ahead of her time.
- Actress
- Director
- Producer
Norma Bengell was born on 21 February 1935 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She was an actress and director, known for Planet of the Vampires (1965), Eternamente Pagú (1987) and The Murdered House (1971). She was married to Gabriele Tinti. She died on 9 October 2013 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
He studied Law. He also directed theatre pieces, wrote movie criticisms and took part in the creation and development of the 'cinema novo' movement in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, becoming its theoretical leader and first embassador in Europe. After "Barravento (1962)", a trilogy of films and "Antonio das Mortes (1969)" he won various international prizes. As he symbolized the feelings of the ideology of the May of 1968, he became very popular in Europe and America. But when he started to film in Africa and Spain his followers were distracted and this marked the beginning of the decline of his fame. Thus, he only made a couple of films of minor interest later on.- Writer
- Soundtrack
Here he grew up in the educated Jewish middle class, together with his brother Alfred. The Zweig family was not religious. He passed his high school diploma at the Wasagymnasium in Vienna. Zweig wrote his first poems here. At that time he was influenced by writers such as Hugo von Hofmannstahl and Rainer Maria Rilke. In 1901, Stefan Zweig's first volume of poetry entitled "Silberne Saiten" was published. He also began translating works by French writers at this time. In 1904 he completed his doctorate in German and Romance studies. Until 1910 he traveled extensively through Europe. The focus here was on exchanges with other writers and artists, with whom he mostly maintained friendship through intensive correspondence. By 1911, works such as "Tersites", "The House by the Sea" and "Burning Secret" as well as his first biography "Émile Verhaeren" had been created.
With his work "First Experience. Four Stories from Kinderland," Zweig approached an intuitive psychological style. At the beginning of the First World War, Stefan Zweig signed up as a volunteer. Here he was employed in the war press quarters until 1917. To demonstrate against war in any form, he wrote the drama "Jeremiah", which premiered in Zurich in 1918. From 1918 onwards, Zweig also worked as a journalist and correspondent for the Swiss newspaper "Neue Freie Presse". He also uses this medium to publish his non-partisan views. After the end of the war he settled in Salzburg. His idea was to found a spiritually, holistically and humanistically motivated alliance in Europe. So he began, initially in numerous lectures and essays, to warn against radicalization through nationalism and to call for calm, diplomacy and patience.
In 1920, Zweig published the writings "Fear", "The Compulsion" and, from 1920, three essays about master builders of the world: "Three Masters", in 1925 "The Fight with the Demon" and in 1928 "Three Poets of Their Life". Zweig enjoyed great stage success in 1926 with his adaptation of Ben Jonson's "Volpone". The publication of the book "Star Hours of Humanity" in 1927 was equally successful. In 1928 he traveled to the Soviet Union, where his books were also published in Russian at the instigation of Maxim Gorki, with whom he corresponded. After the NSDAP came to power in Germany, Stefan Zweig fled to London for fear of persecution. The book "Impatience of the Heart" was written here. From 1934 onwards, his works were no longer published in Germany and with the annexation of Austria to the Third Reich in 1938, production in his homeland also stopped. In 1935, Zweig wrote the libretto for the opera "Die schweigsame Frau" for Richard Strauss.
In 1936 the NSDAP immediately banned the sale of all of his works. His first marriage ended in divorce in 1938, and his second marriage was to Charlotte Altmann in 1939. In 1940 he received English citizenship from Great Britain. Nevertheless, he left Europe and traveled on to New York. In 1942 his chess novella and the monograph Brazil were published. After a short stay he visited Argentina and Paraguay. He then settled in Brazil. Here Stefan Zweig fell into deep sadness and depression.
Stefan Zweig committed suicide on February 22, 1942 in Petrópolis, near Rio de Janeiro. In 1944 his autobiography was published posthumously under the title "The World of Yesterday".- Actor
- Writer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Born in Rome, on 21st July of 1930, at the Brazilian embassy, son of Formula 1 champion and then ambassador Manoel de Teffe; he was named Antonio Luiz and became the Baron de Teffe. The de Teffe family had a noble origin but during Second World War, teenage Antonio left home to join the partisans against the Nazis.
His life in the film business started as studio messenger for Vittorio De Sica who was then directing Bicycle Thieves (1948) and years later Antonio starred in the critically acclaimed Gli sbandati (1955). Then he went into typical examples of popular Italian films of the late 50s such as sword and sandal epics, comedies, adventures and even great American movies like Robert Aldrich's Sodom and Gomorrah (1962), but it was with Spaghetti Westerns that renamed Anthony Steffen achieved worldwide stardom. His acting is often accused of being wooden, but in many ways is ideally suited to playing the steely-faced gunslinger synonymous with the gender. Steffen's most memorable role was in Django the Bastard (1969), which he also co-wrote, playing a phantom gunslinger returned from the grave to avenge his own death. This is the uncredited inspiration for Clint Eastwood's High Plains Drifter (1973).
His others successes include well liked features as Seven Dollars to Kill (1966), A Train for Durango (1968) (with Mark Damon), Killer Kid (1967) and many others. He was still enjoyable in other genres, especially thrillers as the successful The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave (1971), Tropic of Cancer (1972) or The Crimes of the Black Cat (1972), a good example of a giallo where he played a blind pianist - one of his roles he most liked, and Killer Fish (1979), with James Franciscus and Lee Majors. Steffen was a very reliable leading man and supporting actor and was among the elite of European cinema such as Federico Fellini, Sergio Leone, Riccardo Freda, Mario Bava, Lucio Fulci, Luchino Visconti, Antonio Margheriti, Ennio Morricone, Roger Vadim, Carlo Ponti, Sophia Loren and many others.
Elegant, educated and handsome, fluent in English, French, Portuguese, Spanish and Italian, Steffen lived in international jet-set, but in the early 80s he moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, place he just adored, occasionally visiting his beloved Rome. Since 2002 he had been fighting a dreadful cancer. He died on July 5, 2004, in Rio de Janeiro. He left three sons: Manuel de Teffe, Luiz and Chiara. Besides De Sica's Shoeshine (1946), his favorite film was John Ford's My Darling Clementine (1946). Good taste until the end.- Actor
- Director
- Producer
José Wilker de Almeida was born on 20th August 1947 in Juazeiro do Norte, Brazil. He worked as a speaker in a radio there but he later moved to Recife where he started worked in the theatre as a member of "Movimento de Cultura Popular (MPC)". The group not only brought culture to people but also reading, writing and political lessons. During the military repression, however, MPC was made illegal and Wilker moved to Rio de Janeiro, where he started working in cinema. His first film as "A Falecida", starred by Fernanda Montenegro.
In Rio Wilker kept on working in theatre. In 1968 he wrote his own play, "O Trágico Acidente que Destronou Teresa". His next move as a playwright was "A China é Azul", in 1972. In this year he starred "Os Inconfidentes", a movie by Joaquim Pedro de Andrade. Still in 1972 he worked on his first TV series, "O Bofe".
Between 1976 and 1985 he didn't work in theatre, but played important roles in cinema and TV. "Dona Flor e Seus Dois Maridos" (1976), based on Jorge Amado's novel, is a recordist on Brazilian cinema box office. "Xica da Silva" (1976), "Bye Bye Brasil (1979)", "Bonitinha Mas Ordinária" (based on Nelson Rodrigues' text, 1981), and "O Homem da Capa Preta" (1986) were blockbusters too. His works for TV were very successful too.
In 1989 he worked on two then famous films: "Doida Demais" and "Dias Melhores Virão". In 1992 he was on "Medicine Man", directed by John McTiernan and starred by Sean Connery. In the next five years Wilker worked almost exclusively for Tv. However, in 1996, a compilation of his reviews on cinema was released in a book, "Como Deixar um Relógio Emocionado". In 1997 he came back to the Seventh Art with "O Pequeno Dicionário Amoroso" and "A Guerra de Canudos", where he was the protagonist and producer.
Wilker carried on his acclaimed TV career but in 2000 he worked on Villa Lobos, Uma Vida de Paixões". In 2002 he was on "Dead in the Water" starred by Henry Thomas. He then had three films in a role: "O Homem do Ano" (2003) and "Maria, Mãe de Deus" (2003) and "Redentor" (2004). In 2003 he was elected president of Rio Filmes, a cinema company in Brazil.- Carmen Sheila was born on 23 May 1944 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She was an actress, known for Speed Racer (1967) and Historietas Assombradas (para Crianças Malcriadas) (2005). She died on 16 May 2024 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
- He moved to Belo Horizonte to work in the Radio Inconfidência as radiate-actor. He began in TV Itacolomi in the program Tribunal de Calouros. In Rio de Janeiro he participated in programs Time Square, Vovo de Ville, Show Riso and Praça da Alegria (1995). In the Program "Café Sem Concerto" for TV Tupi created the character Zacarias, that would accompany him for the rest of the life. He integrated the group "Os Trapalhões" ("The Dabblers") beside Renato Aragão, Dedé Santana and Mussum, making the largest success in TV and Movies for many years. He died of lung infection on March 18, 1990 at 56 years old, in Rio de Janeiro.
- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Marília Pêra was born on 22 January 1943 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She was an actress and producer, known for Pixote (1980), Central Station (1998) and Urban Snap-Shots (2008). She was married to Bruno Faria, Nelson Motta, Paulo Villaça, Agildo Ribeiro and Paulo Graça Mello. She died on 5 December 2015 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.- José Lewgoy was born on 16 November 1920 in Veranópolis, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. He was an actor, known for Fitzcarraldo (1982), O Ibraim do Subúrbio (1976) and Perfume de Gardênia (1992). He died on 10 February 2003 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Aurora Miranda had a successful career in Brazil and the US, although somewhat overshadowed by her sister Carmen Miranda's larger-then-life persona. Aurora was six years younger than Carmen, not as brilliant but equally talented and vivacious.
She made her recording debut on May 25, 1933, at the age of 18. On that day she sang Assis Valente''s marcha "Cai, Cai, Balão!" and 'Floriano Ribeiro de Pi'nho''s samba "Toque de Amor" in a duo with Francisco Alves, Brazil's greatest male singing star. Three weeks later she was in the studio again, recording a macumba by Pixinguinha and João da Baiana. Another duo with Chico Alves came in July: Noel Rosa's and Hélio Rosa's foxtrot "Você só . . . Mente." Aurora was launched.
Her record company was Odeon, and her principal competition--her sister Carmen--recorded for Victor. During the rest of the decade, Aurora recorded 162 more sides, many of them enormous hits, such as "Cidade Maravilhosa" (André Filho) and "Se a Lua Contasse" (Custódio Mesquita), whose composers were her constant songwriters, along with Walfrido Silva and Assis Valente. In 1936 Aurora appeared in the film Alô Alô Carnaval (1936), in which she was seen with Carmen dressed in gold-lamé top hat and tails, singing "Cantores do Rádio" (João de Barro / Alberto Ribeiro / Lamartine Babo). This film is apparently lost except from some short sequences.
In 1940 Aurora married Gabriel Richaid. Carmen gave the couple a trip to the US as a honeymoon present, and before long Aurora was appearing in American nightclubs and revues. During the war, when Walt Disney was producing his "Good Neighbor" south-of-the-border films, he wanted to cast Carmen with Ethel Smith in a picture to be called "Blame It on the Samba". Carmen was unavailable, and the technology wasn't advanced enough for making that film (it would eventually be made in 1948 (Blame It on the Samba (1948)) with Ethel as the only live character. However, Carmen recommended her sister, and Aurora was cast in The Three Caballeros (1944), in which she shined in the Bahia sequence, dancing with Donald Duck and Zé Carioca to the tune of Ary Barroso's "Os Quindins de Iaiá.". She also appears in the film noir classic Phantom Lady (1944), in which she can be seen as a nightclub performer.
Unlike her sister, Aurora preferred married life to her career. In 1951 she returned to Rio de Janeiro and settled down as a wife and mother. She often spoke of her sister Carmen and appeared in many documentaries.
Aurora Miranda passed away at the age of 90 on Thursday, December 22, 2005.- Director
- Writer
- Editor
Sylvio Lanna was born on 8 July 1944 in Ponte Nova, Minas Gerais, Brazil. He was a director and writer, known for Sagrada Família (1970), O Roteiro do Gravador (1967) and Nova Pasta, Antigo Baú (2020). He died on 12 May 2024 in Rio de Janeiro - Brazil.- While the full name goes unnoticed by the majority of people, it's his nickname and a song inspired by him that made him a known figure in the 1980's in an almost mythical way. José Arthur Machado, best known as Petit, was a famous surfer who regularly attended the beach of Ipanema in Rio de Janeiro ever since his teen years. He was born around 1956-57 and almost nothing is known about his early days.
In the early 1970's he was already a known figure in Ipanema due to his long blonde hair, a well-built muscular body and great looks. A rare and silent appearance of his was in the short documentary O Sereno Desespero (1973) where he becomes the model to fit the description of a poem written by the great Cecília Meireles.
His rose to fame and attract a wider audience and some fans came after becoming friends with singer/composer Caetano Veloso, who had a deep admiration for the young man. When singer Baby Consuelo asked Caetano for a new song he immediately got inspired by Petit and his wild spirit and dominant presence at the beach - by that time he was known for having a dragon tattoo on his shoulder, a rare feat at the time since tattoos weren't popular. That's how the hit single "Menino do Rio" was born, which later became the theme song of a soap opera and inspired the 1982 film of same name - though it talks about a popular surf it wasn't Petit story that was brought to the screen.
Sadly, his life took a tragic turn of events after August 1987 when he suffered a motorcycle accident that later on, when he recovered from a comatose state, had the left side of his body paralyzed. Despite many rehabilitation sessions he was never the same man, and suffering his constant pain and depression, he committed suicide in 1989, hanging himself with a kimono. A wife and a kid survived him.
Yet he lives on immortalized on a popular song which excites the imagination of listeners but for a brief time the boy from Rio was indeed real. - Director
- Writer
- Actor
Eduardo Coutinho was born on 11 May 1933 in São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. He was a director and writer, known for Edifício Master (2002), Santo Forte (1999) and Babilônia 2000 (1999). He was married to Maria das Dores de Oliveira. He died on 2 February 2014 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.- Ivan Setta was born in 1946 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He was an actor, known for As Aventuras Amorosas de Um Padeiro (1975), Sítio do Picapau Amarelo (1977) and Mandacaru (1997). He was married to Sandra Schaeppi. He died on 6 April 2001 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Sandra Bréa was born on 11 May 1952 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She was an actress, known for O Bem-Amado (1973), Corrida do Ouro (1974) and Felicidade (1991). She was married to Arthur Guarisse, António Guerreiro and Eduardo Espínolla Netto. She died on 4 May 2000 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.- Nicette Bruno was born on 7 January 1933 in Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She was an actress, known for Éramos Seis (1977), The Big Catch (2017) and Como Salvar Meu Casamento (1979). She was married to Paulo Goulart. She died on 20 December 2020 in Rio de Janeiro - Brazil.
- Director
- Actor
- Editor
Régis Cardoso was born on 24 June 1934 in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. He was a director and actor, known for O Espigão (1974), A Cabana do Pai Tomás (1969) and Verão Quente (1993). He was married to Susana Vieira. He died on 3 April 2005 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.- Cláudio Cavalcanti was born on 24 December 1940 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He was an actor and director, known for Astro: An Urban Fable in a Magical Rio de Janeiro (2012), Despedida de Solteiro (1992) and Irmãos Coragem (1970). He was married to Maria Lúcia Frota. He died on 29 September 2013 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Paulo José was born on 20 March 1937 in Lavras do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. He was an actor and director, known for The Clown (2011), The Two Deaths of Quincas Wateryell (2010) and Todas as Mulheres do Mundo (1966). He was married to Zezé Polessa, Carla Camurati, Beth Caruso, Dina Sfat and Kika Lopes. He died on 11 August 2021 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Perry Salles was born on 6 March 1939 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He was an actor and director, known for Dôra Doralina (1982), Intimidade (1975) and The Clone (2001). He was married to Vera Fischer, Miriam Mehler and Beatriz. He died on 17 June 2009 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.- Actor
- Director
Milton Gonçalves was born on 9 December 1933 in Monte Santo, Minas Gerais, Brazil. He was an actor and director, known for Carandiru (2003), A Rainha Diaba (1974) and À Sombra dos Laranjais (1977). He was married to Oda Gonçalves. He died on 30 May 2022 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.- Actor
- Producer
Stelvio Rosi was born on 1 August 1938 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was an actor and producer, known for Anaconda (1997), The Leopard (1963) and They Were Called Three Musketeers But They Were Four (1973). He died on 19 December 2018 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.- Actress
- Director
- Producer
Lady Francisco was born on 7 January 1935 in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. She was an actress and director, known for O Crime do Zé Bigorna (1977), Anjos do Sexo (1981) and Explode Coração (1995). She died on 25 May 2019 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.- Caio Junqueira was born on 15 November 1976 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He was an actor, known for Elite Squad (2007), Buena Sorte (1996) and Central Station (1998). He died on 23 January 2019 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
- Esmeralda Barros was born on 4 September 1944 in Ilhéus, Bahia, Brazil. She was an actress, known for Kong Island (1968), Presídio de Mulheres Violentadas (1977) and A Espiã Que Entrou em Fria (1967). She died on 10 October 2019 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Nelson Pereira dos Santos was born on 22 October 1928 in São Paulo, Brazil. He was a director and writer, known for Memórias do Cárcere (1984), O Amuleto de Ogum (1974) and Tenda dos Milagres (1977). He was married to Ivelise Ferreira. He died on 21 April 2018 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.- Writer
- Actor
- Director
Domingos de Oliveira was born on 28 September 1935 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He was a writer and actor, known for Todas as Mulheres do Mundo (1966), Amores (1998) and Barata Ribeiro, 716 (2016). He was married to Priscilla Rozenbaum, Leila Diniz and Nazareth Ohana. He died on 23 March 2019 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Aracy Balabanian was born on 22 February 1940 in Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. She was an actress, known for The Next Victim (1995), Rainha da Sucata (1990) and Nino, o Italianinho (1969). She died on 7 August 2023 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.- Actor
- Producer
Maurício do Valle was born on 1 March 1928 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He was an actor and producer, known for Antonio das Mortes (1969), O Profeta da Fome (1969) and The Age of the Earth (1980). He died on 7 October 1994 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Paulo Gustavo was born on 30 October 1978 in Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He was an actor and writer, known for My Mom Is a Character 2 (2016), My Mom Is a Character (2013) and 220 Volts (2011). He was married to Thales Bretas. He died on 4 May 2021 in Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Born in Santiago del Estero, Argentina in 1914, Carlos Hugo Christensen is considered one of the most prolific filmmakers in Latin American history.
A pioneer in the film industry, his love of literature combined with a forward-thinking attitude towards sexuality, resulted in a unique point of view which infused Argentine cinema of the forties and fifties with his trademark touch of audacity and veiled eroticism. Films such as "SAFO, Historia De Una Pasión" (1943), where Mecha Ortiz and Roberto Escalada smoked after an implied sexual encounter, or "El Ángel Desnudo"(1946), where famed Argentinean screen goddess Olga Zubarry bared her naked back to the camera in the first ever nude scene in Argentine history, or "Adan y la Serpiente" (1946) where Tilda Thamar exhibited a two piece bathing suit for the first time in Latin American film, pushed the sexual envelope and sparked much controversy and debate.
In 1954, Christensen's anti-Peron sentiments resulted in his political exile from Argentina, as part of the largest persecution of the artistic community and intellectual class in the country's history. This landed Christensen in Brazil, where he completed the first Technicolor film ever to be shot there, "Meus Amores No Rio," which was nominated for the Golden Berlin Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1959. A contemporary of world-renowned Argentinean author Jorge Luis Borges, Christensen is the only director to have adapted many of Borges' short stories to the screen, including the incendiary "La Intrusa," a feature film centering on the relationship between two homosexual gauchos (Argentine cowboys) which was banned from cinemas throughout Latin America, but was the official selection representing Brazil at the Montreal International Film Festival in 1980.
Within a career that spanned seven decades, he completed 55 films, most of them comedies, melodramas or film noir, the majority of which he wrote, directed and produced. His films have each garnered numerous awards including Best Director and Best Film prizes, in countless festivals and award ceremonies throughout the world. Among his many cinematic distinctions, some of the most internationally notable include: Grand Prize of the Festival (Nomination), Cannes Int'l Film Festival for "La Ballandra Isabel Llego Esta Tarde" (1951); Venice International Film Festival, Official Selection, Brazil, for "Maos Sangrentas" (1955); Golden Berlin Bear (Nomination), Berlin Int'l Film Festival for "Meus Amores No Rio" (1959).
Although best known for his film work, Christensen was also an accomplished poet, publishing his first volume of poetry "El Libro del Primer Amor" at the tender age of 18. His next poetic compilation "El Mar Ante La Playa," was published to great critical acclaim shortly after, as was his first short story "Adolescencia." Armed with literary success, he abandoned his studies at the Facultad de Filosofia y Letras (University of Philosophy and Letters) in Buenos Aires, and began working as a journalist. From there he moved on to radio, then to writing and directing plays, and finally to what he is best known for, film. He continued to write poetry throughout his life; his final book of poetry "Poemas Para Os Amigos," was published shortly before his death in 1999.
Among the innumerable personal honors and tributes he has received, the final one to date came shortly before his death, at the 18th Festival des 3 Continents, in Nantes (France), where 8 of his feature films were selected to screen as part of an exhibit dedicated to melodrama in Argentinean cinema. Posthumously, he has continued to screen around the world, most recently, at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. His multi award-winning film "La Ballandra Isabel Llego Esta Tarde" will screen in Los Angeles in June 2007 as the only Spanish Language offering of the 21st Annual Last Remaining Seats Series, alongside "North by Northwest," "Roman Holiday," "Flesh and the Devil," "Yankee Doodle Dandy," and "Scarface."- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Marcos Paulo was born on 1 March 1951 in São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. He was an actor and director, known for A Indomada (1997), Port of Miracles (2001) and Federal Bank Heist (2011). He was married to Antônia Fontenelle, Flávia Alessandra, Renata Sorrah, Márcia Mendes and Belisa Ribeiro. He died on 11 November 2012 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.- Eduardo Conde (April 9, 1946 - January 16, 2003) was a Brazilian actor, singer and model. In the 1970s, he starred in the Brazilian production of Jesus Cristo Superstar, in the role of Jesus Christ. For many years, he presented the awards at the Brasília Film Festival. As an actor, he participated in national productions - such as O Incrível Monstro Trapalhão and Os Saltimbancos Trapalhões (both 1981) - and international productions - for example, The Emerald Forest, by John Boorman and Blame It on Rio, by Stanley Donen, acting alongside Michael Caine and Demi Moore. On television, he acted in Plumas e Paetês (1980), O Beijo do Vampiro (2002) and in the miniseries O Quinto dos Infernos (2002). Eduardo Conde died of lung cancer caused by smoking and was buried at Jardim da Saudade cemetery in Rio de Janeiro. He left two children, fruits of his marriage with actress Betty Lago.
- Actress
- Writer
Maria Lúcia Dahl was born on 20 July 1941 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She was an actress and writer, known for Vendo ou Alugo (2013), Pobre Príncipe Encantado (1969) and Torre de Babel (1998). She was married to Gustavo Dahl and Marcos Medeiros. She died on 16 June 2022 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.- Talent Agent
- Manager
John Casablancas was born on 12 December 1942 in New York, USA. He was a talent agent and manager. He was married to Aline Wermelinger, Jeanette Christensen and Marie Christine. He died on 20 July 2013 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.- Daniella Perez was born on 11 August 1970 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She was an actress, known for De Corpo e Alma (1992), O Dono do Mundo (1991) and Barriga de Aluguel (1990). She was married to Raul Gazolla. She died on 28 December 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Neila Tavares was born on 18 September 1948 in Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She was an actress and director, known for Bandalheira Infernal (1976), Bonga, O Vagabundo (1971) and Você Decide (1992). She was married to Fernando Gabeira and Paulo César Peréio. She died on 4 June 2022 in Rio das Ostras, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.- Actress
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Dercy Gonçalves was born on 23 June 1907 in Santa Maria Madalena, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She was an actress and writer, known for Cavalo Amarelo (1980), Oceano Atlantis (1993) and Caídos do Céu (1946). She was married to Danilo Bastos. She died on 19 July 2008 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
One of the most important Brazilian directors of all time, Leon Hirszman is best remembered for the realistic manner of dealing with social and political themes in his works, from documentaries to feature films. His career started with a segment filmed for Cinco vezes Favela (1962) and The Deceased (1965) marked as his first feature film, an adaptation of Nelson Rodrigues classic play, and also marked as José Wilker's acting film debut. _São Bernardo (1972) was a major turning point in his career, a film lauded by audiences and critics, winning multiple awards and Hirszman name became well-known in film circles.
With They Don't Wear Black Tie (1981), by following the current wave in politics and social economical issues such as the strikes for better working conditions in automobile plants which happened in the late 1970's during the military regime, intertwining its story with a family's division, Hirszman conquered audiences and the critics again with his memorable sequences and a power driven story. The film won three awards at the Venice Film Festival and was nominated for the Golden Lion as well. This adaptation of Gianfrancesco Guarnieri celebrated play - who also acted in the leading role - was a massive hit. Around the making of this film, Hirszman was filming the real events that also inspired this film in ABC da Greve (1990), which was released a few years after his death.
During the last year of his life, he managed to release three different projects: his final feature films A Barca do Sol (1987), and Em Busca do Espaço Cotidiano (1987) and the short documentary Imagens do Inconsciente (1987). He died on September 15, 1987 due to complication of AIDS, having been diagnosed in 1986 due to a blood transfusion. Along with ABC da Greve (1990), the documentary Bahia de Todos os Sambas (1996) was released posthumously.- Maria Antonietta Farias Portocarrero was born in Rio de Janeiro on August 23, 1922. Her father, Hermenegildo Portocarrero (1894-1959), was a military man and maths teacher with a lifelong interest in show business. A close friend of the great Brazilian actor Procópio Ferreira, he was acquainted with actors, singers and musicians, and for a time was the director of Radio Nacional, the chief radio station in Rio, then capital of Brazil. Tônia had two older brothers, both military men and teachers. At a very early age, she took an interest in dancing and in sports, eventually graduating as a physical education teacher.
In 1940 she married the artist Carlos Thiré, who was already creating the comic books for which he is now recognized as a major name of the early years of comics in Brazil. The young couple's only child, the actor, director and drama teacher Cecil Thiré was born on May 28, 1943. In early 1947, she was invited to appear as one of the schoolgirls in Querida Susana (1947) (aka "Querida Suzana") (literally, "Darling Suzana"), directed by Alberto Pieralisi and starring Anselmo Duarte, who was soon to become the biggest leading man in Brazilian films. In her film debut, she had nothing to do but smile. At her insistence, however, she was given one line. When the film was completed, they asked her how she should be credited. She had no idea. Maria Antonietta Portocarrero surely didn't sound like an actress' name. She was having singing lessons at the time and told her teacher about it. The woman thought for a moment and said, "From 'Antonietta' we take 'Tônia.' By breaking the surname in two and keeping the second half, we get 'Carrero.' Your name is going to be Tônia Carrero." And so it was. For her family and closest friends, however, she has always been Mariinha, the nickname given to her when she was born.
Shortly after the making of "Querida Suzana", Thiré got a scholarship and went to Paris to study art with the famous French painter André Lothe (1885-1962). Tônia accompanied him and, once there, enrolled in an acting course named "Education par les Jeux Dramatiques", directed by the famous actor-director Jean-Louis Barrault. As she likes to recall, half of her classmates were horrified to have among them someone so cheerful and healthy in direct contrast to the somber atmosphere of those post-war years. The other half loved her precisely for that.
In December of 1947, the Thirés came back to Brazil and Tônia started looking for work. In 1948 she was invited by 'Fernando de Barros' to play the sister of his wife Maria Della Costa in his first film as a director, Caminhos do Sul (1949) (lit. "Paths of the South"). When the film was released, in late 1949, the two actresses were praised for their beauty, presence, and adroit acting. Fernando then cast Tônia as the lead in Quando a Noite Acaba (1950) (lit. "When the Night Is Over"), made in 1949, right after "Caminhos do Sul." The story was set in Rio and the film was released in that city first. To the director's great annoyance, when it was later shown in São Paulo the title was changed to "Perdida pela Paixão" (lit. "Lost by Passion"), which, besides being misleading, has often caused the two titles to appear in the filmographies of cast and crew as two different films.
Whatever the title, the film did well and Tônia's performance was hailed as a great accomplishment for its lack of pretense and its amazing blend of intensity and restraint, audiences being very impressed by her awesome death scene at the end. She got the admiration of critics and audiences alike for being a stunningly beautiful woman who didn't rest on that, one critic (Décio Vieira Ottoni) going as far as calling her performance "the best by any actress ever seen in Brazilian films so far."
December 13, 1949 became a historical date for the Brazilian theater. On that day, at Rio's Teatro Copacabana, Tônia Carrero and a young lawyer named Paulo Autran made their joint stage debut in "Um Deus Dormiu Lá em Casa", a comedy by the Brazilian author Guilherme Figueiredo, based on the Greek myth of Amphitryon. In the years to come, Tônia and Paulo would turn into household names for their work, together and separately, in films, on the stage, and on TV. 1949 marked the beginning of a legendary partnership that lasted until 2004 when they were seen acting together for the last time in the TV mini-series One Heart (2004) (lit. "One Heart"), as an elderly couple dining at the restaurant where the young actors and directors who were starting a new phase of the Brazilian theater in São Paulo gathered every night, in the late 1940s, the inside joke being that two of the young actors they saw at a nearby table and talked about were ... Tônia Carrero and Paulo Autran!
The creation of the Vera Cruz film company in late 1949 attracted a great number of actors and Tônia was no exception. In 1952 she was seen in the studio's most lavish production, Tico-Tico no Fubá (1952), about the life of that song's composer, Zequinha de Abreu, played by Anselmo Duarte. Tônia was Branca, the circus ballerina the composer falls in love with. The film represented Brazil in the Cannes Film Festival and, like the composer whose life it portrayed, audiences all over fell in love with the beautiful woman who rode a horse with so much skill and enchanted the whole town where the circus stayed for a while, until finding out that she too had fallen in love with the composer. The director was Adolfo Celi, an Italian actor who had come to Brazil in 1948 and in time became one of the country's most influential directors and drama teachers. During the making of the film, in 1951, they fell in love and decided to stay together. That was the end of Tônia's marriage to Carlos Thiré and Adolfo Celi's relationship with the first lady of the Brazilian theater, the celebrated actress Cacilda Becker.
Soon after the enormous success of "Tico Tico no Fubá," Tônia was seen in Fernando de Barros' Appassionata (1952), a somewhat turgid melodrama in which she played a pianist who is loved by Anselmo Duarte. The film did well in spite of mixed reviews and among all her films remains the one in which, beautifully photographed by British cinematographer Ray Sturgess, she looks more stunning. Her last film for Vera Cruz was É Proibido Beijar (1954) (lit. "Kissing Forbidden"). A light comedy directed by Ugo Lombardi, in which for the third time in a row she acted with Zbigniew Ziembinski, the father-figure of the modern Brazilian theater, the film looks dated today, its biggest asset being once again Tônia's striking beauty.
As it was being made, in 1953, pre-production began for the studio's most ambitious project, a film version of "Ana Terra", one of the segments of Érico Veríssimo's monumental epic novel "O Tempo e o Vento" ("Time and the Wind"). Tônia was to star and Celi to direct. Alas, the film was not to be. Vera Cruz collapsed, its contract players, directors, and technicians disbanded, and all that remains today are the beautiful photographic studies suggesting that Ana Terra could have been Tônia's most emblematic film role. In retrospect, Tônia's greatest moment at Vera Cruz remains the scene in "Tico Tico no Fubá" in which, as the circus caravan moves away from the small town where she had met the composer, she and Ziembinski are seen at the coachman's seat of the leading wagon, talking about how life makes you leave things behind, and how hard it can be to make choices.
With the end of hers and Celi's Vera Cruz tenure, they decided to settle in Rio, where, along with Paulo Autran, they founded the famous Tônia-Celi-Autran theater company. From 1956 to 1961, Celi directed, Tônia and Paulo starred, and some of the best actors of the day joined the cast in carefully selected plays by Shakespeare, Goldoni, Lillian Hellman, Jean-Paul Sartre, Pirandello, George Axelrod, Françoise Sagan, and Brazilian authors such as Osman Lins. The company's success was immense, to the point of extending a tour of the southern states of Brazil to Buenos Aires, where Argentinian audiences didn't seem to mind seeing "Othello" in Portuguese.
However, the theatergoers' gain was the moviegoers' loss. Her Vera Cruz days behind her, Tônia turned down an offer to make films in Italy (she dreaded the idea of being away from her son) and became essentially a stage actress. In 1955 she was seen on the screen once more, opposite Arturo de Córdova in Mãos Sangrentas (1955) (released in the US as "The Violent and the Damned"), a prison melodrama made the year before at another studio by the Argentinian director Carlos Hugo Christensen, and then went on a film hiatus of six years, during which she kept a hectic schedule of theater and TV work.
In 1960, during the company's exceptionally successful Buenos Aires season, she was invited by the illustrious director and actor Lautaro Murúa to play his wife in his own film Alias Gardelito (1961). She completed her scenes in four days at neck breaking speed so as to be able to come back to Rio where she was being expected to fulfill a theater engagement. She couldn't possibly know then that, following its release in 1961, the film she had no idea she would be making when she arrived to Buenos Aires would become a classic of the Argentinian cinema, the big irony being that, since it was never released in Brazil and this was before the VHS/DVD era, she has never seen it.
For a while it looked as if the early 1960s would be the beginning of a new phase of her work as a film actress. Early in 1961, almost back to back, she made two films, both released in 1962. First, Carnival of Crime (1962), a Brazilian-American-Argentinian co-production directed by George Cahan and starring the internationally famous French actor Jean-Pierre Aumont (released in the US in 1964 as "Carnival of Crime", the film is available on DVD). Then, Esse Rio Que Eu Amo (1962) (lit. "My Beloved Rio"), an episode film directed by Carlos Hugo Christensen, in which she played an unfaithful woman in the modern version of a story by Brazil's greatest writer, Machado de Assis.
In 1962, when "Esse Rio que Eu Amo" was released, her delicate performance and great beauty at 38 so much impressed the European producers of Copacabana Palace (1962), about to start shooting in Rio, that they offered her the juicy part of the elegant wife of a jewel thief who acted in the famous hotel of the title. Released the same year it was made, this Italian-French co-production directed by Steno (also known as Stefano Vanzina), and starring the popular Italian actor Walter Chiari, became something of a cult movie of its kind. In 1979, when Adolfo Celi came to Rio to direct her in the theater for the first time after the break-up of their marriage in 1962, he jokingly told Tônia that he had never really stopped seeing her, for every other time he turned on the TV in his Rome home, there she was in "Copacabana Palace."
In 1963 Celi had gone back to Italy, where he became an amazingly active actor in international films, his best remembered role being Emilio Largo, the villain who defies James Bond in Thunderball (1965). In 1964 Tônia married the engineer César Thedim (1930-2000), who was to have a brief career as a film producer. They separated in 1977, and she didn't marry again. Like Paulo Autran, after the end of Tônia-Celi-Autran, she founded a new theater company and went on producing and acting in plays by world-wide famous authors like Ibsen (her Nora in "A Doll's House", in which she was directed by her son, Cecil Thiré, and for which she won an award, stands as one of her stage performances people remember more fondly), Feydeau, Somerset Maugham, and Tennessee Williams, as well as Brazilian authors such as Domingos de Oliveira.
In 1967, during the military regime ("the years of lead") when censorship made life hell for those whose work had to do with theater, cinema, music, and literature, she read a play named "Navalha na Carne" (lit. "Razor in the Flesh"), by a brilliant young Brazilian author named Plínio Marcos, and decided to do it. It told the story of an aging prostitute living with her pimp in the shabby pension of a poor and dangerous neighborhood where she walked the streets every night. She can hardly get clients anymore, the pimp gets mad at her, they go through a ghastly night during which he beats her, takes all her money, humiliates her, and leaves her to her fate. Alone, she cries like hell, than pulls herself together, sits down and very calmly eats a sandwich as the curtain comes down. The play was banned by the censors and couldn't be performed anywhere in Brazil. But Tônia fought for it so ferociously and with so much intelligence that the authorities ended up thinking it wiser not to go against a woman the whole country adored, and she was granted permission to do it.
At the peak of her beauty and charm, Tônia gained weight, stopped having her hair done, developed a heavy walk and a clumsy way to move around, learned how to speak with a most ungracious croaky voice, and, under the clever direction of Fauzi Arap, came up with a performance that has become part of the history of the Brazilian theater, for which she became the first actress to win the prestigious Molière Award by unanimous vote. People went to the theater and for a moment their minds boggled. It took them a while to realize that the woman on the stage really was Tônia Carrero. Needless to say, there was a standing ovation every night.
However, when two years later the play was filmed by Braz Chediak and she was invited to repeat on screen her most famous stage role, she turned it down. As she explained, she had done the play for more than a year, all over Brazil, and it was a marvelous experience. But now she was through with it and had even done another play (Frank D. Gilroy's "The Subject Was Roses", in which she played her own son's mother). Along with the suicidal woman in Terence Rattigan's "The Deep Blue Sea", the prostitute in Plínio Marcos' play had been one of the two most straining roles she had ever played. While acting in both she felt she was using up her emotional energy. Playing the prostitute had been immensely rewarding, but she didn't want to go through it again. She suggested Glauce Rocha, one of Brazil's most gifted actresses, whom she admired and was personally very fond of. Her suggestion was accepted and "Navalha na Carne" became one of the last film credits in Glauce Rocha's sadly short career.
In late 1968 Tônia gave a fine performance as the lead in Hugo Kusnet's Tempo de Violência (1969) (lit. "Time of Violence"), a vigorous film about the risk in politically deranged times of thinking that if you mind your own business you will stay out of trouble. The film got good reviews and did well with the public. The same year it was released, Tônia appeared as an elegant 19th century French courtesan in Sangue do Meu Sangue (1969) (lit. "My Own Blood"), a TV series, or rather a "novela" (the Portuguese word to define a genre that flourished in Brazil in the 1960s and doesn't quite have an equivalent in English speaking countries, the best way to describe it being, "Imagine a mini-series, with daily episodes like all mini-series, but lasting from six to eight months").
It was the beginning of the great phase of her career as a TV actress. In 1970 she did something very few actresses in the world (if any at all) must have done. At the same time as she appeared every night on the stage as Lady MacBeth with Paulo Autran in the title role, she played the lead in Pigmalião 70 (1970), her first "novela" for TV Globo, Brazil's biggest TV studio. Such was her success in it, that all over Brazil, hairdressers had a hard time trying to make room for all the women who wanted to get a "Dona Cristina cut" (her character's name). After a number of Globo "novelas" she became tired of the hoopla and asked to be released from her contract. She decided to concentrate on her work in the theater, which was always phenomenally successful, and eventually make a film, like Mário Carneiro's Gordos e Magros (1976) (lit. "The Fat Ones and the Thin Ones"), made in early 1976 and released in 1977, in which she played the mother of her lifelong friend Carlos Kroeber. Alas, the film got bad reviews and did poorly with audiences.
She did accept to make other things for TV, like specials, or single episodes of shows like "Aplauso" (not to be confused with the 1978 Spanish series of the same title), in which a different repertory play was adapted for TV every week. But she would only make another "novela" in 1980, when author Gilberto Braga invited her to what would become one of his biggest hits, Água Viva (1980) (lit. "Jelly Fish"). At 57 she looked more beautiful than the young stars around her. As an eccentric millionairess who had a bolder, more outgoing attitude to life than people half her age, she won the hearts of a whole new generation who had heard about her but was seeing her for the first time. As a tribute to her, towards the end Braga wrote a highly dramatic scene in which, following a depressive bout triggered by the mysterious death of a dear friend, she took a whole bottle of sleeping pills and, as she played again and again an old recording of a famous French song, went on a long monologue explaining to the people she had loved and lost why she had decided to join them.
When the scene was aired, even her most unabashed fans were taken aback by how intimately and with how much intensity the actress they loved so much could relate to the camera. For some of them the scene brought back memories of her doing Jean Cocteau's "The Human Voice" live on TV, in the 1950s, directed by Adolfo Celi, with whom, she has always been very proud to say, she learned her craft.
The late 1980s and early 1990s were a sad time for the Brazilian film industry. A time of uncertainty when it became extremely difficult to raise money for any kind of project, to the point when (in 1990-91) production practically stopped. For actors, much as they all relished the idea of making films, it became the sort of thing you jump at if it comes your way, but you never count on. With Tônia it wasn't any different. With no film projects in view, at the peak of her prestige as one of the leading figures of the Brazilian theater, she enjoyed very long runs in Rio and São Paulo, as well as touring other Brazilian cities in plays such as Marguerite Duras' "L'Amante Anglaise" (once again with Paulo Autran), John Murrell's "Memoir" (as Sarah Bernhardt, with her son Cecil), William Luce's "Zelda" (as Zelda Fitzgerald), Edward Albee's "A Delicate Balance," Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard," and "As Atrizes" ("The Actresses") by the Brazilian actor and author Juca de Oliveira.
In 1986 she appeared in "Quartett," a strange play by German author Rainer Muller, in which she played Merteuil, the vicious aristocrat of the famous classic "Les Liaisons Dangereuses," as seen many years after the events of that novel. Alone in her mansion, she talked to the ghost of her former lover Valmont (played by Sérgio Britto), in what turned out to be a tragicomic comment on modern life. Under the brilliant direction of Gerald Thomas, she came up with what was hailed as the top of her achievements as a stage actress, for which, once again she was given a Molière Award, now in the honorary category.
By now the Vera Cruz film company ("The Brazilian Hollywood") had become a legend and she was constantly asked if she didn't miss making films. She certainly did and in 1987 gladly took the chance to start again by making three films in a row. Early in the year, she joined a large number of stars (including Paulo Autran, if not with her in the same scene) who played cameo roles in Fogo e Paixão (1988) (lit "Fire and Passion"), co-directed by Marcio Kogan and Isay Weinfeld. Released in 1988, it turned out to be a fascinating film in which the big joke was to see her as a beggar after the endless series of rich, sophisticated women audiences had grown accustomed to see her play, especially on TV. Next she played the male lead's mother in Ruy Guerra's Fábula de la Bella Palomera (1988) (aka "A Bela Palomera"), a Brazilian-Spanish co-production released in 1988.
As soon as it was finished, she filmed Sonhos de Menina Moça (1988) (aka "Best Wishes"), as the matriarch of a large and rich family. An ambitious project by director Tereza Trautman, when it was generally released in 1988 after a round of international festivals, the film was poorly received and hasn't been seen much, the general line being that there were too many script problems. Late in 1988 Tônia played the grandmother telling the story in O Gato de Botas Extraterrestre (1990) (lit. "The Extraterrestrial Puss in Boots"), released in 1990. Directed by Wilson Rodrigues, this well-done film for children was her last in 16 years.
As active as ever in the theater, in 2002 she celebrated her 80th birthday on the stage, in Rio, as the old lady in Friedrich Dürrenmatt's famous play, "The Visit." During the curtain call of the first performance for the general public, after a long standing ovation, having read in the press that it was her very special birthday, the whole audience broke into a warm "Happy Birthday." Being in the cast, the author of this biography was on the stage with the others, and like them has not forgotten the expression of gratitude in the faces of the people who paid her such a spontaneous tribute. She had become what they would like to be at her age. She was a star all right, a very big one, but she was their own, tangible star, and they loved her for that.
In 2004, along with several other people who had known or worked with him, she filmed a series of interviews for Vinicius (2005), a documentary by Miguel Faria Jr. about one of her dearest friends, the poet and composer Vinicius de Moraes. Released in 2005, it turned out to be a wonderful film, getting rave reviews and setting a new box office record for a documentary. While it was still making the rounds, in 2006, Tônia worked for the first time with the young and enormously talented director Laís Bodanzky, who cast her as the old lady who comes with her lifelong companion (wonderfully played by the great Leonardo Villar) to the ballroom of the title in Chega de Saudade (2007).
Among a great number of characters (beautifully played by an impeccable cast), the events of one single evening concentrate on three couples: one very young, one middle-aged, and one elderly. When the film was generally released in 2008 (after a preview in 2007 at the Brasília Film Festival) it became a huge success. Lots of people told they had come back to see it again shortly after the first time, their favorite moment being the scene towards the end, in which, out of jealousy, the cranky old man played by Leo Villar decides to leave without saying goodbye. From the top of the stairs, Tônia stops him calling it a shame to leave like that, not simply because of the bad manners, but especially because of the defeat attitude in life.
He asks her what she expects from him. Her stern face dissolving into a beautiful smile, she says, "Dance with me!" He goes back and they dance. In a long arc shot, as the camera shows the entire cast watching them, it becomes possible to see how moved they all are to witness this absolutely magical moment. Then the camera cuts to Tônia and Leo Villar, as she kisses him saying, "I love you- I love you-"
When the film was released, perhaps because of having done it so many times while watching these two live on the stage, at the peak of their big scene audiences often burst into a very loud applause. At 84, Tônia Carrero, the film actress, had made the best film of her entire career. Just before it was released, in 2007, she made her last stage appearance to date in a play by the Russian author Alexei Arbuzov known in America as "Do You Do Somersaults?" and in England as "Old World." With her on the stage was the much loved actor Mauro Mendonça. The director was none other than her own grandson Carlos Thiré (aka Carlos Artur Thiré), whose sister, 'Luisa Thiré', and younger brother, Miguel Thiré, are also actors. While Tônia's youngest grandson, João Thiré, is pursuing a career in music, her great-grandson Vitor Thiré (Luisa's son) has already made his acting debut in the TV series "Filhos do Carnaval."
Also in 2007, a year tainted by sadness with the death of Paulo Autran, a theater was named after her in Rio, not long after she had been decorated by the Brazilian government (she had already been decorated by the French government, who made her a "Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres" for making some of the best French playwrights well-known in Brazil). Then, in 2008, during the ceremony of the prestigious Shell Theater Award she was given a Life Achievement Award, presented to her by her good friend, the cartoonist Chico Caruso, and received a thunderous standing ovation that didn't seem to finish, from an audience of actors, directors, playwrights, producers, designers, journalists and friends who had loved her for longer than they could remember.
But the biggest tribute came every night from the audience that had come to see her on the stage in "Um Barco para o Sonho" (the Arbuzov play). At the end of scene four, she told the doctor played by Mauro Mendonça that, being a circus artist, she had once made a film in Moscow. He wanted to know more about it and she described the one scene she had in the film as being a routine with a horse. Impressed by the passionate way she talked about it, to her big surprise, he invited her out to dinner. The lights went out, circus music started playing, and there she was, at 28, more beautiful than ever, riding her horse around the arena, in a clip from "Tico Tico no Fubá." Those who had seen the film were always very moved. Those who hadn't marveled at her beauty and, like with all movie stars, the way the camera seemed to be caressing her. Invariably, they all burst into applause to the woman who had given so much of herself for both theater and films to be something Brazilians can be so immensely proud of. - Handsome, talented and a man who defined a generation with his presence and acting in movies and TV series, Lauro Corona was one of a kind. And one who's gone too soon at an early age leaving a mark to his fans with his brief career.
Corona was born on 6 July, 1957, in Rio de Janeiro. At 16, he began as a salesman working at his mother boutique. By the late 1970's he was doing plays and was discovered by actor Paulo José and a famous theater director who loved his talent and knew he could do more. Next thing he knew a TV show came his way, the massive hit Dancin' Days (1978) where he played Beto. That was his first soap opera and very first TV appearance and soon after he was the talk of the town and the crush of many girls. From then on, he was a constant presence on TV with several shows, which includes Baila Comigo (1981) and Marina (1980).
His film debut was as one of the leads in Sergio Rezende's O Sonho Não Acabou (1982) , a testament about Brasília's youth in the early 1980's with a generation of sex, drugs and rock n'roll in the final years of the military regime - in fact, in one of the most memorable moments of the film Corona appears next to president João Figueiredo's guards, a moment that was captured with the real politicians and soldiers who didn't know they were being filmed, a very bold move by the director, crew and the actor. Then, he made only one movie Swingin' Betty (1984), a huge hit - possibly the film people remember him the most.
The miniseries Memórias de um Gigolô (1986), the TV series Direito de Amar (1987) were also great moments in his career and he also presented the Globo de Ouro, a musical program that brought artists performing their classics or latest hits. That program showcased his talents as a great host.
But the last memory people have of him was as the Portuguese Manuel Victor in Vida Nova (1988), which ended up being his last TV show and one that he didn't manage to end. By the middle of the show, he discovered he had AIDS. He never told the network about that - since then revealing about such condition was a career killer - only said that he was really sick and needed to stay away from the show. Concerned about his health, the creators decided to give an alternate ending for his character, even though the show was in its middle and he was one of the main characters- a memorable scene where he kisses goodbye to his girl, enters the car and reads an off-screen poem by Fernando Pessoa, and then he goes back to his native land.
A few days after his 32nd birthday he passed away from complications of AIDS - news that wasn't revealed immediately due to his family concerns. He was one of the first famous victims of this deadly disease in Brazil. Fans and nostalgic TV buffs always remember him with care, love and fondness. - Jorge Loredo was born on 7 May 1925 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He was an actor and writer, known for A Espiã Que Entrou em Fria (1967), Chega de Saudade (2007) and Um Caso de Polícia (1959). He died on 26 March 2015 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
- Director
- Cinematographer
- Producer
Alberto Botelho was born in 1885 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He was a director and cinematographer, known for Alma Sertaneja (1919), La Chicanera (1909) and O Crime de Paula Matos (1913). He died in 1973 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.- Zeni Pereira was born on 9 December 1924 in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. She was an actress, known for Corpo a Corpo (1984), Black Orpheus (1959) and Irmãos Coragem (1970). She died on 21 March 2002 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
- Clarice Lispector was born on 10 December 1920 in Chechelnik, Podolia Governorate [now Chechelnyk, Vinnytsia Oblast], Ukraine. She was a writer, known for A Paixão Segundo G.H. (2023), Hour of the Star (1985) and Estrela Nua (1984). She was married to Maury Gurgel Valente. She died on 9 December 1977 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
- Magalhães began her career on Tupi Broadcasting's radio and TV in 1954, playing small roles and background acting, eventually getting her big break and greater roles and prominent characters. All of this way before the era of videotaping.
Moving to the state to Bahia, after her first marriage in 1960, she did not abandon her craft and joined the theatrical group 'A Barca', formed by former students of a drama school and under the direction of Luís Carlos Maciel, and appeared in great classics on the local station TV Itapoan. Invited by [Glauber Rocha,] himself, she also got a role on the now classic Black God, White Devil (1964), a landmark of Brazil's 'New Cinema' movement, shot in Monte Santo, Bahia.
In 1964 she returned to Rio de Janeiro and gave birth to her only son. The following year, she was back to work when she was invited by Nathália Timberg, one of the great Brazilian stage actresses, to perform in Nelson Rodrigues's 'Vestido de Noiva', directed by Sérgio Cardoso and staged at the Municipal Theater.
In 1966 she was invited by Walter Clark, Globo TV's newly appointed executive producer, to play a romantic role in one of the network' first telenovelas, and in which she would meet actor and future husband Carlos Alberto.
In 1970, the couple went to work for Tupi TV in São Paulo, taking roles in another telenovela. With the end of their marriage the following year, Magalhães returned to Rio and to Globo TV, where she would mostly work for the rest of her career.
At the age of 50, and because of the huge success of her character on Roque Santeiro (1985), she posed nude for a photo spread on one of most popular men's magazine of the time.
She died at 80, leaving the legacy of a six-decade-long career on TV, theatre, and films. - Actor
- Producer
Claudio Marzo was born on 26 September 1940 in São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. He was an actor and producer, known for Planet of the Pantanal (1990), O Homem Nu (1997) and Memórias do Medo (1981). He was married to Neia Marzo, Betty Faria, Denise Dumont, Xuxa Lopes and Thaís de Andrade. He died on 22 March 2015 in Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.- Míriam Pires was born on 20 April 1927 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She was an actress, known for Summer Showers (1978), Meus Filhos, Minha Vida (1984) and Tocaia Grande (1995). She died on 7 September 2004 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.