Before the stage, the TV set, and the movie cameras, the greatest star of Brazilian drama, actress Fernanda Montenegro, was known only for her voice. She was the announcer and radio actress Arlete Pinheiro, from Rádio MEC. Fernanda, who started her career at this station when she was 15 years old, acknowledged that it was in a studio without cameras that the actress who would make an entire country be proud, was born. In October, this Rio De Janeiro native, who created her own artistic name and would take Brazilian sensitivity to the world, turned 95 years old.
“I was the announcer Arlete Pinheiro and the radio actress Arlete Pinheiro. When I went to write, I thought it was too much ‘Arlete Pinheiro’. So I invented this name (Fernanda Montenegro) just to write”, said the actress, in an interview with Rádio MEC three decades ago.
The actress left the radio theater to the stage and then straight to television. Since then, her resume includes at least 65 shows, 18 films, 14 soap operas and dozens of awards as best actress. Her theater debut was in 1950, in the play “Alegres Canções nas Montanhas”, alongside Fernando Torres, her husband, dead in 2008.
Fernanda Montenegro has been an immortal member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters (ABL) since 2022 and occupies seat 17.
In cinema, among many awards, there is a Silver Bear in Berlin for her performance as Dora in Central Station (1998), by Walter Salles. Her work earned her an Oscar nomination for best actress. This recognition did not come, but the American Film Critics Association gave her the award for actress of the year, among other trophies. In 2013, she won the International Emmy for best actress for her role as Dona Picucha in the special “Doce de Mãe”. The actress also made a special appearance in the film “Ainda Estou Aqui”, by Walter Salles. The film represents Brazil in its bid for an Oscar nomination for best foreign film this year.
Guinness awards Fernanda for record reading audience
Fernanda was recently honored with recognition from the Guinness Book for the world record for philosophical reading at the presentation of Simone de Beauvoir at Ibirapuera Park, in São Paulo, on August 18, 2024, when she brought together an audience of 15 thousand people.
At the ceremony where she received the award, Fernanda expressed her gratitude for the worldwide achievement recognized by the publication. “Miracles happen. Our culture is our country. Theatrical culture is man through the millennia. Anywhere in the world, there is always the presence of someone speaking to someone, the vision of an experience that brings a text, a contrast, a variation of the moment in which one lives, a transcendence of the moment in which one lives, even the good humor of the moment in which one lives. This is from the stage. So, I thank Simone de Beauvoir for the 15 thousand people inside Ibirapuera”, said the actress.
Fernanda praised the harmonious atmosphere of the audience that remained in the place throughout the performance in which she was seated at a table and reciting texts by Simone de Beauvoir.
“Does this happen anywhere in the world? Just talking to 15,000 people, just talking, just bringing ideas that are not easy to absorb, and no one leaves. Everyone accepts every word that is said and ends up applauding and hugging each other in a space with 15,000 people. No matter how much we thank God and the gods, it is not enough,” said the actress in the video posted on her Instagram profile.
Fonte: Agência Brasil