Paulo José, the veteran and iconic Brazilian actor that had an influential and prolific career, died yesterday at the age of 84 of complications derived from pneumonia, after been hospitalized for 20 days in Rio de Janeiro. One of the biggest names in Brazilian drama, he acted in numerous film, television and theater productions in a career spanning over sixty years and working with key filmmakers such as Joaquim Pedro de Andrade, Héctor Babenco, Leon Hirzman, Walter Salles, and Júlio Bressane.
Born in Lavras do Sul, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, in March 1937, Paulo José Gómez de Sousa began his career in amateur theater in the fifties in Porto Alegre. He was one of the founders of Teatro de Equipe with Paulo César Pereio, Lilian Lemmertz, Ítala Nandi and Fernando Peixoto.
He made his film debut in 1966 playing the title role of the priest in Joaquim Pedro de Andrade’s The Priest and the Girl / O Padre e a Moça, a drama set in a small town in Minas Gerais about a forbidden love affair between an outsider young priest and a local girl. The film participated in the official competition at the Berlin Film Festival, and José was elected Best Actor at the Saci Award.
That same year he played the role of Paulo in Domingos de Oliveira’s successful romantic comedy All Women in the World / Todas as Mulheres do Mundo about a womanizer who meets a woman who makes him change his habits. José was the winner of the Best Actor Award at the Brasilia Film Festival. In 1967, José worked again with de Oliveira’s in Edu, Coração de Ouro, for which he repeated his win for Best Actor at the Brasilia Film Festival. A year later, he acted in five feature films: A Vida Provisória, by Maurício Gomes Leite; As Amorosas by Walter Hugo Khouri; O Homem Nu by Roberto Santos; Bebel, Garota Propaganda by Maurice Capovilla; and in the segment “Guillerme” in Os Marginais by Carlos Alberto Prates Correia.
In 1969 he participated in de Andrade’s landmark film Macunaíma, one of the high points of Brazil's subversive Cinema Novo movement based on the classic 1928 modernist novel by Mário de Andrade. A satirical comedy, the film follows Macunaíma, the "hero with no character," after he emerges as a full-size adult from his mother's belly. Born black, he magically turns white as he wanders aimlessly across the country, tricking his way through traps laid out by witches and giants, while also falling in with a beautiful revolutionary. For his role as the white Macunaíma and his mother, José was awarded as Best Actor at the Manaus Film Festival.
During the seventies, he combined his film and television career, with roles in numerous movies including The Fault / A Culpa by Oliveira, Gaudêncio, o Centauro dos Pampas by Fernando Amaral, Cassy Jones, o Magnífico Sedutor by Luiz Sérgio Person, and Hector Babenco’s King of the Night / O Rei da Noite, for which he won his third Best Actor Award at the Brasilia Film Festival.
After a six-year cinema hiatus he played the role of Father Bastos in Leon Hirszman’s 1981 drama They Don’t Wear Black Tie / Eles Não Usam Black-tie, about the son of a union leader who doesn’t want to engage in a strike, because his wife is pregnant, thus disregarding his father’s tradition of political activism. The film played successfully in numerous international film festivals including Venice, Havana, Toronto, New Directors/New Films and Valladolid.
During the eighties he acted in de Andrade’s The Brazilwood Man / O Homem do Pau-Brasil;
Geraldo Moraes’ A Difícil Viagem—for which he won the Best Actor Award at the Rio Film Festival; Werner Schünemann’s O Mentiroso; Better Days Ahead / Dias Melhores Virão by Carlos Diegues; and Two Edged Knife / Faca de Dois Gumes by Murilo Salles. He also did the narrator’s voice in Forge Furtado’s 1989 landmark short film Isle of Flowers / Ilha das Flores.
In 1991 he participated in the role of the detective in Walter Salles’ debut feature The Knife, opposite Peter Coyote, and in 1997 he played the title role in Paulo Thiago’s popular comedy Policarpo Quaresma, Herói do Brasil. In the new century he acted in several films in Júlio Bressane’s Days of Nietzsche in Turin; Furtado’s The Man Who Copied / O Homem Que Copiava; Matheus Nachtergaele’s The Dead Girl's Feast / A Festa da Menina Morta; Felipe Hirsch and Daniela Thomas’ Sunstroke / Insolação; and Selton Mello’s The Clown / O Palhaço.
In 2017, José was honored with the Leon Cakoff Award for lifetime achievement at the 41st edition of the São Paulo International Film Festival, and coincided with the release of the documentary film Todos os Paulos do Mundo by Rodrigo de Oliveira and Gustavo Ribeiro about the actor. Paulo José is survived by his wife Kika Lopes, and four children: Ana, Bel, Clara, and Paulo Henrique.
