By Pilar D. Garrett
The popular Brazilian actor and comedian Paulo Gustavo passed away earlier this week from complications related to the COVID-19 virus that is currently ravaging Brazil with a fourth wave. He was 42 years old.
The adored protagonist of the highly successful film trilogy Minha Mãe É Uma Peça / My Mother Is a Character in his acclaimed role of Dona Hermínia, died this past Tuesday after a two-month long battle against the disease. Gustavo was admitted to an intensive care facility in Rio de Janeiro on March 13 after exhibiting signs of infection, and required intubation one week later. Since early April, he had been kept alive by a model of respirator used only in the most severe pulmonary infections. Last weekend, he contracted air embolisms in his lungs that consequently spread to his nervous system, leading his doctors to describe his condition as “unstable” and “irreversible.”
Gustavo’s comedy acts and films are well known throughout Brazil, many of them referencing everyday family relationships and situations. He also became lauded as a pivotal public figure at the forefront of LGBTQ+ rights in Brazil for using humor to address the challenges faced by the queer community in a country still largely resistant to non-heteronormative lifestyles and orientations. Much of his comedic advocacy was based on his own experience as a bisexual man living in Rio de Janeiro.
Paulo Gustavo led a number of hit cable television shows and starred in feature films that are among the highest grossing in Brazilian film history. Minha Mãe É Uma Peça 3 sold BRL 143.8 million (USD $26.4 million) at box office, more than Frozen 2 and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker grossed in the country.
Still from Minha Mãe é Uma Peça 3, actor Paulo Gustavo in his role of Dona Hermínia
Gustavo’s death marks the end of a public career with little parallels in the Brazilian entertainment industry. It also serves as a symbol of the rapidly growing seriousness of the virus and its variants in Brazil, now claiming more and more younger victims without and previous health conditions.
His death has also acted as one of the only bridges between Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, his political rival. The conservative Bolsonaro, who has minimized the coronavirus's threat in his country, tweeted his sadness over Gustavo's death by writing that "with his talent and charisma [he] conquered the affection of all Brazil." Da Silva, who is leftist, said Gustavo was "a great Brazilian who celebrated our country with so much joy.” On Wednesday, a moment of silence was held in Brazil's Senate for Gustavo, and his death has sparked an outpouring of grief across a country deeply polarized by the pandemic.
Paulo Gustavo is survived by his husband, Thales Bretas, and their one-year-old sons Gael and Romeu.
