Mário Lago OMC ( November 26, 1911 — May 30, 2002) was a

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian lawyer,

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

, broadcaster, composer and

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

. In the 1940s and 1950s, he was known for composing popular samba songs, such as " Ai! que saudade da Amélia" and "Atire a primeira pedra", both in partnership with .

Biography

Lago was born in Rio de Janeiro, son of the

maestro Maestro (; from the Italian '' maestro'' , meaning "master" or "teacher") is an honorific title of respect (plural: maestros or maestri). The term is most commonly used in the context of Western classical music and opera, in line with the ubiqu ...

Antônio Lago and Francisca Maria Vicencia Croccia Lago, and grandson of the Italian anarchist and musician Giuseppe Croccia. He graduated in Law the Universidade do Brasil, in 1933, getting involved in political activism, and joining the

Brazilian Communist Party The Brazilian Communist Party ( pt-BR, Partido Comunista Brasileiro), originally the Communist Party of Brazil (), is a communist party in Brazil founded on 25 March 1922 which makes the disputed claim of being the oldest political party sti ...

, PCB. After graduation, Lago worked briefly as a lawyer. Because of his political beliefs, Lago was imprisoned seven times - 1932, 1941, 1946, 1949, 1952, 1964 and 1969. He married Zeli, daughter of the communist militant Henrique Cordeiro, until her death in 1997. The couple had five children: Antônio Henrique, Graça Maria, Mário Lago Filho, Luís Carlos (named after

Luís Carlos Prestes Luís Carlos Prestes (January 3, 1898 – March 7, 1990) was a Brazilian revolutionary and politician who served as the general-secretary of the Brazilian Communist Party from 1943 to 1980 and a senator for the Federal District from 1946 to 19 ...

) and Vanda. He was a supporter of

Fluminense Football Club Fluminense Football Club (), known as Fluminense, is a Brazilian sports club best known for its professional football team that competes in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, the first tier of Brazilian football and the Campeonato Carioca, the ...

Artistic career

Lago started on poetry with 15 years old, publishing a poem on the magazine "'". He wrote

revue A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance, and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own dur ...

plays and songs from 1933 to 1958, also acting in stage and radio plays, invited by fellow actor . With Braguinha, he wrote the screenplay for the 1939 film ''

Banana da Terra ''Banana da Terra'' (English: ''Banana of the Land'') is a 1939 Brazilian musical film directed by Ruy Costa and written by Braguinha (composer), Braguinha and Mário Lago. The film stars Carmen Miranda, Dircinha Batista and Aloysio de Oliveira. ...

'', starring

Carmen Miranda Carmen Miranda, (; born Maria do Carmo Miranda da Cunha, 9 February 1909 – 5 August 1955) was a Portuguese-born Brazilian samba singer, dancer, Broadway actress and film star who was active from the late 1920s onwards. Nicknamed "The Br ...

. The first song he wrote was "Menina, eu sei de uma coisa", in partnership with , recorded in 1935 by Mário Reis. Three years later,

Orlando Silva Orlando Silva Infante (born 29 April 1929) is a Chilean basketball player. He competed in the men's tournament at the 1952 Summer Olympics and the 1956 Summer Olympics The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Oly ...

recorded Mario's song "Nada além". His best known works were "Ai! que saudade da Amélia", "Atire a primeira pedra", in partnership with Ataulfo Alves; "É tão gostoso, seu moço", with

Chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec civ ...

, "Número um", with Benedito Lacerda, the samba "Fracasso" and the carnival song "Aurora", with

Roberto Roberti Vincenzo Leone (24 July 1879 – 10 January 1959), known professionally as Roberto Roberti, was an Italian actor, screenwriter and film director. He made over sixty films, mostly during the silent era. He was married to the actress Bice Valeria ...

, recorded by

. In "Ai! que saudade da Amélia", the description of an idealized woman became so popular that "Amélia" became a synonym in Brazil for a submissive, resigned woman dedicated to housework. Lago played on more than 30 films, among them '' The Priest and the Girl'', ''

Entranced Earth ''Entranced Earth'' ( pt, Terra em Transe , "World in a Trance", also called ''Land in Anguish'' or ''Earth Entranced'') is a 1967 Brazilian ''Cinema Novo'' drama film directed by Glauber Rocha. It was shot in Parque Lage and at the Municipal T ...

'', '' Os Herdeiros'' and '' S. Bernardo''. He also acted in several telenovelas, most of them in

TV Globo TV Globo (, "Globe TV", or simply Globo), formerly known as Rede Globo, is a Brazilian free-to-air Television broadcasting, television network, launched by media proprietor Roberto Marinho on 26 April 1965. It is owned by media conglomerate Gr ...

, like O Sheik de Agadir, Cavalo de Aço, O Casarão, and

Dancing Days "Dancing Days" is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin. It appears on their 1973 album, ''Houses of the Holy'', and was released as a single in the US. It was recorded at Stargroves, England in 1972. It was inspired by an Indian tune tha ...

. In 1989 Lago joined the

Partido dos Trabalhadores The Workers' Party ( pt-BR, Partido dos Trabalhadores, PT) is a centre-left to left-wing political party in Brazil. Some scholars classify its ideology in the 21st century as social democracy, with the party shifting from a broadly socialist id ...

, supporting

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (; born Luiz Inácio da Silva; 27 October 1945), known mononymously as Lula, is a Brazilian politician, trade unionist, and former metalworker who is the president-elect of Brazil. A member of the Workers' Party ...

's presidential campaigns in

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs ...

and

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

Death

He died on 30 May 2002, aged 90, on his house, in Rio de Janeiro South Zone. His funeral was on Teatro João Caetano, where he spent most of his career as an actor. Since his death, the theater of

Colégio Pedro II Colégio Pedro II is a traditional federal public school, located in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is the third oldest active college in the country, after Ginásio Pernambucano and Atheneu Norte-Riograndense. The school was created ...

is named as Teatro Mário Lago. He was buried in

Cemitério de São João Batista Cemitério de São João Batista (Saint John the Baptist's Cemetery) is a municipal necropolis originally owned and operated by the ''Santa Casa da Misericórdia do Rio de Janeiro'' (Holy House of Mercy of Rio de Janeiro), and run, since August 20 ...

, in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

. In 2001, in his honor the

program '' Domingão do Faustão'' created the ''Troféu Mário Lago'', awarded to the best

telenovela A telenovela is a type of a television serial drama or soap opera produced primarily in Latin America. The word combines ''tele'' (for "television") and ''novela'' (meaning "novel"). Similar drama genres around the world include '' teleserye'' ...

actor or actress.

Filmography

Television

Cinema

References

External links

Mário Lago's official website (in Portuguese)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lago, Mário Brazilian people of Italian descent Brazilian Marxists Brazilian atheists Actors from Rio de Janeiro (state) Brazilian composers 2002 deaths 1911 births