Dolores Gonçalves Costa (23 June 1907 – 19 July 2008), known by her stage name Dercy Gonçalves, was a Brazilian actress, comedian and singer. In her 86-year-long career, she worked in the theater,

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

s, film, radio and television, becoming famous by her humorous use of vulgar language. In 1991, at the age of 84, she caused controversy by exposing her breasts while parading with a

Samba school A samba school () is a dancing, marching, and drumming (Samba Enredo) club. They practice and often perform in a huge square-Compound (enclosure), compounds ("quadras de samba") and are devoted to practicing and exhibiting samba, an Afro-Brazili ...

in Rio de Janeiro's Carnaval. Gonçalves is recognized by

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, list ...

as having the longest acting career ever having acted from 1922 to 2008.

Biography

Dercy Gonçalves was biographed in 1994 by

Maria Adelaide Amaral Maria Adelaide Amaral (born 1 July 1942, in Alfena) is a Portuguese Brazilian playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. A good deal of her plays concern disaffected urban professionals. She has been classed as among the two major women playwright ...

. The book was titled ''Dercy de Cabo a Rabo'' (a popular expression in Portuguese that means "from the beginning to the end", and in this particular case, "The complete Dercy"). Amaral also adapted her book into the 2012 miniseries ''Dercy de Verdade'' ("The true Dercy"). Dercy Gonçalves was portrayed by Luiza Périssé (teen),

Heloísa Périssé Heloísa Perlingeiro Périssé (born 9 August 1966) is a Brazilian actress and writer. Biography Périssé was born in Rio de Janeiro and has appeared in Brazilian television shows and films. She has also written for the TV show ''Sai de Baixo ...

(young) and Fafy Siqueira (older). She died at 16:45 BRT on 19 July 2008 from

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

at the age of 101. She was buried in her birth town Santa Maria Madalena in Rio de Janeiro. Her

mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type o ...

, designed by herself in 1991, has the shape of a glass

pyramid A pyramid () is a structure whose visible surfaces are triangular in broad outline and converge toward the top, making the appearance roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be of any polygon shape, such as trian ...

and is unique in that she was buried standing up. The conception is similar to

Louvre Pyramid The Louvre Pyramid () is a large glass-and-metal entrance way and skylight designed by the Chinese-American architect I. M. Pei. The pyramid is in the main courtyard (Cour Napoléon) of the Louvre Palace in Paris, surrounded by three smaller pyr ...

Filmography

References

External links

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Dercy Gonçalves Turns 100

1907 births 2008 deaths Deaths from pneumonia in Rio de Janeiro (state) Brazilian women centenarians Actresses from Rio de Janeiro (state) Brazilian women comedians 20th-century Brazilian comedians World record holders Comedians from Rio de Janeiro (state) {{Brazil-actor-stub