Marília Pêra

Marília Soares Pêra (January 22, 1943 — December 5, 2015) was a Brazilian actress, singer and theater director. Throughout her career, she won around 80 awards, acting in 49 plays, 29 soap operas and more than 20 films.

Career
Daughter of Portuguese actor Manuel Pêra and actress of Italian descent Dinorah Marzullo, Marília stepped onto a theater stage for the first time at the age of four, alongside her parents, who were part of the cast of Henriette Morineau's company.

From the age of 14 to 21, she worked as a dancer and participated in musicals and revues, including Minha Querida Lady (1962), starring Bibi Ferreira. According to Marília, she passed because the directors were looking for someone who could do stunts, which was rare at that time. She also acted in other plays such as O Teu Cabelo Não Nega (1963), a biography of Lamartine Babo, in the role of Carmen Miranda. She would return to play the role of the singer in the show A Pequena Notável (1966), directed by Ary Fontoura; at A Tribute to Carmen Miranda at Lincoln Center, New York (1975), directed by Nelson Motta; in the only performance A Pêra da Carmem, at Canecão, in 1986, and in the musical Marília Pêra canta Carmen Miranda (2005), directed by Maurício Sherman.

In 1964, Marília defeated Elis Regina in an audition for the musical Como Vencer na Vida sem Fazer Força, both still unknown to the public at the time.

Her first appearance on television was in Rosinha do Sobrado, on Rede Globo, in 1965 and then in A Moreninha. In 1967 she made her first performance in a musical show, A Úlcera de Ouro, by Hélio Bloch.

In the 1960s, she was arrested during the performance of Chico Buarque's play Roda Viva (1968) and forced to run naked through a Polish corridor. She was arrested a second time, as she was considered a communist, when police invaded the house, scaring everyone, including her seven-year-old son, who was sleeping.

In 1969, she achieved great success in the role of the protagonist in the drama Fala Baixo Senão eu Grito, by Leilah Assumpção, directed by Clóvis Bueno, the first play by the São Paulo playwright. For her interpretation of the complex character Mariazinha, a virgin spinster who lives in a boarding house for nuns, Marília received the Molière Award and also the Award from the São Paulo Association of Theater Critics (APCT), currently the São Paulo Association of Art Critics (APCA). Her future husband Paulo Villaça played a thief who one night jumps out of her bedroom window with the intention of stealing. In the conversation between the two, which lasts all night, the spinster reveals her frustrations to the public and to herself.

In 1975, she recorded the LP Feiticeira, released by Som Livre.

Marília was the actress who performed most alone on stage, managing to attract children to the difficult art of the monologue. In addition to Carmen Miranda, she played on screen and on stage the roles of famous women, such as Maria Callas, Dalva de Oliveira, Coco Chanel and the former first lady of Brazil Sarah Kubitschek. Her debut as a director took place in 1978, in the play A Menina e o Vento, by Maria Clara Machado.

In 1992, she presented the musical Elas por Elas, for TV Globo. Alongside singer Simone and Cláudia Raia, they made public their support for candidate Fernando Collor de Mello in the 1989 elections.

In a statement made to the television program Fantástico in 2006, due to the success of her character Milu, in the soap opera Cobras & Lagartos, Marília spoke about her career, revealing that she could not stand working with actors with bad breath and foot odor. She commented that there are many actors who don't care about hygiene, without mentioning names (a hint towards his romantic partner in the soap opera, Herson Capri). Marília stated that she never thought she was beautiful and that she was always clumsy.

In 2008, she starred in the feature film, Polaroides Urbanas, by Miguel Falabella, in which he played twin sisters.

In 2009, she was cast by TV Globo to play hippie Rejane Batista in the miniseries Cinquentinha, by Aguinaldo Silva. After several scenes were recorded, the actress gave up the role, causing discomfort among the network's management. In Marília's place, actress Betty Lago stepped in, who fit the role perfectly, being highly praised by critics. Some news that circulated at the time stated that the reason for not wanting to continue with the interpretation was that he did not feel comfortable with the role.

In 2010, she was part of the cast of the series A Vida Alheia, by Miguel Falabella, on Rede Globo, as Catarina.

In January 2013, the series Pé na Cova premiered, in which Marília played Darlene, a makeup artist at her ex-husband Ruço's (Miguel Falabella) funeral home, who lives in the suburbs. In April 2014, due to personal problems, the actress left the series, returning to recording on June 11, 2014.

At the 2015 carnival, Marília was honored by the samba school Mocidade Alegre, in São Paulo. In August of the same year, she was honored at the Gramado Film Festival, where she received the Oscarito Trophy.

Family life
She married for the first time at the age of seventeen to the musician Paulo Graça Mello, who died in a car accident in 1969. At the age of eighteen she gave birth to the actor Ricardo Graça Mello. Her second marriage was to comedian Agildo Ribeiro, from whom she separated in 1968. The following year she married actor Paulo Villaça, her partner in Fala Baixo Senão Eu Grito, separating in 1971. In 1972, she married with Nelson Motta, separating in 1980. From this marriage, daughters Esperança Motta and Nina were born. Her last marriage, from 1998 until her death in 2015, was to Rio de Janeiro economist Bruno Faria. Marília was the sister of Sandra Pêra, granddaughter of Antônia Marzullo, also actresses, and niece of actor Abel Pêra.

Death
Marília Pêra died in her apartment in the Ipanema neighborhood, in Rio de Janeiro, on December 5, 2015. In the last months of her life, the actress was fighting lung cancer. She had spent the year undergoing medical treatment, combating wear and tear on her hip bones, which prevented her from acting. She was buried in the São João Batista Cemetery, in the city of Rio de Janeiro.

Movies

 * 1968: O Homem Que Comprou o Mundo .... Rosinha
 * 1970: O Donzelo
 * 1970: É Simonal
 * 1975: O Rei da Noite .... Pupe
 * 1975: Ana, a Libertina
 * 1978: O Grande Desbum...
 * 1981: Pixote: A Lei do Mais Fraco .... Sueli
 * 1983: Bar Esperança .... Ana
 * 1984: Mixed Blood .... Rita La Punta
 * 1984: Plunct, Plact, Zuuum II (TV Movie) .... Fabiano's mother
 * 1987: Anjos da Noite .... Marta Brum
 * 1990: Dias Melhores Virão .... Maryalva 'Mary' Matos
 * 1995: Jenipapo .... Renata
 * 1996: Tieta do Agreste .... Perpétua
 * 1998: Central do Brasil .... Irene
 * 1998: O Viajante .... Ana Lara
 * 2001: Amélia .... Amélia
 * 2002: Seja o Que Deus Quiser .... Dona Fernanda
 * 2003: Garrincha - Estrela Solitária .... Vanderléia
 * 2006: Acredite, um Espírito Baixou em Mim .... D. Graça
 * 2006: Living the Dream .... Vanessa
 * 2006: Vestido de Noiva .... Madame Clessy
 * 2008: Polaróides Urbanas .... Magda / Magali
 * 2008: Nossa Vida Não Cabe Num Opala .... Mãe de Monk, Lupa, Slide e Magali
 * 2008: Xuxa e as Noviças (TV Movie) .... Irmã Gardênia
 * 2009: Embarque Imediato .... Justina / Gilda
 * 2016: Tô Ryca! .... Madame Claude (final film role)

Telenovelas

 * 1965: Rosinha do Sobrado .... Rosinha
 * 1965: A Moreninha .... Carolina
 * 1965: Padre Tião
 * 1966: Um Rosto de Mulher
 * 1968: Beto Rockfeller .... Manoela
 * 1968: O Homem Que Comprou o Mundo .... Rosinha
 * 1969-1970: Super Plá .... Joana Martini
 * 1971: O Cafona .... Shirley Sexy
 * 1971-1972: Bandeira 2 .... Noeli
 * 1972-1973: Uma Rosa Com Amor .... Serafina Rosa Petrone
 * 1974: Supermanoela .... Manoela
 * 1975: O Rei da Noite .... Pupe
 * 1976: Planeta dos Homens
 * 1987: Brega & Chique .... Rafaela Alvaray
 * 1989: Top Model .... Maryalva 'Mary' Matos
 * 1990-1991: Lua Cheia de Amor .... Genuína 'Genu' Miranda
 * 1996: O Campeão .... Elizabeth Caldeira
 * 1997: Mandacaru .... Isadora
 * 1998-1999: Meu Bem-Querer .... Custódia Alves Serrão
 * 2000: Brava Gente .... Amélia
 * 2004-2005: Começar de Novo .... Janis Doidona
 * 2006: Cobras & Lagartos .... Milu Montini
 * 2007-2008: Duas Caras .... Gioconda
 * 2011-2012: Aquele Beijo .... Maruschka Lemos de Sá

Series and Mini-Series

 * 1982: Quem Ama Não Mata .... Alice
 * 1988: O Primo Basílio .... Juliana Couceiro Tavira
 * 1994: Incidente em Antares .... Erotildes
 * 2001: Os Maias .... Maria Monforte
 * 2006: JK .... Sara Kubitschek
 * 2007: Toma Lá, Dá Cá .... Ivone
 * 2008: Casos e Acasos .... Sônia
 * 2010: A Vida Alheia .... Catarina Faissol
 * 2012: Louco Por Elas .... Madame Vivi
 * 2013–2016: Pé na Cova .... Darlene