Actress and model Vera Barreto Leite Valdez, considered the first Brazilian supermodel, died this Thursday (15), aged 89. The death was confirmed in a statement on Teatro Oficina’s social media: which wrote “Fly, Vera! Etherna! Much love for this maneca”. The cause of death and the wake and burial locations were not disclosed.
Born in Rio de Janeiro on May 26, 1936, daughter of diplomats, Vera went to live in Europe very early. First in Portugal and then in France. In the early 1950s, she began a modeling career, modeling for Christian Dior and, later, for Coco Chanel.
At the end of the 50s, Vera returned to Brazil and started spending time with actors. She had a short marriage with actor Luís Linhares, with whom she had a daughter. Increasingly involved with the Brazilian artistic class, she joined the São Paulo cinema industry. Made his screen debut in the film As Cariocasin 1966. In 1968 he participated in Until Marriage Do Us Part. In 1970 he worked in Republic of Treason and, the following year, in The Naked Man.
She married Pedro de Moraes, son of Vinícius de Moraes, with whom she had a daughter, Mariana de Moraes, also an actress.
Vera was strongly impacted by the Brazilian military dictatorship. She and her husband were arrested and Vera was taken to Doi-Codi on charges of cocaine possession. She was tortured and sent to a sanatorium.
He left Brazil and returned later, in the early 1980s, after the approval of the Amnesty Law. At that moment, he started working with Teatro Oficina, by José Celso Martinez Corrêa.
Vera’s last work as an actress was in the film Joy Is the Test of Nine and in the series Invisible Cityboth released in 2023.
