Actress Maria Fernanda, daughter of poet Cecília Meireles, died yesterday (30) in Rio de Janeiro at age 96. She had been hospitalized since Tuesday (26) at the Casa de Saúde São José, in the Humaitá neighborhood, in the south of the state capital. According to the medical unit, she could not resist bacterial pneumonia.
Maria Fernanda made a significant contribution to teledramaturgy and Brazilian theater. She participated in remarkable soap operas such as Gabriela (1975) and Pai Herói (1979), both on Rede Globo, and Dona Beija (1986), shown on Rede Manchete. In cinema, she was part of the cast of several productions. In 1995, she played Queen Maria I in the feature film Carlota Joaquina, Princess of Brazil. His last film was O Quinze (2004), based on the work of Rachel de Queiroz.
Her initiation into her acting career took place in the theater, playing the character Ophelia, in the first production of Hamlet made in Brazil in 1948. She improved her knowledge by studying in France and later returned to Brazil where she interpreted texts by several authors such as Nelson Rodrigues, Chekhov and Bertolt Brecht.
His work on stage has earned him several awards. She was recognized as best actress in 1963 in the first edition of the Moliére Award for the character Blanche DuBois, from the play A Streetcar Named Desire, written by Tennessee Williams and directed by Augusto Boal. She would be honored again in the 1970 edition, for her performance in O Balcão, a work by Jean Genet, directed by Argentine Victor Garcia.
Carioca, Maria Fernanda was the youngest daughter of Cecília Meireles. His two sisters – Maria Elvira and Maria Mathilde – have also passed away. The three were daughters of the Portuguese painter Fernando Correia Dias, the poet’s first husband. He committed suicide when Maria Fernanda was 10 years old.
The actress was married twice. Her only child, Luiz Heitor Fernando Meireles Gallão, is the result of her first marriage between 1956 and 1963 with filmmaker Luiz Gallon, who died in 2002. Between 1963 and 1968, she was married to writer and painter Oscar Araripe, currently 81 years old. .
