Breno Mello RIP

[schwenko]

the leading man of the classic "Black Orpheus" has died. Fantastic film, great music!

from nytimes.com

"Breno Mello, 76, Star of ‘Orpheus,’ Dies

By DENNIS HEVESI
Published: September 5, 2008

Breno Mello, the handsome, sculptured leading man in the classic 1959 Brazilian movie “Black Orpheus,â€￾ died on July 14 in Porto Alegre, Brazil, his hometown. He was 76.

The death was confirmed on Friday by Priscilla Barroso, a press officer in the Brazilian Embassy in Washington, who said Brazilian newspapers reported that he was found alone in his home. His death was not reported in English-language papers.

Mr. Mello played the title role in what, in Portuguese, is called “Orfeu Negro,â€￾ directed by Marcel Camus and based on the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. A trolley-car motorman and gifted guitarist, amid the joyous frenzy of Rio’s carnival, he becomes enthralled with the beautiful, doomed Eurydice, played by Marpessa Dawn.

Against a backdrop of working-class Rio, with shanties on the hills, the lovers sway in a provocative samba among the crowds. But Eurydice is stalked by a man in a skeleton costume. Eventually, Orfeu finds her in the morgue. In the end, bearing her body in his arms, he falls to his death from a cliff. His guitar, standing in for the lyre of Orpheus, is taken up by one of the street urchins who follow him as a sort of Greek chorus.

Reviewing the film for The New York Times in 1959, Bosley Crowther called him “a handsome, virile Orpheus who glistens when covered with sweat,â€￾ but denigrated his performance. “Black Orpheusâ€￾ became renowned for its soundtrack by the bossa nova legends Antonio Carlos Jobim and Luiz Bonfá, with songs like “Manhã de Carnavalâ€￾ and “A Felicidade.â€￾ It won the Palme d’Or at the 1959 Cannes Film Festival and the Academy Award and the Golden Globe for best foreign film in 1960.

Mr. Mello was born in Porto Alegre in 1931. He had played for for Fluminense and Gremio, , major professional soccer teams in Brazil, when Mr. Camus spotted him on a beach and asked him star in “Black Orpheus.â€￾

Married twice with five children, he later played roles in five less successful films, but returned to soccer because, he said, the Brazilian film industry was not rich enough to support him. He later sold advertising handouts in his home city, he told Agence France-Presse."