São Paulo (Brasil), 1912 – 1981

By Luiz Felipe Alves de Miranda

Circus artist with a brief stint on television. In cinema, he was launched by the Vera Cruz studios, where he created popular characters in Sai da frente and Nadando em dinheiro (1952), and Candinho (1953), the latter inspired by Candide, the novel by Voltaire. After leaving the studios, he made films with various producers and directors, alternating between rural and urban characters. He founded his own company, PAM Filmes (Produções Amácio Mazzaropi), producing the works in which he acted, starting with Chofer de praça (1958). The first film in which he played a country bumpkin character was Jeca Tatu (1959); later came others: Tristezas do jeca (1961), O jeca e a freira (1967), O jeca macumbeiro (1974), O Jeca contra o capeta (1975), Jecão… um fofoqueiro no céu (1977), Jeca e seu filho preto (1978), and O jeca e a égua milagrosa (1980). He developed the storylines for several of his films and directed fourteen of them.