Domingos Montagner

Domingos Montagner Filho (26 February 1962 – 15 September 2016) was a Brazilian actor, playwright and entrepreneur. He began his career in theaters and circuses, through the course of interpretation of Myriam Muniz. In 1997, Montagner formed La Mínima group, alongside Fernando Sampaio, and won the Shell Award for Best Actor. In 2003, he founded the Zanni Circus, which where he was artistic director.

He began his career in TV, three years later, but gained national notoriety, among others, to play Captain Herculano in the soap opera Cordel Encantado (2011), Mundo in Joia Rara (2013), and Miguel in Sete Vidas (2015). In the cinema, he participated in the feature film Gonzaga: de Pai pra Filho (2012). He became "one of Brazil's most loved TV actors."^[3]

In 2016, Montagner played Santo dos Anjos, the protagonist of the soap opera Velho Chico, broadcast by Rede Globo, his last work. In a break between recordings, he drowned while swimming in São Francisco River, the main theme of the television drama.^[4][5]

Biography and career

Montagner was born in São Paulo's neighborhood of Tatuapé in a family of Italian Brazilians.^[6] He began working at sixteen collaborating in the bar of his parents in Tatuapé, where he worked as an office boy and archivist in an engineering company. Slender, with 1,90 m high, became athlete of the Sport Club Corinthians Paulista playing handball.^[7] Montagner was Second Lieutenant of the Brazilian Army and after leaving military service graduated in physical education, teaching in the 80s in public and private schools in São Paulo. It was so nearly eleven years when he began his artistic career at 27 years old. He was created as Roman Catholic, religion in what he believed.^[8] His artistic career began in the circus, in his theater company La Mínima in 1980. In 1990, Montagner joined the theater as a clown.

Montagner became a star of Brazilian television despite the fact that his first major television role did not come until the actor was 46 years old.^[9] Montagner's first television series was Cordel Encantado of Rede Globo. In TV he has made a few appearances on the shows Força-Tarefa and A Cura. He also participated in the show Divã, where he portrayed Carlos Alencar, the lover of the protagonist Mercedes, played by actress Lília Cabral. In 2012, he played the role of the President Paulo Ventura in the miniseries O Brado Retumbante.^[10] In the same year, he played in Salve Jorge the Turkish tour guide Zyah, who falls in love with Bianca, Cléo Pires' character.^[11] In 2013, he played the role of the activist Mundo in Joia Rara.^[12]

In 2015, he was cast as the protagonist of Sete Vidas, in the role of Miguel, a man who discovers that he has seven children, after being sperm donor.^{[13][14][15][16][17]} His last performance was in 2016 in the soap opera Velho Chico, interpreting the character Santo dos Anjos.

Personal life

Married since 2002 with Luciana Lima, administrative producer of La Minimum group, Montagner lived his second marriage and claimed that his wife was his most encouraging.^[18] In 2013 the family came to live in Rio de Janeiro,^[19] but settled in Embu das Artes, in Greater São Paulo, far from the capital about 25 km, in a fenced residential condominium very green and tranquility with their three sons.^[20]

"If I was not married to her, would not be who I am today." - Domingos Montagner.

Death

On 15 September 2016, during the lunch break of the Velho Chico recordings, Montagner plunged into the São Francisco River, in the city of Canindé de São Francisco, state of Sergipe, but eventually did not return to the mainland. The actress Camila Pitanga was swimming with Montagner and saw her friend disappearing into the water, dragged by a strong current, going to scream for help. A boat came to rescue her. The actor was missing for four hours until his body was found submerged and lifeless.^[21][22] According to reports the Legal Medical Institute (IML) of Sergipe, the result of the autopsy performed on the body of Domingos Montagner pointed out that the actor died of mechanical asphyxia by drowning.^[23] The Brazilian version of the online magazine The Intercept speculated that the strong currents which drowned the actor were caused by the hydroelectric dam, the Usina Hidrelétrica de Xingó (Xingó Dam), upstream.^[24] The dam lies approximately two kilometers upstream, and the flow rate allowed through the dam can affect currents.

At the time of his death, the filming of Velho Chico was days from completion. However, climactic scenes for the finale of the telenovela, in which Montagner's character was the principal role, had not yet been filmed. The production decided to complete the series as written. Scenes in which Montagner's character Santo would have appeared would be shot from the perspective of the character – that is, the camera would look through the eyes of the character Santo. Thus, the character of Santo would be present in the scene, despite the fact that Montagner could not be present for the filming.^[25]

Weeks before the event, the character played by him in the soap opera was saved by Indians, who found him unconscious in the São Francisco River, having been shot by his enemy in the plot, on the same river in which the actor lost his life.^[26]

Filmography

Works on television

Works on films

Works in theatre

Awards and nominations

References

External links

• Domingos Montagner at the Internet Movie Database