Acting
Sérgio Ricardo
June 18, 1932 — July 23, 2020Marília, São Paulo, Brazil
João Lutfi (18 June 1932 – 23 July 2020), known professionally as Sérgio Ricardo, was a Brazilian actor, musician, playwright and filmmaker, better known for being responsible for the soundtrack of Glauber Rocha's "Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol" ("Black God, White Devil"). Born in a Lebanese-Brazilian family in Marília, São Paulo, and brother to famed director of photography Dib Lutfi, João got his stage name from TV businessmen who wanted to rebrand him as a leading man with an iconic name during his early gigs as an actor. He's maily associated with the Cinema Novo (Brazilian New Wave) movement, but stayed active until 2018. During the Cinema Novo days, Ricardo directed short film "Menino da Calça Branca" (1961) and "Esse Mundo É Meu" (1963), his feature-length debut. Among other notorious works in his career as a filmmaker is "A Noite do Espantalho", which shows Ricardo's talent as a polymath by mixing filmmaking with folk music and other elements of Brazilian popular culture, such as "cordel" literature.
