Tarcísio Meira

Meira was a descendant of the Portuguese-born landowning family de Magalhães, who had lived in Brazil since the early 18th century; he aspired to a career as a diplomat, but after being rejected by the Rio Branco Institute, he devoted himself entirely to acting, for which he chose his mother's maiden name, Meira, as his stage name.[1] From 1957 on, he appeared regularly on the theater stage. His first television role was in 1961 in the telenovela Maria Antonieta, and his first appearance in a feature film was in 1963 in Casinha Pequenina. Also in 1963, Meira played a leading role in the first daily broadcast telenovela in Brazil, 2-5499 Ocupado.[2]

Meira was married to actress Glória Menezes since 1962. Their son together (b. 1964) also became a well-known actor under the stage name Tarcísio Filho. In 1968, Meira and Menezes were signed by the television network Rede Globo as permanent cast members for telenovelas. Their first telenovela produced by Rede Globo, Sangue e Areia (1968), based on Vicente Blasco Ibáñez's novel Blood and Sand, enjoyed great public success. Afterwards, Meira and Menezes were also frequently cast as married couples or lovers. In the 1980s, Meira increasingly appeared in feature films and television miniseries, but kept working in telenovelas and stage as well.

Tarcisio Meira was hospitalized on 6 August with COVID-19. He died from the virus on 12 August 2021, at the Hospital Albert Einstein in São Paulo.[3]

• Tarcísio Meira at IMDb