Remembering Breno Mello










I know. You're saying, "Who?"

Breno Mello was a Brazilian man discovered on the beach and offered the part of Orpheus in the classic film Black Orpheus (1959). Sadly, it was announced this week that he'd been found dead from an apparent heart attack at his home back in July. He was 76 years old.

For film lovers like myself, he will forever be young, sexy, and handsome. Just looking at his picture makes me want to sit down and pen a romance. If you've never seen this classic (it's in Portuguese but has English subtitles), you've missed out. Breno Mello only made a handful of pictures between making a living - apparently the market for black actors in Brazil is even worse than it is here in the States - but his first performance and possibly only one as a star of a picture has made him immortal. Here's the trailer:




Okay, back to my cave now.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I know his face but never knew his name. Sad to hear.

bettye griffin said...

Shelia,
I had to double check the spelling of his name twice myself. One of my great-grandmothers came from the Cape Verde Islands, where they speak Portuguese, but I know nothing about it other than the name Barbosa.

It's nice to be immortalized on film when you were in your prime, as this gentleman was.