Ruth de Souza
Birthday: Born in 1921-05-12 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Deathday: 2019-07-28
Ruth Pinto de Souza was considered one of the great ladies of Brazilian dramaturgy and the first great reference for black artists on television for her notable roles. Ruth stood out for being the first black actress to star in a soap opera on Rede Globo in A Cabana do Pai Tomás (1969) — and the second on Brazilian television, after Yolanda Braga, in A Cor da Sua Pele (1965) on TV Tupi — in addition to being the first Brazilian artist nominated for the best actress award at an international film festival, for her work in Sinhá Moça (1954) at the Venice Film Festival.
TV Credits
O Bem-Amado
Character: Francisca (Chiquinha do Parto)
O Bem-Amado is a Brazilian telenovela that first aired on Rede Globo in 1973. It is based on a play by Dias Gomes called Odorico, o Bem-Amado ou Os Mistérios do Amor e da Morte, written in 1962. It was the first Brazilian color telenovela. It was shot in Rio de Janeiro. Broadcast by Rede Globo between January 22 and October 3, 1973....
O Homem Que Deve Morrer
Character: Das Dores (Ma. das Dores)
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Sétimo Sentido
Character: Jerusa
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Das Erbe der Guldenburgs
Character: Antonia
The life of the German noble family von Guldenburg....
O Rebu
Character: Lourdes
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O Clone
Character: Dona Mocinha da Silva
Human cloning. The Islamic world. Two young people, two different cultures, two different beliefs. An impossible love story that not even time could erase. During a trip to Morocco, Lucas has a forbidden romance with Jade. He returns to Brazil after the death of his twin brother Diogo. A close family friend, scientist Albieri uses this situation to produce the first human clone using cells taken from Lucas. Twenty years later, Jade, Lucas and his clone form an odd love triangle....
Mandala
Character: Zezé (Maria José Barbosa)
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Corpo a Corpo
Character: Jurema Nascimento Rangel
Eloá and Osmar's marriage is thrown into crisis when a mysterious man crosses their path. With a thirst for prestige and power, Eloá will face the consequences of her ambition....
Sinhazinha Flô
Character: Justina
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Rainha da Sucata
Character: Juíza Elizabeth Andrade
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A Cabana do Pai Tomás
Character: Cloé
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O Casarão
Character: marchand da galeria de arte
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Olhai os Lírios do Campo
Character: Mariana
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Os Ossos do Barão
Character: Elisa
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Sinal de Alerta
Character: Adelaide
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O Grito
Character: Albertina
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Assim na Terra Como no Céu
Character: Isabel
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Bicho do Mato
Character: Zilda
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Helena
Character: Madalena
When his father passes away, Estácio (Osmar Prado) and his aunt Úrsula (Ida Gomes) receive his will and are surprised to discover that most of the inheritance was left to Helena (Lúcia Alves), a previously unknown daughter. In the will, her father asks that his daughter be taken in by her relatives. The news infuriates Úrsula, who has been in charge of the family business and caring for Estácio since his mother passed away, and does not accept Helena willingly, seeing her as an intruder in the f...
Duas Vidas
Character: Elisa
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Passo dos Ventos
Character: Mãe Tuiá
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Verão Vermelho
Character: Clementina
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Memorial de Maria Moura
Character: Sia Mena
Adapted from the homonymous work by Rachel de Queiroz, it presents the saga of a woman against female submission in nineteenth-century patriarchal society....
Pigmalião 70
Character:
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Sinhá Moça
Character: Balbina
Monarchists and Republicans confront themselves in Araruna, a small town in the interior of São Paulo, in 1886, two years before the promulgation of the Golden Law. Sinhá Moça's love story, daughter of Colonel Ferreira, Baron de Araruna, and a slave-boy, with the young Dr. Rodolfo, an active Republican abolitionist, faced with the difficulties of the campaign for the abolition of slaves. The two meet on the train, when Sinhá Moça, after completing her studies in the provincial capital, returns t...
Se Eu Fechar os Olhos Agora
Character: Madalena dos Santos
In a quiet town, two boys find a woman's mutilated body. After becoming suspects at first and realizing there is a mystery behind that murder, they decide to investigate the case with the help of an enigmatic old man. When a vertiginous spiral of violence is triggered, conspiracy begins to emerge and the boys must discover the truth as soon as possible in order not to become the next victims....
Caso Especial
Character: Laura
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Pacto de Sangue
Character: Mãe Quitinha
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Fera Radical
Character: Cecília
Cláudia returns to her rural hometown in order to take revenge for the murder of her family a long time ago. She believes that the Flores family committed the crime and tries to destroy them.......
Partido Alto
Character: jurada no julgamento de Maurício e Jussara
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Movie Credits
Abdias Nascimento
Character:
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Conversations with Ruth de Souza
Character:
Ruth de Souza inaugurates the existence of black actresses on stage, television and cinema in Brazil. She carries within her the genesis of an important part of the achievements for black women over almost a century of life. At the age of 95, surpassing 70 in her career, amidst reflections and memories, a dialogue was born between two generations of black artists, Ruth and the director....
Candinho
Character: Dona Manuela
Candinho is a hillbilly who leaves the countryside, taking his donkey along, and goes to São Paulo, trying to find his mother....
Daughters of the Wind
Character: Cida
In a small town in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil, two sisters meet again after years apart....
Primavera
Character: Josephina / Matilda / Madre Amélia
Moments before a father's death, all of his family memories are transferred to his son through a dream, from the first ancestor, an Englishman living at the end of the 18th century, to his Brazilian heirs, the protagonists of this story....
Distraída para a Morte
Character: Carolina de Jesus
Three black teenagers walk around town. The two boys laugh at their own racist jokes while the girl watches them in silence....
Boca
Character: Mrs. Esteban
A photo-journalist goes to Brazil to investigate a savage crime boss. She becomes infatuated with the story....
Quem matou Anabela?
Character: Shirley
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Um Homem Célebre
Character:
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Macumba Love
Character: Mama Rata-loi
A writer who specializes in exposing fake witchcraft journeys to Brazil to investigate a voodoo cult....
The Landowner's Daughter
Character: Sabina
In 19th century Brazil, young people in the State of São Paulo fight against black slavery and the farmers who support it. Against this backdrop, Sinhá Moça falls in love with a young lawyer, and they get involved in a great love story....
Death Commands Brigandage
Character: Rezadeira
A man's farm is attacked and his mother gets killed. Looking for revenge, he goes about chasing the men who killed her....
Assault on the Pay Train
Character: Judith
Based on true events in Rio de Janeiro, in 1960, when a gang having the infamous outlaw Tião Medonho as a leader performed a sensational railroad hold-up on a train carrying a small fortune....
A Fit of Rage
Character: Mariana
The torrid love affair between a 40-year-old man who lives isolated from the world, in his small farm nearby São Paulo and a politically engaged 30-year-old journalist. One morning, after a night of wild lovemaking, he notices a hole made by sauba ants in his fence. This simple fact raises accusations and discord between the two lovers....
The Naked Man
Character: Testemunha de Jeová
A man gets locked naked outside of his apartment....
Only One Survived
Character: Mama Santa
Four buddies set out on a three-week deep-sea fishing holiday in the Amazon and run into trouble....
Também Somos Irmãos
Character: Rosália
Renato and Miro are black brothers raised by a white family in an old mansion in Rio de Janeiro. Renato, a graduated lawyer, has always looked for dignity, winning in life due to his honesty and search for social recognition. His brother, on the contrary, is a rebel small time crook who believes his behavior is the product of the treatment he received while being rased by the whites....
Jubiabá
Character: Tia Luiza
Jubiabá is a French-Brazilian film based on the homonymous novel by Jorge Amado. The film tells the story of the interracial love between the daughter of a rich Commander and Antonio Balduíno, a rascal, fighter and famous lover from Salvador....
Osso, Amor e Papagaios
Character:
A small town is taken upside down when an inventor finds a way to turn bones into gold....
Denying Brazil
Character: Herself
A documentary film about the taboos, stereotypes, and struggles of black actors in Brazilian television "soaps". Based on his own memories and on a sturdy body of research evidence, the director analyses race relations in Brazilian soap operas, calling attention to their likely influence on Brazilian African-Americans' identity-forming processes....
Em Quadro: A História de 4 Negros nas Telas
Character: Self
A documentary that tells the history of 4 famous actors in Brazil....
O Vendedor de Passados
Character: Dona Célia
A man, who creates pasts for a living, struggles to find his own past while a mysterious woman takes a dangerous step....
Lonesome Women
Character:
In a desolate area of Brazilian mountainside, cut off from civilization, an old miner discovers a king-size diamond that he puts in his pocket rather than turn over to the thugs he works for....
Ravina
Character:
A woman, who believes she has a curse, sees an engineer die in an accident while building a bridge. Considering two men who were courting her responsible for the tragedy, she decides to take revenge on both. Brazilian version of Brontë's Wuthering Heights....
Movie Theaters of Rio
Character: Self
The story of Rio de Janeiro’s movie theaters and the radical transformation they have endured since the invention of Cinema....
Pureza Proibida
Character:
Baby is found by nuns, who raise her inside the convent. When she grows up, she moves to a fishing village and gives up religious life when she falls in love with a black fisherman, who practices a Afro-Brazilian religion called Umbanda....
Angela
Character:
A woman marries a gambler, thinking she could straighten him up, but he loses all their assets, even their own house, and tries to commit suicide. But one of the winners falls for his stepdaughter, and this could change the situation....
Falta Alguém no Manicômio
Character:
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Sweet Thieves
Character: Rainha Louca
After assaulting a Hollywood film crew, a group of residents of a community in Rio de Janeiro decided to produce a film that would express the reality of Brazil - with the theme of Inconfidência Mineira....
Terra é Sempre Terra
Character:
The administrator of an abandoned coffee farm and inveterate gambler saves money to buy the property, even knowing of the loving connections between his wife and the boss....
O Aleijadinho - Paixão, Glória e Suplício
Character: Joana
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O Cabeleira
Character:
Based on the novel by Franklin Távora, the film follows the adventures of a father and a son in 18th century Brazil....
High Art
Character: Old Woman Kissing
Peter Mandrake, a North-American photojournalist becomes embroiled in South America's dangerous underworld of pimps, drug gangs and arms smugglers when he sets out to find the killer of a local call girl....
Pontal da Solidão
Character: Narração
A young woman, victim of violence, takes refuge with an old sailor....
The Shadow of Another
Character:
A drama about double personality...
Favela
Character:
A girl goes from a favela to the luxurious scenarios of the international singing industry...
Pitanga
Character: Self
This documentary investigates the aesthetic, political and existential trajectory of emblematic Black Brazilian actor Antônio Pitanga. His career spans over five decades, and he has worked with iconic Brazilian filmmakers Glauber Rocha, Cacá Diegues and Walter Lima Jr. He was a prominent figurehead and outspoken activist during the Brazilian dictatorship, a period of unrest in Brazilian cinema. "Pitanga" deep dives into the world of Antônio and the history of Brazil. The documentary was directed...
Who Killed Pacifico?
Character:
Roberto, Pierre and Pedro are very different men, with very different life paths; However, one thing unites them: the three are suspected of having murdered Colonel Pacífico, the rich and powerful owner of the city of Parada de Deus, in the interior of the state of Minas Gerais. However, jail may be the least of his problems, as the colonel's brother is a bloodthirsty gunslinger looking for revenge....
Inezita Barroso - A Voz e a Viola
Character:
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Memória Vera Cruz: A Recuperação de um Sonho
Character:
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As Divas Negras do Cinema Brasileiro
Character:
Interviews and performances with black women on film, theater and television who narrate their lives, careers, discrimination and struggles in the Brazilian artistic world. Starring actresses Zezé Motta, Ruth de Souza, Léa Garcia, Zenaide Zen and Adele Fátima, as well as activist Lélia Gonzáles....
Inezita
Character:
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Pressed, Ripped Apart
Character: (archive footage)
What does Brazilian cinema tell us? What does Brazilian cinema tell us about black actresses and actors? ‘Pressed, Ripped Apart’ makes use of archival sources to retrieve the trajectory of black actresses and actors who, between absences and delimited presences, between the fallacy of a racial democracy – based on the harmony among Brazil’s diverse identities – and erasure of identity, strain the history of Brazilian audiovisual and above all, our own history....
O Construtor de Sonhos
Character:
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Terra Violenta
Character: Empregada
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Filhas de Lavadeiras
Character: herself
Stories of black women who, thanks to the relentless toil of their mothers, were able to attend school and retrace the paths treaded by their ancestors. Their memories, joys and sorrows become present as a possibility for a new fate, transforming the hard work of the washerwomen in a spectacle of life and fulfillment....
Eu, Mulher Negra
Character:
Prepared by the team of the Program for Training Black Researchers, The video brings together images and voices that talk about the reproductive health of black women, diseases taking into account the racial/ethnic background, habits, customs, the physical and social environment and the inhuman conditions imposed by racism....
Emicida: AmarElo - It's All for Yesterday
Character: Self (archive footage)
Between scenes from his concert in São Paulo's oft-inaccessible Theatro Municipal, rapper and activist Emicida celebrates the rich legacy of Black Brazilian culture....
Women's Cinema
Character: Self
Passionate about the magic of cinema and historically imposed on a place of invisibility, prejudices and stereotypes, how can women challenge, break with oppression, look after precious archives, play remarkable characters, produce and direct successful films? The documentary illuminates the trajectories of dreams, challenges and victories of talented Brazilian women in our audiovisual sector....
Carolina Maria de Jesus
Character: Self
The documentary tells the story of writer Carolina Maria de Jesus, who became a success in the 60s and, since then, has inspired writers and artists such as Ruth de Souza, Zezé Motta and Conceição Evaristo....
Ney - À Flor da Pele
Character: Self
The impact of Ney Matogrosso's performances on his audience and the reverberation of that impact on Brazilian culture, from the second half of the 20th century to the present. An audiovisual anthology, all composed of archival images. The best way to get to know Ney is to be with him on stage....