Actress María Adelina Duarte died, at the age of 92, on Tuesday afternoon at the Casa do Artista in Lisbon.
María Adelina Duarte was born in Amadora, on April 27, 1930. She stood out especially in operetta, first, and in theatrical stage, later, in an artistic career of more than 40 years, which began in childhood, with tours of performances by the northern entrepreneur Rocha Brito, completed In the early 1980s, at the Teatro ABC, in Lisbon, in the magazine “Reviravolta”, according to information available in the database of the Center for Dramatic Studies (CET), Faculty of Arts, University of Lisbon.
However, his face became known to the general public with the advent of RTP in 1957, with which he also bid farewell to screens in 1990, in the series “Mistério Misterioso”.
María Adelina’s official stage debut took place in 1946, at the age of 16, in the operetta “O passarinho da Ribeira”, at the Teatro Sá da Bandeira, in Porto. Until then, she was mainly working as a singer, first on Rocha Brito tours around the country, with the stage name Maria Dolly, starting when she was just 9 years old.
This was followed by theaters such as Casablanca, “where he starred with several ‘music hall’, even a new ‘tour’ of conservative stages, promoted by businessman Giuseppe Bastos, according to the newspaper Fem There Companhaia do Teatro Apolo, quoted by CET.
Her debut on the stage also coincided with her debut in cinema, in the role of a young teenager, in the movie “Thief, you need it!…”, directed by Jorge Prom do Canto, starring María da Graca and Virgilio Teixeira.
This was immediately followed by work in productions at Teatro Variedades and Teatro Apolo, before leaving for Brazil at the age of 17, when she began using her first name, María Adelina.
Upon his return to Portugal, he begins a path dominated by comedy and stage play, always based in Lisbon, which ranges from “Mãos no ar!” , which premiered in February 1954, at the Teatro Apollo, to the final performances of “Reviravolta”. at the end of 1981.
The operetta “A Rosinha dos limões”, also presented by the former Apolo Art Society, the magazines “Casa da Sortu”, “Lisboa em festa!” and “Vamos à lua!” , all at Teatro ABC, take her to the end of the 1950s, when she entered the Coliseu dos Recreios to make “Há Feira no Coliseu”, produced by Giuseppe Bastos and Vasco Morgado.
In the sixties, there were successes in the magazine, especially at Teatro ABC, with productions such as “Acerta o Passo” and “Zona azul”.
At that time, Maria Adelina’s work also extended to comedy, as in “Flausino, Homem de Letras”, by the Companhia Teatro Alegre, at the former Teatro Avenida, and “A tia de Charley”, an adaptation of a libretto by Brandon Thomas, who was on stage at the Teatro Monumental.
Magazine When She Undressed, another Giuseppe Bastos / Vasco Morgado production, premiered in Lisbon, early in 1969, and went on a nationwide tour, the following year, after long seasons at the Teatro Sa da Bandeira, in Porto, And in the megalithic in Lisbon.
In 1971, he returned to comedy with “Quarenta carats”, by Jean-Pierre Gredy, followed by “Pasquale”, Marie Cowell Chase, with the Teatro Villari, founded by Raúl Solnado.
Returning to Park Meyer in “Disculpa, Caetano!” , in Varidades, after the fall of the dictatorship, before returning to the musical stage in “Vilizardo e Companhaia, Modas e Conficato”, by Raúl Solnado and Pedro Bandeira Freire, adaptation of the play “Anastácia e C.ª Lda.” Directed by Eduardo Schwalbach.
Farewell to the theater in the magazine Eduardo Damas, Eugenio Salvador and Manuel Payao, “Reviravolta”, which reopens the Teatro ABC, closed since the previous year, which marked the debut of young actors such as Fernando Mendes.
Maria Adelina at that time was just over 50 years old, and she had an equal career in film and television.
In cinema, he appeared with Amália Rodrigues in “O fado corrido” (1964), by Jorge Brum do Canto, with Tony de Matos and Io Apolloni, in “Derrapagem” (1974), by Constantino Esteves, with Fernanda Lapa, Ruggiero Paolo and Corrado Ribeiro, in “Recompensa” (1978), the last film by Arthur Duarte, and with Carlos Verissimo and María Helena Matos in “The Devil Descends to the Village” (1979), directed by Teixeira da Fonseca.
He entered the first programs produced by RTP, such as A Loja da Esquina (1957), Café Concerto (1958) and Rua Musical (1964). He was also the face and voice of several Melodias de Semper programs in the 1960s, and in “theatre nights” in public television, in productions such as Fernando Vrazão’s “Melro Branco” (1964).
He also returned to the “small screen” in more recent programmes, such as E o Resto São Cantigas (1981), by Raul Solnado, Carlos Cruz and Fialho Gouveia.
The farewell was made with “Mysterious Mystery”, a series premiered by RTP in 1990, in which he played one of the main roles, along with actors such as Octávio Matos and Lourdes Norberto, and young revelations such as José Raposo and Maria João Abreu.
María Adelina Duarte married tenor Domingos Marquez (1924-2012).
The body of the actress is in the S. João de Deus church, in Lisbon, where the funeral will take place on Thursday, at 12:00, towards the Alto de S. João cemetery, where the cremation ceremony is taking place, a source from Casa do Artista said Llosa.
