Paulo José and Tarcísio Meira

Maybe there’s something to the idea that August is bad luck: earlier this month Brazil lost two of its biggest acting icons within a day of each other. Paulo José (March 20, 1937 - August 11, 2021), who had Parkinson’s Disease, died of pneumonia after a 20-day hospitalization; Tarcísio Meira (October 5, 1935 - August 12, 2021) died of Covid-19 after a brief hospitalization. (His wife, the actress Glória Menezes, was hospitalized at the same time, but is now recovering at home.)

The two actors appeared together in a handful of television shows, including “O homem que deve morrer” (“The man who should die”), “Roda de fogo” (“Wheel of fire”), “O tempo e o vento” (“Time and wind”), and “Um anjo caiu do céu” (“An angel fell from heaven”). A scene from this last telenovela has gone viral on social media: the character played by Paulo José (above) looks to the sky and says to the character played by Tarcísio Meira and says

Um dia nos veremos lá.
One day we’ll see each other there.

And the Tarcísio character replies

Mais cedo do que você pensa.
Sooner than you think.

The novela was on TV in 2001, so happily it wasn’t quite so soon.