1 of 2 Last photo of Lolita Rodrigues published by the family in 2021 Photo: Lolita Rodrigues/Personal Collection Last photo of Lolita Rodrigues published by the family in 2021 Photo: Lolita Rodrigues/Personal Collection
The actress, singer and presenter Lolita Rodrigues, one of the pioneers of television in Brazil, died in the early hours of this Sunday (5) in João Pessoa, the city where she lived with her daughter since 2015. Lolita was 94 years old and admitted to the Nossa Senhora das Neves hospital and could not resist pneumonia.
The artist’s daughter, doctor Silvia Rodrigues, said that Lolita’s body will be cremated this Monday (6) in a ceremony reserved only for the family.
Sylvia Gonçalves Rodrigues Leite, known artistically as Lolita Rodrigues, was born in March 1929 in Santos, on the coast of São Paulo, and belongs to the generation that pioneered television in Brazil. For example, she sang the Brazilian television anthem on TV Tupi’s debut broadcast on September 18, 1950.
2 of 2 Lolita Rodrigues in a photo from 2009, during the promotion of the soap opera “Amor à vida”, in which she appeared as Noêmia Photo: João Miguel Júnior / TV Globo Lolita Rodrigues in a photo from 2009, during the promotion of the soap opera “Amor à vida”, in which she played Noêmia Photo: João Miguel Júnior / TV Globo
Lolita began her artistic career by participating in radio soap operas and also as a singer in the Golden Age of Radio in Brazil. Her work as an actress began in 1957 when she played a gypsy in “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” on TV Tupi. In the role she sang, danced and played castanets.
The daughter of Spanish parents, Lolita’s career was marked by characters who spoke with Castilian accents. In “Sassaricando” (1987) she played the Spanish Aldonza, mother of Tancinha (Claudia Raia). She returned to play a Spanish woman in Terra Nostra (1999) and was once again the mother of Claudia Raia in the fiction.
In her last work on television, the artist played Noêmia, the grandmother of Luciana (Alinne Moraes), in the soap opera Viver a Vida (2009).
It is possible to see the actress’s work in the soap operas “Terra Nostra” and “Kubanacan” (2003), available in full on Globoplay.
Sassaricando: Aldonza’s family
After her retirement, Lolita rarely appeared in public. One of them attended the release of “Flor do Caribe” (2013) while still living in the Southeast. In July 2015 he moved to Paraíba and decided to spend his retirement as a hermit in the company of his only daughter, Silvia Rodrigues, who works and lives in the capital, Paraíba.
One of Lolita’s last public appearances was in December 2017, when she attended a performance of the show “Hebe O Musical” in São Paulo.
Friendship with Nair Bello and Hebe Camargo
“They had an enviable sense of humor, as shown in an interview on Programa do Jô. Lola and Nair spoke on the phone eight to ten times a day. They loved what they did,” he said at the time.
Jô Soares: Remember an interview with Nair Bello, Hebe Camargo and Lolita Rodrigues