Sao Paulo
The television director Roberto Manzoni, better known as Magrão, died in the early hours of this Friday the 10th at the age of 74.
He was responsible for some of the most popular auditorium programs between the 1970s and 2000s, including Viva a Noite and Domingo Legal, attractions presented by SBT under the direction of Gugu Liberato. The cause of death was not revealed.
Magrão began his career alongside Silvio Santos when he directed the show “Domingo no Parque,” which aired between 1977 and 1988. In “Domingo Legal,” the director was responsible for beating the audience of “Domingão do Faustão,” an attraction directed by Fausto Silva and shown on Globo in the same time slot.
In 2003, Magrão resigned from the program after losing his audience role to Faustão. After a campaign against downloading on television entitled “Quem Financia a Baixaria É Contra a Cidadania”, he was already dissatisfied with the cuts to more attractive staff.
At that time, Domingo Legal also began investing in more journalistic content and showing fewer music images. His dismissal came shortly before a fake interview with PCC members led by Gugu. After 20 days of absence, Magrão returned to SBT at the urging of Silvio Santos.
In the 2000s, Magrão worked at Band, where he appeared on Jogo da Vida, a program by Márcia Goldschmidt. In 2005, he debuted as host of Poderoso Magrão on TV Gazeta, but left the channel shortly afterwards to run for federal deputy.
Two years later he returned to SBT and led the revival of the Silvio Santos program. On social media, Celso Portiolli, who recently headed Domingo Legal, paid tribute to his friend with a post on social media.
“As director of so many of the programs we love at SBT, he knew how to bring an auditorium program to life like no one else. His work touched so many lives and his absence will be felt in our hearts. Our thoughts are with the family and friends of our great director Magrão in this difficult time,” wrote Portiolli.