Actor and voice actor José Santa Cruz dies at age 95Globo/Tata Barreto
Published 04/26/2024 20:32
Rio – Actor, voice actor, radio presenter and comedian José Santa Cruz, died this Friday (26), aged 95, in Rio. The actor had Parkinson’s disease and was hospitalized with bronchopneumonia. Santinha, as he was affectionately known by his friends and professional colleagues, will be laid to rest this Saturday (27), at the Penitência Cemetery, in Botafogo, in the South Zone of Rio, from 1 pm. His body will be cremated at 4pm.
Born in Picuí, Paraíba, José Santa Cruz began his artistic career at the age of eighteen, replacing a friend on a radio station. From then on he didn’t stop. He debuted on television in 1960, at the inauguration of TV Clube. In 1963 he went to TV Tupi and at the same time began acting as a voice actor, before arriving at TV Globo in 1971.
“Honey, I’m here.” His is the voice that gave life to the catchphrase that became a rage in the 1990s, a phrase spoken by the father of “Família Dinossauros”, which began each episode of the hit series, shown on TV Globo and remembered to this day by generations of adults and fans. of television.
As a voice actor, he lent his unique voice to many characters such as Magneto in the “X-Men” films and cartoons, Rúbeo Hagrid in the “Harry Potter” saga, J.Jameson in the “Spider-Man” films, actor Danny DeVito in the majority of his films, among many other countless characters.
At Globo, he starred in “Alô, Brasil, That Abraço” and “Zé das Mulheres”, in the 1970s, and “O Bem Amado” and “A Festa É Nossa”, in the 1980s. Between 2002 and 2015, he played characters such as Jojoca, Barbosa, Manoelito, Costado and Tesourinha in “Zorra Total” and between 2017 and 2015 he was in the cast of “Zorra”. His most recent role on TV Globo was a priest in the soap opera “Espelho da Vida”, shown in 2019.
In 2015, he participated in the series “Os Experientes”, where he spoke about the acting profession. “There is no difficulty for me in doing something that is felt, be it laughter or crying. It’s a human feeling, I don’t see the difference between making people laugh too much or crying too much. It’s the role of the actor, the actor has to be prepared for all of this. I’ve always worked on humor, and it’s important to do more serious roles too. The comedian can be dramatic, suddenly. whether it’s laughing or crying,” he said in an interview.
José Santa Cruz leaves behind his wife, Ivane Maria Mendes Bastos, with whom he was married for 72 years and had three children: Elaine Maria, Eliane Maria and Eduardo Luiz, all deceased. He also leaves five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
