Wikipedia

Benedito Ruy Barbosa

Benedito Ruy Barbosa (17 April 1931 – 7 July 2026) was a Brazilian screenwriter, journalist, and author of many Brazilian telenovelas. He made his debut as a television writer with Somos Todos Irmãos [pt], which aired on TV Tupi in 1966. Barbosa continued to write for a variety of television networks until he signed as a writer for TV Globo in 1976. He left Globo in 1990 for TV Manchete; after writing Pantanal for Manchete, he returned to TV Globo where he wrote Renascer (1993) and O Rei do Gado (1996). In 2008, he was awarded an Ordem do Mérito Cultural by the Brazilian Ministry of Culture.

Benedito Ruy Barbosa
Born(1931-04-17)17 April 1931
Gália, São Paulo, Brazil
Died7 July 2026(2026-07-07) (aged 95)
São Paulo, Brazil
Spouse
Marilene Leonor Barbosa
​
​
(m. 1958; died 2014)​
Children4
RelativesEly Barbosa (brother)

Barbosa died from complications of chronic kidney disease on 7 July 2026, at the age of 95.

Early life and career beginnings

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Benedito Ruy Barbosa was born on 17 April 1931 in Gália, São Paulo,[1] to Otávio Elias Barbosa, a journalist, typesetter, and bookstore owner who ran the A Voz de Vera Cruz paper, and Aurora Medeiros Barbosa.[2][3] Barbosa grew up in Vera Cruz and had four younger siblings, including comics artist Ely Barbosa.[4][5] Otávio Elias died of a heart attack in 1942, when Barbosa was twelve.[3][2] Barbosa began working soon after;[2] his first job was as an assistant bookkeeper.[3]

When he was seventeen, Barbosa and his family moved to São Paulo, where he began working as an accountant for several years as well as selling vegetables, newspapers, and working as a cleaner.[5][2] He also worked in Maringá, Paraná. As a young adult he turned to journalism, first finding employment as a proofreader for O Estado de S. Paulo in 1954.[5][3] Barbosa then went on to work as a reporter for Última Hora, Manchete, Correio Paulistano [pt], and Diários Associados.[2]

Career

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Barbosa wrote his book, Fogo Frio, inspired by the time he had spent living in Paraná; it was turned into a play in 1959. Performed at the Teatro de Arena and directed by Augusto Boal, the adaptation won an award from the São Paulo Association of Art Critics and started his career in playwrighting.[3][5] His first telenovela was Somos Todos Irmãos [pt], which aired in 1966 on TV Tupi.[5] He went on to write shows for multiple different networks, such as O Morro dos Ventos Uivantes [pt] (1967), Meu Filho, Minha Vida [pt] (1967), A Última Testemunha [pt] (1968), and Algemas de Ouro [pt] (1969).[2] With Benjamin Cattan [pt], he returned to TV Tupi and wrote Simplemente María, which aired in 1970 and 1971. The majority of episodes of Simplemente María are lost.[6]

Barbosa began working for TV Globo in the 1970s; he wrote the 1971 series Meu Pedacinho de Chão for TV Globo and TV Cultura. In 1976, he began writing under contract for TV Globo,[7][3] writing on shows such as Sítio do Picapau Amarelo[3] and writing telenovelas including À Sombra dos Laranjais [pt] (1976), based on a play by Viriato Correia, and Cabocla [pt](1979).[5][6] During this time, he also wrote Pé de Vento [pt] (1980) and Os Imigrantes [pt] (1981) for TV Bandeirantes; while Os Imigrantes became popular in Brazil, Pé de Vento was lost.[6][3] He adapted Maria Dezonne Pacheco Fernandes's 1950 novel, Sinhá Moça, for television in 1986. About the lives of Black Brazilians and emancipated slaves, Barbosa's adaptation took a less "romantic" view of the period than did the novel. Taking eight characters from the book, he created an additional thirty for the series.[8][9]

He left TV Globo in 1990 and began working for TV Manchete; his last show with Globo was Vida Nova [pt] (1988), a continuation of Os Imigrantes.[6] Barbosa's first show with Manchete was Pantanal (1990),[6] a pro-environment show about the Pantanal region in Brazil which Barbosa hoped would encourage people to preserve the wetlands. Barbosa first came up with the idea for the show in 1982, though it was rejected by TV Globo.[7] He returned to the network in 1993 to continue exploring the themes of rural living, writing about cocoa farming in Ilhéus in Renascer (1993) and about land distribution in Brazil for O Rei do Gado (1996).[10][11] As a result of the messages in O Rei do Gado , which Barbosa described as resulted in "rooting for the landless", landowners threatened to sue him.[12]

Barbosa unsuccessfully sued Sistema Brasileiro de Televisão in 2008 to prevent the station from airing re-runs of Pantanal, which it had purchased from TV Manchete.[13] That same year, he was awarded an Ordem do Mérito Cultural by the Brazilian Ministry of Culture.[14]

In 2016, the show Velho Chico, created by Barbosa alongside his daughter Edmara Barbosa [pt] and grandson Bruno Luperi [pt], aired on TV Globo. At the premier, Barbosa spoke negatively about gay characters in telenovelas, saying he did not think stories about same-sex attraction were appropriate for parents to show to their children.[15][16] TV Globo declined to comment on his remarks[17] and the station and his family decided that Barbosa would not speak publicly on the issue again.[18]

His grandson, Luperi, remade Renascer in 2024.[5][19][20]

Personal life

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Barbosa was married for 54 years to actress Marilene Barbosa. He had four children, including screenwriters Edmara Barbosa and Edilene Barbosa [pt]. His grandchildren include the screenwriter Bruno Luperi.[21]

Health issues and death

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Barbosa was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease and moved from his home in Sorocaba to the city of São Paulo to receive healthcare.[22][5] In May 2025, he was treated at the Hospital do Coração [pt] in for kidney failure;[1] he was hospitalized the following January for 19 days for a urinary tract infection associated with his kidney failure.[5][22] He died at São Paulo from complications of the disease on 7 July 2026, at the age of 95.[23][10] Various actors, musicians, and writers who had worked with Barbosa in the past left condolences, including Maria Bethânia, Vanessa Giácomo, Tony Ramos, Zezé Motta, and Lavínia Vlasak.[24]

Filmography

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Sources

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  1. 1 2 "Muere a los 95 años Benedito Ruy Barbosa, autor de novelas brasileñas como 'Pantanal'". SWI swissinfo (in Spanish).
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Benedito Ruy Barbosa". Museu Brasileiro de Rádio e Televisão. Archived from the original on 15 June 2025. Retrieved 8 July 2026.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Benedito Ruy Barbosa". memoriaglobo (in Brazilian Portuguese). 29 October 2021. Archived from the original on 9 July 2026. Retrieved 9 July 2026.
  4. ↑ Biblioteca Nacional (Brazil); Cirne, Moacy, eds. (2002). Literatura em quadrinhos no Brasil: acervo da Biblioteca Nacional. Rio de Janeiro: Nova Fronteira: Ministério da Cultura, Fundação Biblioteca Nacional, Departamento Nacional do Livro. p. 1809. ISBN 978-85-209-1496-0.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 de Carvalho, Luiz (7 July 2026). "Morre Benedito Ruy Barbosa, autor de 'Pantanal', 'Renascer' e 'Terra Nostra'". O Maringa (in Portuguese). Retrieved 8 July 2026.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "Além de 'Paraíso': 5 novelas 'esquecidas' de Benedito Ruy Barbosa" (in Brazilian Portuguese). CNN Brasil. 7 November 2025. Archived from the original on 9 July 2026. Retrieved 9 July 2026.
  7. 1 2 Knox, Paul (8 May 1990). "Brazilian-style Dallas offers ecology message". The Globe and Mail. p. A15.
  8. ↑ Berktay, Asligul. "'Seeing to Make Disappear': The Lingering Ghost of Slavery and Stereotypical Representations of Blackness in Brazilian Telenovelas of the Last Decades of the Twentieth Century", Luso-Brazilian Review, vol. 60 no. 2, 2023, pp. 69–103. Full access available to users of The Wikipedia Library..
  9. 1 2 Stam, Robert (1998). "Visual Style and Racial Politics in Three Brazilian Features". Nuevo Texto Crítico. 11 (21–22): 101–123. doi:10.1353/ntc.1998.0014. ISSN 1940-9079. Archived from the original on 20 May 2025. Retrieved 8 July 2026.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 Casaletti, Danilo. "Benedito Ruy Barbosa decifrou o coração do Brasil com 'trilogia do campo'". Estadão (in Brazilian Portuguese). Archived from the original on 8 July 2026. Retrieved 9 July 2026.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Carter 2018, p. 350
  12. ↑ Epstein, Jack (20 February 1998). "Top Brazilian stars support squatters in ranch struggle". The Globe and Mail. p. 73. Retrieved 8 July 2026.
  13. ↑ "Outro Canal – Daniel Castro: Juiz nega liminar à Globo contra 'Pantanal'". Folha de S.Paulo. 12 June 2008.ProQuest 336251694
  14. ↑ "Ordem do Mérito Cultural 2008". Cultura. Ministry of Culture (Brazil). 9 October 2008. Archived from the original on 3 August 2011.
  15. ↑ "'Odeio história de bicha', diz Benedito Ruy Barbosa". Extra Online (in Brazilian Portuguese). 10 March 2016. Archived from the original on 29 July 2023. Retrieved 9 July 2026.
  16. ↑ "Wyllys classifica fala de Benedito Ruy Barbosa de reacionária e homofóbica". tvefamosos.uol.com.br (in Brazilian Portuguese). Archived from the original on 9 December 2025. Retrieved 9 July 2026.
  17. ↑ "Globo não se manifesta sobre as 'histórias de bicha' que Benedito Ruy Barbosa odeia". Estadão (in Brazilian Portuguese). Archived from the original on 28 December 2024. Retrieved 9 July 2026.
  18. ↑ "Globo proíbe Benedito Ruy Barbosa de dar entrevistas após declaração polêmica". F5 (in Brazilian Portuguese). 14 March 2016. Archived from the original on 28 December 2024. Retrieved 9 July 2026.
  19. ↑ Bergamo, Mônica (23 March 2023). "Quem vai ser o diretor do remake de 'Renascer', grande aposta da Globo para 2024". Folha de S. Paulo (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 11 April 2024. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
  20. ↑ "Primeiras imagens da releitura de um clássico da dramaturgia". Globo Imprensa (in Portuguese). 19 October 2023. Archived from the original on 21 October 2023. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
  21. ↑ "Os herdeiros de Benedito Ruy Barbosa". O Globo. 7 July 2026. Archived from the original on 7 July 2026. Retrieved 8 July 2026. ProQuest 3361616129
  22. 1 2 "Benedito Ruy Barbosa is discharged from hospital after being admitted in São Paulo", CE Noticias Financieras (English edition), Miami, FL, 23 January 2026 ProQuest 3296860852
  23. ↑ "Luto na dramaturgia: saiba a causa da morte de Benedito Ruy Barbosa". O Globo. 7 July 2026. Archived from the original on 9 July 2026. Retrieved 11 July 2026. ProQuest 3361608307
  24. ↑ Cardoso, Bia (7 July 2026). "Morte de Benedito Ruy Barbosa: Famosos se despedem do dramaturgo". O Estado de S. Paulo. Archived from the original on 8 July 2026. Retrieved 8 July 2026.
  25. 1 2 "Benedito Ruy Barbosa morre: relembre as novelas do autor". g1 (in Brazilian Portuguese). 7 July 2026. Archived from the original on 8 July 2026. Retrieved 9 July 2026.
  26. ↑ "De Quina pra Lua". memoriaglobo (in Brazilian Portuguese). 29 October 2021. Archived from the original on 1 December 2025. Retrieved 9 July 2026.

Bibliography

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