The author of soap operas such as "Vale Tudo" and "Paraíso Tropical", Gilberto Braga died this Tuesday night (26), at the age of 75.
Married to the decorator Edgar Moura Brasil, he suffered from Alzheimer's disease and was hospitalized at Copa Star Hospital, in Rio, due to an infection caused by a perforation of his esophagus.
Braga began his career as a playwright in the early 1970s, when he wrote episodes of the series "Caso Especial." In the same decade, he worked on adaptations of classic works, highlighting 1976's "Escrava Isaura."
It was with the success of "Dancin' Days," from 1978 –with Sônia Braga and Antonio Fagundes in the cast– that Braga consolidated the bases of contemporary telenovelas in prime time.
It was followed by "Água Viva," "Brilhante," "Crazy Love," "Corpo to Corpo," "Golden Years" and "O Primo Basilio."
It was in 1988, however, that his biggest hit aired. "Vale Tudo" became a Globo phenomenon and raised the carioca author to the pantheon of Brazilian television drama.
In the final stretch of the serial, he mobilized the Brazilian population with the question "who killed Odete Roitman?" Attempts to decipher the murder of the villain portrayed by Beatriz Segall generated one of the most effective "who-done-its" on television.
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon