Elke Maravilha

Elke Maravilha (born Elke Grünupp[1]; 22 February 1945 – 16 August 2016) was a German-born Brazilian actress, model and television presenter.[2][3][4]

Elke Maravilha
Elke at the 25th Brazilian Music Award in 2015
Born	Elke Grünupp (1945-02-22)22 February 1945 Leutkirch im Allgäu, Baden-Württemberg, Germany[1]
Died	16 August 2016(2016-08-16) (aged 71) Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Citizenship	Germany Brazil (revoked)
Alma mater	Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul
Occupation	Actress, model, television presenter
Years active	1969–2016

Biography

Born in a little town in the German state of Baden-Württemberg[1], when she was six when her family emigrated to Brazil and first settled at a farm in Itabira, in the state of Minas Gerais. In 1955 her family leased lands in Atibaia in São Paulo State, dedicating itself to the cultivation of strawberries. Then the family moved to Bragança Paulista, where they also cultivated the land.[3][5] Back in Minas Gerais, she was chosen as Glamour Girl in Belo Horizonte in 1962.[6] It was during this period that she was naturalized Brazilian.[3] At the age of 20, she left home to live alone in Rio de Janeiro, RJ, where she took up employment as a bilingual secretary, using her fluency in eight languages, many of them learned in her own home environment, as well as being the youngest teacher of French at Alliance Française and of English in the União Cultural Brasil- Estados Unidos.[3][7] In the meantime her father became director of Liquigás and was transferred to Porto Alegre. Elke then returned to live with her family in Porto Alegre between 1966 and 1969, where she attended courses at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul faculties of philosophy, medicine and letters and she trained as a translator and interpreter of foreign languages.[3]

She began acting as a model at age 24, in 1969, in the same period in which she married the Greek writer Alexandros Evremidis, the first of her eight marriages.[7][8][9] At the beginning of her career Elke met the fashion designer Zuzu Angel, of whom she became friend.

Personal life

During the Brazilian military dictatorship in 1971, she was arrested for contempt at Santos Dumont Airport in Rio de Janeiro for tearing up posters of Stuart Angel Jones, her friend Zuzu's son, claiming that he had already been killed by the regime.[3] She was framed in the National Security Law and lost the Brazilian citizenship, which left her stateless.[3][4][10][11][12][13] She was only released after six days after the appeals of artist friends. Years later, she applied for German citizenship, the only one she got.[9][14] The stylist story was told in theaters in 2006 in the feature film Zuzu Angel. In the film, Elke was played by actress Luana Piovani and made a special guest appearance.[15]

She died in Rio de Janeiro on 16 August 2016 of multiple organ failure, from complications of a surgery to treat an ulcer.[16]

Filmography

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1973	A Volta de Beto Rockfeller	Sofia
1979	Milagre – O Poder da Fé	Herself	Special participation
	Feijão Maravilha
1986	Memórias de um Gigolô	Madame Yara
1982–1988	Cassino do Chacrinha	Judge
1988–1991	Show de Calouros	Judge
1993–1996	Programa Elke Maravilha	Presenter
1998	Pecado Capital	Herself	Special participation
Feijão
2004	Big Brother Brasil 4	Judge
	Celebridade	Herself	Special
	Da Cor do Pecado	Judge	Participação Especial
2007	Luz do Sol	Urânia Szakaly
2009	Caminho das Índias	Herself	Special participation
2012	Morando Sozinho	Dona Violeta
2013	As Canalhas	Cacala
	Destino: Rio de Janeiro	Aunt Selesniova
2015	Fantástico	Herself	Quadro: O Grande Plano

Film

Year	Title	Role
1970	Salário Mínimo	Modelo
1971	O Barão Otelo no Barato dos Bilhões	Secretária
1972	Os Machões
	Quando o Carnaval Chegar	Atriz Francesa
1973	O Rei do Baralho
1974	Gente que Transa	Esmeralda
1976	Xica da Silva	Hortência
1977	Tenda dos Milagres
	A Força de Xangô	Iaba
	Pastores da Noite
1978	Elke Maravilha Contra o Homem Atômico	Elke Maravilha
1979	A Noiva da Cidade	Daniela[17]
	O Milagre	Elke
1981	Pixote, a Lei do Mais Fraco	Débora
1987	No Rio vale tudo	Esposa
	Romance	Amiga de Antônio César
	Tanga: Deu no New York Times
1988	Prisoner of Rio	Frank
1999	Xuxa Requebra	Iara Macedo "Macedão"
2006	Zuzu Angel	Lieselotte
2007	Elke	Herself
	Elke no país das Maravilhas	Herself
2010	A Suprema Felicidade	Avó de Paulo
	A Maravilha de ser Elke	Herself
2011	Fca Carla[18]	Lúcia
2013	Mato sem Cachorro	Dona Noara
	Meu Passado Me Condena	Mirtes
2015	A Lenda do Gato Preto	Angelina
	Super Oldboy	Senhora
	Copyleft
2016	Carrossel 2: O Sumiço da Maria Joaquina	Dona Lelé
	Lua em Sagitário	Ulla

Stage

• Paixão de Cristo[19][20]
• Elke – do Sagrado ao Profano
• Viva o Cordão Encarnado
• O Castelo das Sete Torres
• Rio de Cabo a Rabo
• Eu Gosto de Mamãe
• Carlota Joaquina
• A Rainha Morta
• O Homem e o Cavalo
• Orfeu da Conceição
• O Lobo da Madrugada
• Carlota Joaquina

References

1. Biografia desconstrói mitos que Elke Maravilha criou ao longo da vida, Folha de S. Paulo, 2020-03-01, Leonardo Sanchez. (in Portuguese)
2. "Elke Maravilha – Website Oficial". elkemaravilha.com.br. Archived from the original on 17 February 2019. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
3. "Elke Maravilha morre aos 71 anos, no Rio de Janeiro". 16 August 2016.
4. "ELKE MARAVILHA, UMA MULHER FORTE, CAPAZ DE UM ATO HEROICO NOS ANOS DE CHUMBO" (in Portuguese). 26 December 2012.
5. "Ilha das Flores". hospedariailhadasflores.com.br. Archived from the original on 19 August 2016. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
6. "Elke tinha uma forte ligação com Minas Gerais" (in Portuguese). 16 August 2016.
7. "Apátrida e oito maridos: os bastidores da vida de Elke Maravilha". Veja.
8. "Elke Maravilha morou em Porto Alegre no final dos anos 1960".
9. "Elke Maravilha Silvio Santos é a pior pessoa do mundo". ISTOÉ Gente. Terra Networks.
10. "Elke Maravilha solta o verbo entre o sagrado e o profano". Diário do Grande ABC. 17 June 2005.
11. ""Eles não gostam de gente que pensa", revela Elke Maravilha sobre ausência da TV". RD1. 19 March 2015.
12. "Elke Maravilha, filha da guerra". Farofafá.
13. ""Resolvi enlouquecer no Dops", lembra Elke". Folha de S. Paulo. UOL. 30 July 2006.
14. "Debaixo da peruca loira". O Povo.
15. "Morre Elke Maravilha aos 71 anos no Rio de Janeiro – Últimas Notícias – UOL TV e Famosos" (in Portuguese).
16. "Corpo de Elke Maravilha é enterrado no Rio". G1. Globo.com. 17 August 2016.
17. Cinemateca Brasileira, A Noiva da Cidade [em linha]
18. "Elke Maravilha no Ceará". Diário do Nordeste.
19. "Elke Maravilha no palco". O Dia. IG. 20 March 2016.
20. "Kayky Brito e Elke Maravilha encenam 'Paixão de Cristo' no Paraná". Caras. 23 March 2016.

External links

• Elke Maravilha on IMDb