Rosa Lobato de Faria was a Portuguese

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

 actress and writer

Writer

A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

 whose career encompassed a variety of media including acting, scriptwriting, literature (novels and poetry) and songwriting

Songwriter

A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...

.

Born as Rosa Maria de Bettencourt Rodrigues Lobato de Faria, she was a respected figure in Portuguese cultural circles. She was married twice. Her first marriage, which produced three children, ended in divorce.

Acting career

Lobato de Faria came to acting relatively late, with her first major credit in a 1982 TV series Vila Faia, which ran for 100 episodes. Between then and her last role in Aqui Não Há Quem Viva (2006–2008), she appeared in leading roles in many other television series including Humor de Perdição (1987), Nem o Pai Morre Nem a Gente Almoça (1990), Crónica do Tempo (1992), A Minha Sogra É uma Bruxa (2002), Só Gosto De Ti (2004) and Ninguém Como Tu (2005). She played in a variety of genres from straight drama to crime/thriller serials and comedy. Although her career was mainly television-based, she also appeared in a handful of films such as Paisagem Sem Barcos (1983) and O Vestido Cor de Fogo (1986).

Between 1988 and 1995 Lobato de Faria was a prolific scriptwriter for TV serials and telenovelas, being involved with twelve different programmes. She ceased her activity in this area when she turned to literature as her main form of creative expression.

Writing career

Lobato de Faria published her first novel "Os Pássaros de Seda" in 1995. This was followed by eleven further titles, including "O Prenúncio das Águas", which won Portugal's Prémio Máxima de Literatura award in 2000. Lobato de Faria published three children's stories, and also wrote poetry, with her work in that field collected in a 1997 volume "Poemas Escolhidos e Dispersos"

Lobato de Faria was the lyricist

Lyricist

A lyricist is a songwriter who specializes in lyrics. A singer who writes the lyrics to songs is a singer-lyricist. This differentiates from a singer-composer, who composes the song's melody.-Collaboration:...

 for four Portuguese Eurovision Song Contest

Eurovision Song Contest

The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...

 entries: "Amor d'água fresca

Amor D'Água Fresca

"Amor d'água fresca" was the Portuguese entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1992, performed in Portuguese by Dina ....

" (1992), "Chamar a música

Chamar A Música

"Chamar a música" was the Portuguese entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1994, performed in Portuguese by Sara Tavares.The song is a ballad, with Tavares telling her lover that tonight will be purely for the two of them...

" (1994), "Baunilha e chocolate

Baunilha E Chocolate

"Baunilha e chocolate" was the Portuguese entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1995, performed in Portuguese by Tó Cruz....

" (1995) and "Antes do adeus

Antes Do Adeus

"Antes do adeus" was the Portuguese entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997, performed in Portuguese by Célia Lawson.The song is a ballad, with Lawson recounting the events leading to the end of a relationship. She sings that her lover gradually moved away from her and returned things which they...

" (1997).

Death

Lobato de Faria died in hospital in Lisbon, aged 77, on 2 February 2010, from complications of anaemia.

Legacy

Tributes paid to Lobato de Faria by notables such as Portuguese President

President of Portugal

Portugal has been a republic since 1910, and since that time the head of state has been the president, whose official title is President of the Portuguese Republic ....

 Aníbal Cavaco Silva

Aníbal Cavaco Silva

Aníbal António Cavaco Silva, GCC , is the President of Portugal. He won the Portuguese presidential election on 22 January 2006 and was re-elected on 23 January 2011, for a second five-year term. Cavaco Silva was sworn in on 9 March 2006....

, Culture Minister Gabriela Canavilhas, and colleagues from the fields of television and literature recognised her contribution to Portuguese culture. Canavilhas said Lobato de Faria left a "legacy which is testament to her creativity and great sensibility and which will stand as an inspiration for future generations" while Luís Andrade, a former programme director for national broadcasting channel RTP

Rádio e Televisão de Portugal

Rádio e Televisão de Portugal, S.A.,commonly known as RTP, is Portugal's public service broadcasting organization. It operates four terrestrial television channels and three national radio channels, as well as several satellite and cable offerings....

, described her as "a great writer and a great actress. Portugal...is much the poorer for her unexpected death."

External links

• Poemas Escolhidos e Dispersos, Rosa Lobato de Faria, Lisboa, Roma Editora, 1997.