Milton Gonçalves

Milton Gonçalves (Brazilian Portuguese: [ˈmiwtõ ɡõˈsawvis]; 9 December 1933 – 30 May 2022) was a Brazilian actor and television director, who was one of the most famous black actors in Brazil, having collaborated twice with acclaimed director Héctor Babenco. One notable role with Babenco was that alongside William Hurt and Raul Julia as a police chief in Kiss of the Spider Woman.

He worked in many telenovelas, including A Cabana do Pai Tomás, Irmãos Coragem, O Bem-Amado, Pecado Capital, Baila Comigo, Partido Alto, Mandala, Felicidade, A Favorita, and Lado a Lado. He also worked as director in O Bem-Amado and Escrava Isaura.

Gonçalves began his career in São Paulo, in an amateur group. As he moved to a professional group, he met Augusto Boal, who was looking for an actor to play an old black man. Joining Boal's Teatro de Arena, Milton Gonçalves found an open environment for political, philosophical, and artistic discussion, where he was not discriminated against on the baseless basis of his race.

Gonçalves wrote four plays, one of which was staged by the Teatro Experimental do Negro and directed by Dalmo Ferreira. He said of this engagement "There I learnt everything I know about Theater. It was fundamental for my comprehension of the world."

A Black Movement activist, Milton Gonçalves tried a political career, in the 1990s, as a candidate to Rio de Janeiro state governorship.

Father of actor Maurício Gonçalves, he was married to Oda Gonçalves from 1966 until her death in 2013.

The life and career of Milton Gonçalves are depicted in the 2025 documentary film Milton Gonçalves, Além do Espetáculo, by Luiz Antonio Pilar.

Gonçalves died in Rio de Janeiro on 30 May 2022, at the age of 88, from complications of a stroke he had suffered two years earlier.

He participated in more than thirty plays, among which we can highlight: