Lucky underwear and good at cooking: Antonio Fagundes turns 75; check out curiosities

Renowned as an actor and considered one of the great names in Brazilian arts, Antonio Fagundes turns 75 this Thursday (18). His career is almost as extensive as his age, as he has been a known — and loved — face by Brazilians for more than six decades.

Shy and not very flirtatious as a teenager, according to his mother, the Rio native raised in São Paulo took his first steps in theater in plays at Colégio Rio Branco, in the capital of São Paulo, where he studied. For years he had the superstition of wearing red underwear to premieres, believing that they brought him luck, while fame did not arrive.

His first role on television was in the soap opera “Antonio Maria”, in 1968, on the now defunct TV Tupi. It was behind the scenes of the production that he had a brief romance with actress Aracy Balabanian (1940-2023). At the time, he was 19 years old, while she was 28.

But it was really in “Dancin’ Days” (1978) that he broke through and gained fame as a heartthrob. In his personal life, Fagundes is fascinated by reading and, every time he travels for recordings, he takes a separate suitcase with different titles. The actor is also good in the kitchen and, according to his wife, actress Alexandra Martins, one of his specialties is meat. Check out these and other interesting facts about the artist in the gallery above.