Domingos Montagner

Domingos Montagner Filho (26 February 1962 – 15 September 2016) was a Brazilian actor, playwright and entrepreneur. He began his career in theaters and circuses, through the course of interpretation of Myriam Muniz. In 1997, Montagner formed La Mínima group, alongside Fernando Sampaio, and won the Shell Award for Best Actor. In 2003, he founded the Zanni Circus, which where he was artistic director.

He began his career in TV, three years later, but gained national notoriety, among others, to play Captain Herculano in the soap opera Cordel Encantado(2011), Mundo in Joia Rara (2013), and Miguel in Sete Vidas (2015). In the cinema, he participated in the feature film Gonzaga: de Pai pra Filho (2012).

In 2016, Montagner played Santo dos Anjos, the protagonist of the soap operaVelho Chico, broadcast by Rede Globo, his last work. In a break between recordings, he drowned while swimming in São Francisco River, the main theme of the television drama.

Biography and career

Montagner was born in São Paulo's neighborhood of Tatuapé in a family of Italian Brazilians. He graduated in physical education and was created as Roman Catholic, religion in what he believed. His artistic career began in the circus, in his theater company La Mínima in 1980. In 1990, Montagner joined the theater as a clown. Montagner's first television series was Cordel Encantado of Rede Globo. In TV he has made a few appearances on the shows Força-Tarefa and A Cura. He also participated in the show Divã, where he portrayed Carlos Alencar, the lover of the protagonist Mercedes, played by actress Lília Cabral.

In 2012, he played the role of the President Paulo Ventura in the miniseries O Brado Retumbante. In the same year, he played in Salve Jorge the Turkish tour guide Zyah, who falls in love with Bianca, Cléo Pires' character. In 2013, he played the role of the activist Mundo in Joia Rara.

In 2015, he was cast as the protagonist of Sete Vidas, in the role of Miguel, a man who discovers that he has seven children, after being sperm donor. His last performance was in 2016 in the soap opera Velho Chico, interpreting the character Santo dos Anjos.

Death

On 15 September 2016, during the lunch break of the Velho Chico recordings, Montagner plunged into the São Francisco River, in the city of Canindé de São Francisco, state of Sergipe, but eventually did not return to the mainland. The actress Camila Pitanga was swimming with Montagner and saw her friend disappearing into the water, dragged by a strong current, going to scream for help. A boat came to rescue her. The actor was missing for four hours until his body was found submerged and lifeless.  

According to reports the Legal Medical Institute (IML) of Sergipe, the result of the autopsy performed on the body of Domingos Montagner pointed out that the actor died of mechanical asphyxia by drowning. Weeks before the event, the character played by him in the novel was saved by Indians, who found him unconscious in the São Francisco River, having been shot by his enemy in the plot, on the same river in which the actor lost his life.