João Lutfi, a Brazilian actor, musician, playwright, and filmmaker, professionally known as Sérgio Ricardo, was born on June 18, 1932, in Marília, São Paulo, to a Lebanese-Brazilian family. He was the brother of renowned director of photography Dib Lutfi.
Ricardo acquired his stage name from TV businessmen who sought to rebrand him as a leading man with an iconic name during his early acting endeavors. He is primarily associated with the Cinema Novo movement, but remained active in the industry until 2018.
During the Cinema Novo era, Ricardo directed several notable films, including the short films "Menino da Calça Branca" (1961) and "Esse Mundo É Meu" (1963),which marked his feature-length directorial debut. His feature film "A Noite do Espantalho" showcased his versatility as a polymath by combining filmmaking with folk music and other elements of Brazilian popular culture, such as "cordel" literature.
In the 1970s, Ricardo chose to relocate to the Vidigal slum in Rio de Janeiro, where he resided until his passing in 2020. His final film, "Bandeira de Retalhos" (2018),was adapted into a theatre play written by him, chronicling life in 1970s Vidigal.
Ricardo is perhaps most famous for his work on the soundtrack of Glauber Rocha's "Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol" ("Black God, White Devil").
