Elke Maravilha (néeGrünupp;[1] 22 February 1945 – 16 August 2016) was a German-Brazilian actress, model and television personality. She lived in Brazil from her early childhood until her death.[2][3][4]
Biography
Maravilha was born to a Latvian father and German mother in Leutkirch, although throughout her career she stated she was born in Leningrad, Russia.[1][5][6][7] At the age of four, her family emigrated to Brazil in 1949 and first settled at a farm in Itabira in the state of Minas Gerais.[8][6] In 1955, her family leased lands in Atibaia in São Paulo State, running a strawberry farm.[6] The family then went to Bragança Paulista to farm.[3][5] Returning to Minas Gerais, she was chosen as "Glamour Girl" in Belo Horizonte in 1962.[9] It was during this period that she became a naturalized Brazilian.[3]
At the age of 20, Maravilha left home to live in Rio de Janeiro, working as a bilingual secretary, using her fluency in eight languages, many of them learned in her own home environment, as a teacher of French and English.[3][10] Her father became director of Liquigás corporation and was transferred to Porto Alegre. She returned to live with her family in Porto Alegre between 1966 and 1969, where she attended courses at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul faculties of philosophy, medicine and letters and trained as a translator and interpreter of foreign languages.[3]
She took up modeling work at age 24, in 1969, in the same period in which she married a Greek writer, Alexandros Evremidis, the first of her eight marriages.[10][11][12] At 20, she met Evremidis on a ship en route to Europe in 1965 on her way to live with her maternal grandmother in Germany.[1][13][11] During this time, she began a friendship with the fashion designer Zuzu Angel.
During the Brazilian military dictatorship in 1972, Maravilha was arrested for contempt at Santos Dumont Airport in Rio de Janeiro for tearing up posters of Stuart Angel Jones, her friend Zuzu's son, claiming that he had already been killed by the regime.[3] She was arrested under the National Security Law and lost her Brazilian citizenship,[3][14][15][16][17] although there is no record of her loss of Brazilian citizenship.[6] Her Brazilian ID card stating she was "Brazilian by option" was expired in 1970 at the time she was arrested in 1972, so she never renewed it.[4][6] She was released after six days, following the appeals of artist friends. Years later, she successfully applied for German citizenship.[12][13] She held a German passport sometime in the 90s.[6] However, her Brazilian residence permit gave "stateless" as nationality.[1]
Film portrayals
She was portrayed by Luana Piovani in the 2006 biographical drama film Zuzu Angel. Maravilha also made a special guest appearance in the film.[18]
She was also portrayed by Gianne Albertoni in Chacrinha: O velho guerreiro, a 2018 film biography about Chacrinha.[19]
Death
Maravilha died in Rio de Janeiro on 16 August 2016 of multiple organ failure, from complications of a surgery to treat an ulcer.[20]
^ ab"Ilha das Flores". hospedariailhadasflores.com.br (in Brazilian Portuguese). Archived from the original on 19 August 2016. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
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