This obituary is part of a series about people who have died in the coronavirus pandemic. Read about others here. He was best known for portraying the character Dona Hermínia, a cantankerous but loving middle-aged mother whose sharp tongue and misadventures left Brazilians doubled over in laughter.
The role, which he played onstage and later in films, made the actor and writer Paulo Gustavo Amaral Monteiro de Barros, known professionally as Paulo Gustavo, one of the most acclaimed Brazilian artists of his generation.