Football star Pelé's stardom off-field - movies, music and TV

Pele, Brazil's three-time World Cup-winning legend, died on Thursday after a brief battle with colon cancer in Sao Paulo. He was 82. His success on the soccer field made him a sports icon, but he was also an actor and singer. He wrote over 100 songs and sold more than 100,000 copies of one of his albums. He was also in the movies, notably in the World War II film ‘Victory’.

King Pelé (O Rei Pelé, 1962)

Directed by Carlos Hugo Christensen, this film was released in the same year Pele won his second World Cup title. Its narrative begins from Pelé’s native city of Tres Coracoes, talks about his move to the Sao Paulo countryside city of Bauru and then on to Santos, where he became a global star.

Victory (1981)

Pelé played Cpl. Luis Fernandes, a soldier from Trinidad, in this John Huston directorial.

During World War II, a group of Allied prisoners of war are seen agreeing to play a football match against the Nazi team in an attempt to escape captivity.
‘Victory’, known as ‘Escape to Victory’ in many places, earned almost $28 million at the box office.

The Clumsies and the King of Soccer (1986)

Pelé played the role of Nascimento, a sports reporter, who replaced the injured goalkeeper of a team named Independência Futebol Clube and scored the winning goal of a match with a goal kick.

The movie was released three days prior to the 1986 World Cup final in which Argentina beat Germany 3-2.

Pelé also took part in documentaries, including ‘This is Pelé’ (1974), ‘Pelé Eterno’ (2004) and ‘Cine Pelé’ (2011).

TV

Pele had cameos in many soap operas. He mainly appeared on several TV Globo’s soap operas that are often exported to the rest of the world.

Author Ivani Ribeiro was the first to cast him on a TV soap opera. Pele played the role of a famous writer who lived on an island and had extraterrestrial friends on ‘Os Estranhos’ (The Strangers).

His last appearance in a soap opera was in 2002 in ‘O Clone’ (The Clone). He played himself and sang the song ‘Em Busca do Penta’ (Seeking the Fifth).

MUSIC

The 2006 Samba album ‘Peléginga’ was Pele’s biggest hit. Recorded with a choir and an orchestra, it included 12 songs written by him.

Pelé also recorded a record with Brazilian diva Elis Regina and released an album that was produced by Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Sergio Mendes.

COMICS

Pelé has also been a character in widely popular comic books in Brazil. In 1976, Pelé and cartoonist Mauricio de Sousa reached a deal for the publication of children’s stories in comic book format.

Sousa used several stories from Pelé’s childhood in Pelezinho plots. The comic books were published regularly from 1977-86, and after that on special occasions.

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