lit a candle 5h agoFound out he voiced Curly Joe in the old Three Stooges cartoon and just sat here stunned. My grandmother in Sao Paulo used to put that on for me every summer when I was a kid, the dubbed version, never knew whose voice that was until today. 95 years old, what a run.
Their story
Edson Silva, born Edson Alves da Silva, was a Brazilian actor and voice actor whose career stretched from the experimental stages of 1950s Rio de Janeiro to some of the most watched telenovelas in Brazilian television history. For more than half a century he was one of those faces audiences…
Edson Silva, born Edson Alves da Silva, was a Brazilian actor and voice actor whose career stretched from the experimental stages of 1950s Rio de Janeiro to some of the most watched telenovelas in Brazilian television history. For more than half a century he was one of those faces audiences recognised instantly even when they could not place the name: the barber, the butler, the doorman, the chauffeur, the friend at the edge of the frame who made a scene feel lived in. He died in Rio de Janeiro on 10 October 2026, aged 95.
He was born in Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, on 25 October 1930. In 1952, at about 22, he moved to Rio de Janeiro to study theatre with Paschoal Carlos Magno, the critic and impresario who did more than almost anyone to build a modern student theatre in Brazil. Silva threw himself into that world. Over the next two decades he appeared in a long run of stage productions, among them Nelson Rodrigues's A Falecida and Os Sete Gatinhos, Lampiao, Sinha Moca Chorou, A Bela Madame Vargas, Pedro Mico and Ariano Suassuna's Auto da Compadecida, which he played in 1962 alongside Agildo Ribeiro and Joana Fomm. He also directed some plays.
Television arrived early for him. He was a pioneer at TV Tupi in Rio de Janeiro, where he performed children's teleplays on Teatrinho Trol under the direction of Fabio Sabag, and he appeared in the Tupi telenovela O Acusador in 1964. In cinema he was part of the casts of Mineirinho, Vivo ou Morto (1967), Carnaval Barra Limpa, Quem Matou Pacifico? and O Agente Positivo (1972).
His first major telenovela role came in 1969 at TV Globo, in Gloria Magadan's A Ultima Valsa, where he played the French painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. To portray the artist's short stature he recorded many scenes on his knees, with a body double used in others, a piece of television craft that was still recalled in his obituaries more than fifty years later.
The 1970s and 1980s made him a fixture of Globo's drama output. He played Kalin in Fogo Sobre Terra (1974), Vilaboim in Cuca Legal (1975), the barber Almeidinha in Janete Clair's O Astro (1977) and Professor Claudio in Memorias de Amor (1979). He was Lafayette, the butler of Tonia Carrero's character Estela, in Agua Viva (1980), and appeared in As Tres Marias (1980), Terras do Sem-Fim (1981), Sol de Verao (1982), Voltei pra Voce (1983) and Um Sonho a Mais (1985). He also made several appearances in the Sitio do Picapau Amarelo series, including its 1977 pilot. At Rede Manchete in 1986 he played Honorato in the hit Dona Beija and Clovis Tinoco in Mania de Querer, before returning to Globo for Bebe a Bordo (1988), O Sexo dos Anjos (1989), Gente Fina, Rainha da Sucata and Meu Bem, Meu Mal (all 1990).
In the 1990s and early 2000s he became a familiar presence in the urban dramas of Manoel Carlos. He was the caretaker Ramiro in Historia de Amor (1995 to 1996), the barber Fonseca in Por Amor (1997), and Heitor, the chauffeur of Alma (Marieta Severo), in Lacos de Familia (2000), the role most obituaries used to identify him. He followed it with Mulheres Apaixonadas (2003). His last television appearance was a guest role as the doorman Severino in Senhora do Destino in 2004.
Alongside acting, Silva had a long second career in dubbing. Beginning in the early 1960s at studios including Herbert Richers and Dublasom Guanabara, he gave Brazilian Portuguese voices to characters such as Chin Ho Kelly (played by Kam Fong) in Hawaii Five-O, known in Brazil as Havai 5.0, a character in the 1967 Aquaman animated series, and Curly Joe in the Three Stooges cartoons. He continued dubbing at Herbert Richers until the early 1980s, when he stepped back to concentrate on television.
From the mid 2000s his sight failed progressively, and the blindness that followed led him to retire from acting in 2005. He spent his later years out of the public eye in Rio de Janeiro.
His death on 10 October 2026 was announced by the dubbing archive Dublapedia Brasil and then confirmed by friends. The cause was not made public. Tributes came from colleagues including the actress Alcione Mazzeo, who called him a dear friend, and Narjara Turetta, who recalled working with him in telenovelas. For many viewers the news was a reminder of how much of Brazilian television's texture was built by actors like him: reliable, versatile and present across six decades of stage, screen and studio work.
Biography adapted from Portuguese Wikipedia (Edson Silva (ator)); Metropoles (10 Oct 2026); Caras Brasil, Band and Extra (11 Oct 2026); Museu Brasileiro de Radio e Televisao biography; Dublapedia Brasil. Wikipedia ↗
In their own words
“Com pesar, comunicamos o falecimento do dublador Edson Silva! Para os noveleiros: O Heitor em Laços de Família (o motorista da Alma, personagem da Marieta Severo).”
Dublapédia Brasil announcing his death, 10 October 2026
“É sempre doloroso perder alguém com quem compartilhamos vários momentos, tanto na vida quanto no trabalho, mas saber que finalmente encontrou o descanso merecido traz alívio ao meu coração. Nossa amizade viverá pra sempre em minha saudade, Edson Silva! Vá em paz, amigo querido.”
Actress Alcione Mazzeo, Instagram tribute, October 2026
“Maravilhoso! Também não me lembrava que era dublador! Trabalhei com ele em novelas.”
Actress Narjara Turetta, reacting to news of his death, as quoted by Band
Photos
3Edson Silva and Heloisa Raso in As Tres Marias (1980)
Jan 1980 · by People Forever
Edson Silva in Terras do Sem-Fim (1981)
Jan 1981 · by People Forever
Edson Silva in 2003
Jan 2003 · by People Forever
same, my dad watched Hawaii Five-O dubbed and had no idea either