Raul Augusto de Almeida Solnado (19 October 1929 - 8 August 2009) was a popular Portuguese actor and comedian. He was born in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

's Madragoa neighborhood, and first appeared on stage there. In his long career, he developed many comic pieces that have become classics. His humour was, at the time (especially considering

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

was still under the dictatorial Salazar regime), both unexpected and fresh. It included a lot of nonsense, and stories making fun of daily life. He often played an ingenuous poor man, whose life was neither good or bad. He portrayed characters with conviction and humor. His best material included pieces written by him, such as "Ida ao médico" ("At the doctor"), and others based on Spanish comedian

Miguel Gila Miguel Gila Cuesta (12 March 1919 – 13 July 2001) was a Spanish comedian and actor. He appeared in 27 films and television shows between 1954 and 1993, and became famous in Spain and Latin America with his comic monologues. He starred in ...

’s material: (“A guerra de 1908” / “The war of 1908” and “História da minha vida” / “The story of my life”).

Example

As a first-time patient in hospital, addressing to a nurse (from “At the doctor”): Solnado hosted Portugal's first talk show, in 1969, alongside Carlos Cruz and

Fialho Gouveia José Manuel Bastos Fialho Gouveia (30 April 1935 – 2 October 2004) was a Portuguese television entertainment pioneer and former radio host, having hosted Portugal's first television talk show. Born in Montijo, the son of a railroad company em ...

. The show, called ''Zip Zip'' is still considered a landmark in the history of Portuguese television. He died on 8 August 2009 of heart disease.

Distinctions

National orders

PRT Order of Prince Henry - Grand Cross BAR

Grand Cross of the

Order of Prince Henry the Navigator The Order of Prince Henry () is a Portuguese order of knighthood created on 2 June 1960, to commemorate the quincentenary of the death of the Portuguese ''infante'' Prince Henry the Navigator, one of the main initiators of the Age of Discovery. M ...

(9 June 2004) * PRT Order of Prince Henry - Officer BAR

Officer of the

(9 June 1982)

References

External links

* 1929 births 2009 deaths Golden Globes (Portugal) winners Portuguese male comedians Portuguese male film actors Portuguese male television actors Portuguese television presenters Male actors from Lisbon 20th-century comedians Grand Crosses of the Order of Prince Henry Officers of the Order of Prince Henry {{portugal-tv-stub