Playwright and writer Benedito Ruy Barbosa dies, aged 95 Famous for classic soap operas such as "Pantanal" and "Terra Nostra", Benedito Ruy Barbosa had a talent that went beyond television drama. Author, who passed away this Tuesday (7), wrote Pelé's first biography. ? ??Benedito died in the capital of São Paulo due to complications from chronic kidney failure. The information was confirmed by Hospital do Coração (HCor). "Eu Sou Pelé", released in 1961, tells the life of the King of football in the first person. The book portrays the childhood of Edson Arantes do Nascimento, showing the period when he dreamed of becoming an aviator and worked as a shoeshine boy to help his family. Before dedicating himself to soap operas, Benedito was a sports reporter and followed the beginning of the King of Football's career. In 1961, at the invitation of publisher Francisco Alves, he wrote "Eu sou Pelé", when the player was just 20 years old and already world champion. Six years ago, in an interview with ge, Benedito recalled the invitation to write the work. "The owner of the bookstore Francisco Alves called me to talk. I got there, 'look, Ruy, we need to write a book about a football player. We've already had Leônidas, Jair da Rosa Pinto... but we want a book about Pelé'. I said: 'Pelé is playing now, he's a boy'. 'But he's already world champion, in Europe they call him Pelé king. We have to do it'. I said 'we have to wait, I'm not going to write'", he recalled. Initially resistant to the idea of ??writing a biography of such a young player, Benedito ended up changing his opinion after talking to Pelé himself during train trips across the country. In the end, the two wrote the book together, with Pelé's reports and Benedito's writing and organization. And so the book was published as an autobiography. From this partnership was born the work that brings together memories of the star's childhood, from his humble life between Três Corações (MG) and Bauru (SP) to his arrival at Santos and the beginning of the career that would transform him into a global idol. READ ALSO: 'Sinhá Moça', 'Rei do Gado', 'Terra Nostra': remember Benedito Ruy Barbosa's novels See the repercussions of the author's death TV legend Benedito Ruy Barbosa João Miguel Junior/TV Globo Known for true sagas, the playwright constructed stories that traverse the Brazilian rural universe, explore cultural diversity, with a special interest in Italian immigration, and present intense loves. His legacy includes iconic plots such as "Meu Pedacinho de Chão" (1971), "Pantanal" (1990), "O Rei do Gado" (1996) and "Terra Nostra" (1999), marked by protagonists with "good character, determination to fight, belief in positive values", as he himself determines. The oldest among five brothers, Ruy Barbosa was born in Gália, in the interior of São Paulo, in 1931, and spent his childhood in neighboring Vera Cruz, a region of coffee plantations inhabited by Japanese and Italian immigrants. With the early death of his father, he had to work from an early age to help his family. Throughout his youth, he worked as an assistant at a commercial firm, a vegetable seller and a cleaner, until he got a job as a proofreader at the newspaper "Estado de S. Paulo". His taste for writing led Benedito to create his first novel, "Fogo Frio", which was adapted for the theater and awarded by the São Paulo Association of Art Critics, the beginning of his career as a screenwriter. Tony Ramos gets emotional when talking about Benedito Ruy Barbosa His television debut took place in 1966, with "Somos Todos Irmãos", on TV Tupi. In the following years, he worked for stations such as Excelsior, Record and TV Cultura. In 1971, he wrote "Meu pedacinho solo", a soap opera produced by a partnership between Cultura and Globo and shown by both. Five years later, he signed with Globo, where he began a successful run in the 6pm slot. At that time, he adapted Ribeiro Couto's novel into "Cabocla" (1979). In 1990, upon moving to TV Manchete, Benedito wrote "Pantanal", which innovated by using external locations and exploring the culture and mysteries of the Brazilian biome. With his success, he returned to Globo to write "Renascer" (1993), a plot set in the interior of Bahia and marked by the duel of generations between Colonel José Inocêncio. Both would be remade decades later, written by his grandson, Bruno Luperi. With "O Rei do Gado" (1996), Benedito addressed the rivalry between two Italian immigrant families, while discussing topics such as land ownership and agrarian reform. In "Terra Nostra" (1999), he portrayed the drama of Italians Matteo and Giuliana, separated when they arrived in Brazil at the beginning of the 20th century. Ruy Barbosa also revisited his own works. In 2006 and 2014, he signed the remakes of "Sinhá Moça" and "Meu Pedacinho de Chão". In the full-color version of the second work, he declared that he had finally managed to air ideas that Censorship had blocked in the first version, during the military dictatorship. In 2016, he wrote "Velho Chico", set in the fictional city of Grotas do São Francisco, in the northeastern hinterland. The soap opera brought about a clash of generations and the dispute for land and power in the interior of Brazil. "First of all, a soap opera needs to have a great love story", defined Benedito Ruy Barbosa in a statement to Memória Globo. Before becoming one of the greatest soap opera authors in the country, Benedito Ruy Barbosa was a sports journalist and wrote Eu Sou Pelé, released in 1961. Montagem/g1